You wrote:
“I think you need to read what you wrote - the believers are the BODY of Christ, and that includes the Protestants, too.”
No. You are making a common mistake. I NEVER include those who believe in heresy as in the Body. When Christ create the Body she only contained orthodox believers. There were no Protestants and would be no Protestants for another 1500 years. When the NT speaks of all believers being in the Church that must be understood as reflective of a time when there were no Protestants.
“It’s not just the Catholics. It is not the Church. It is the believers.”
The Catholic Church is the Church and always has been and always will be. Protestants didn’t come along until well after 1500.
“Please see 1 Corinthians 12:12-14:”
Notice how Paul took it for granted that the believers would be united in baptism? And yet there are Protestants like Quakers who don’t even baptize! Orthodox believers know baptism is a sacrament while most Protestants consider it a nice ceremony and little more. Sorry, but 1 Corinthians is in no way speaking up for your distorted Protestant beliefs which only came into existence sometime after 1500.
“The body is not the Church. The body is the believers of Christ. Jew or Gentile, bonded or free, Protestant or Catholic.”
Nope. The Body is the Church and the Church is the Catholic Church. How you can deny that the Church is the body when Colossians 1:24 says “... the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church” is beyond me. You are directly contradicting God’s word. Did you even know that?
“Your doctrine is set by men - my doctrine is set by men.”
No. My doctrine is set by God and His Church. You get your doctrine from men and where they get it from is anybody’s guess.
“It is our listening to the Holy Spirit that guides us in the doctrines, and hopefully those of who set the doctrines. Our doctrines are fallible.”
No. First, I have no doctrines of my own. YOU have fallible doctrines. I have only God’s doctrines given to us through the Church. They are infallible.
“I understand that for Catholic doctrine, the phrase “the Church” means not just the believers in Christ, but those specifically who are members of the Catholic Church. This is doctrine of the Catholic Church as set in the Catechism (which I had to translate from the original Latin, back in high school).”
I don’t care what you used to do. If you say you understand Catholic doctrine, then why are you misrepresenting it?
“Inherent (and IMHO errant) in that statement of doctrine is that any believer who is NOT a member of the Catholic Church cannot be a member of the body of Christ.”
Your opinions are errant. Catholic teachings are not. Someone cannot be a member of the Body and not a member of the Body at the same time. Choose.
“The institution of the Catholic Church has become the arbiter of who can be in the Body of Christ, and that is a serious impediment to men relating to God.”
Nope. The exact opposite. The Church was sent by God to teach the truth to all the world under the guidance and support of the Holy Spirit. The Church is necessary exactly to decide issues such as who is in the Church and who is not. Strange how you think the Church is an impediment to relating to God when that same Church - under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit - wrote the scriptures and defined the canon (the same NT canon you probably use too!). Was the Church an impediment then?
Wasn’t St Augustine married?
No. You are making a common mistake. I NEVER include those who believe in heresy as in the Body.
So Protestants are heretics, and cannot be members of the Body of Christ. How wonderfully Christian of you!
Brother, I guess there's nothing more to say. I'll pray that you'll recognize that your Church and its doctrine have become your god. When an institution of men declares who can and who cannot be saved, that should send any reader of the Bible running.
Good night.
“No. You are making a common mistake. I NEVER include those who believe in heresy as in the Body. When Christ create the Body she only contained orthodox believers. There were no Protestants and would be no Protestants for another 1500 years. When the NT speaks of all believers being in the Church that must be understood as reflective of a time when there were no Protestants.”
First off, Hi Vlad, how are you?
Let me see if I understand your correctly. Protestants do not belong to the “Body of Christ” because their religion, which you claim as heretical, was not created yet. This same logic can be applied to catholics because the Catholic church had not been created yet. So we should all be Jewish because they were the first christians. Where in the bible does it say that only “orthodox believers” belong to the body of Christ? I mean in THE BIBLE, you know, God’s Final Word.
Why would you want to cause division among fellow believers, who believe that Jesus is our Saviour? And he’s the only Way? Why not embrace ALL believers whether they be methodist, protestant or catholic? Isn’t that what Christ commands us to do? To love one another?
It makes your claim 1000 years short.