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To: Alamo-Girl
Indeed, your tagline copied below explains why that is so.

"I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so."

It is one of the arguments that St. Augustine makes.

"If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, 'I do not believe'? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so" (Against the Letter of Mani Called 'The Foundation' 5:6).

And, not because of our immediate discussion, but because it is something that comes up repeatedly, Augustine also wrote:

"I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord's Table, which you now look upon and of which you last night were made participants. You ought to know that you have received, what you are going to receive, and what you ought to receive daily. That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ" (Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).

By your tagline testimony, it appears you believe the Catholic Church and thereby the words of God spoken indirectly to you through it - rather than the words of God spoken directly to you.

I believe that the Church is the hands and feet of God on earth. Without the Church, mankind is as ants when the rock is removed from above them, scurrying around, some happening to go in the right direction.

"[T]here are many other things which most properly can keep me in [the Catholic Church's] bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15-17], up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called 'Catholic,' when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house" (Against the Letter of Mani Called 'The Foundation' 4:5 [A.D. 397]).

Love God. Believe Him. Trust Him.

And follow Him. Amen.

2,058 posted on 06/26/2010 4:51:17 PM PDT by MarkBsnr ( I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)
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To: MarkBsnr
although all heretics want to be called 'Catholic,' when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house

It's funny how this applies to so many who post here.

2,059 posted on 06/26/2010 5:06:56 PM PDT by Titanites
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To: MarkBsnr; boatbums
Thank you for sharing those excerpts and your testimony, dear brother in Christ!

And truly I would say the same things to St. Augustine that I said to you.

As for me:

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. – John 10:3-5

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. – John 5:24

And again,

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. – Matt 4:4

Give us this day our daily bread. – Matt 6:11

I am that bread of life. – John 6:48

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. – John 6:63

To God be the glory, not man, never man.

2,066 posted on 06/26/2010 9:52:43 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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