[Natural Law]

"Then they are against Scripture."

"They" are NEVER against Scripture. It deceitful to continue to present the Catholic view of Tradition and Scripture as an either/or proposition as much of Protestantism sees them.

The acceptance of Scripture does not automatically disqualify Tradition and the acceptance of Tradition does not automatically disqualify Scripture. Catholics believe that both together form the sacred deposit of faith (depositum fidei), and both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence:

CCC80 - "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal." Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age"."

I don't mind explaining and defending the doctrines and dogma's of the Church, but the unrecognizable mischaracterizations posted here only further cloud the issue and insult the truth. I don't expect to convert to anyone to Catholicism, but at least reject the Church for what it really is, not what it is assumed to be.

Peace be with you.

[boatbums]

"They" are NEVER against Scripture. It deceitful to continue to present the Catholic view of Tradition and Scripture as an either/or proposition as much of Protestantism sees them. The acceptance of Scripture does not automatically disqualify Tradition and the acceptance of Tradition does not automatically disqualify Scripture. Catholics believe that both together form the sacred deposit of faith (depositum fidei), and both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence

The deception is when the Roman Catholic Church contends whatever IT decides is "Tradition" is equal with Scripture. At one time, oral tradition WAS the teachings of Jesus Christ to his followers and included additional revelation given to selected ones but which they WROTE down so that there is even today the SAME teachings available today to all who seek to know what is and is not the doctrine of the Christian faith. The reason why Catholic Tradition is NOT considered by those outside of her as equal to Scripture is because NOBODY is alive today who was there when the Apostles were teaching and developing traditions. So, since no such exhaustive listing is available that states what those traditions were and no person is alive now who heard those oral traditions, how can anyone hold that this nebulous "tradition" be equal to Holy Scripture which we DO have in written form?

When Irenaeus disputed Valentinus over his claims to have received secret knowledge from the Apostles, Irenaeus stated:

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith. — Irenaeus, Adv Her 3.1.1

Tradition confirms what is orthodox teaching; it does not form the basis for it and what Scripture says is what was AND is the orthodox teaching.