Questions for "Bible Christians" that they can't answer - Part 2

Catholic Convert ^ | October 27, 2013 | David Palm and Steve Ray

[NYer]

There are 38 questions + a few bonus questions. I have split them into two separate posts of 20 and 18 + bonus questions. In case you missed it, here is the link to Part 1. Are you ready?

21. Who in the Church had the authority to determine which books belonged in the New Testament canon and to make this decision binding on all Christians? If nobody has this authority, then can I remove or add books to the canon on my own authority?

22. Why do Protestant scholars recognize the early Church councils at Hippo and Carthage as the first instances in which the New Testament canon was officially ratified, but ignore the fact that those same councils ratified the Old Testament canon used by the Catholic Church today but abandoned by Protestants at the Reformation?

23. Why do Protestants follow postapostolic Jewish decisions on the boundaries of the Old Testament canon, rather than the decision of the Church founded by Jesus Christ?

24. How were the bishops at Hippo and Carthage able to determine the correct canon of Scripture, in spite of the fact that they believed all the distinctively Catholic doctrines such as the apostolic succession of bishops, the sacrifice of the Mass, Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, baptismal regeneration, etc?

25. If Christianity is a “book religion,” how did it flourish during the first 1500 years of Church history when the vast majority of people were illiterate?

26. How could the Apostle Thomas establish the church in India that survives to this day (and is now in communion with the Catholic Church) without leaving them with one word of New Testament Scripture?

27. If sola Scriptura is so solid and biblically based, why has there never been a full treatise written in its defense since the phrase was coined in the Reformation?

28. If Jesus intended for Christianity to be exclusively a “religion of the book,” why did He wait 1400 years before showing somebody how to build a printing press?

29. If the early Church believed in sola Scriptura, why do the creeds of the early Church always say “we believe in the Holy Catholic Church,” and not “we believe in Holy Scripture”?

30. If the Bible is as clear as Martin Luther claimed, why was he the first one to interpret it the way he did and why was he frustrated at the end of his life that “there are now as many doctrines as there are heads”?

31. The time interval between the Resurrection and the establishment of the New Testament canon in AD 382 is roughly the same as the interval between the arrival of the Mayflower in America and the present day. Therefore, since the early Christians had no defined New Testament for almost four hundred years, how did they practice sola Scriptura?

32. If the Bible is the only foundation and basis of Christian truth, why does the Bible itself say that the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim. 3:15)?

33. Jesus said that the unity of Christians would be objective evidence to the world that He had been sent by God (John 17:20-23). How can the world see an invisible "unity" that exists only in the hearts of believers?

34. If the unity of Christians was meant to convince the world that Jesus was sent by God, what does the ever-increasing fragmentation of Protestantism say to the world?

35. Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you." What is the expiration date of this verse? When did it become okay not only to disobey the Church's leaders, but to rebel against them and set up rival churches?

36. The Koran explicitly claims divine inspiration, but the New Testament books do not. How do you know that the New Testament books are nevertheless inspired, but the Koran is not?

37. How does a Protestant know for sure what God thinks about moral issues such as abortion, masturbation, contraceptives, eugenics, euthanasia, etc.?

38. What is one to believe when one Protestant says infants should be baptized (e.g., Luther and Calvin) and another says it is wrong and unbiblical (e.g., Baptists and Evangelicals)?

A Few Bonus Questions

Where does the Bible . . .

. . . say God created the world/universe out of nothing?

. . . say salvation is attainable through faith alone?

. . . tell us how we know that the revelation of Jesus Christ ended with the death of the last Apostle?

. . . provide a list of the canonical books of the Old Testament?

. . . provide a list of the canonical books of the New Testament?

. . . explain the doctrine of the Trinity, or even use the word “Trinity”?

. . . tell us the name of the “beloved disciple”?

. . . inform us of the names of the authors of the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?

. . . who wrote the Book of Acts?

. . . tell us the Holy Spirit is one of the three Persons of the Trinity?

. . . .tell us Jesus Christ was both fully God and fully man from the moment of conception (e.g. how do we know His Divinity wasn't infused later in His life?) and/or tells us Jesus Christ is One Person with two complete natures, human and Divine and not some other combination of the two natures (i.e., one or both being less than complete)?

. . . that the church should, or someday would be divided into competing and disagreeing denominations?

. . . that Protestants can have an invisible unity when Jesus expected a visible unity to be seen by the world (see John 17)?

. . . tell us Jesus Christ is of the same substance of Divinity as God the Father?

[Elsie]

(I refuse to apologize for being Catholic, I was raised to think for myself.)

Game on!

[metmom]

scribes were hired to read and write things....get real!

Got proof?

[metmom]

where did the Bereans get the Scriptures that they were searching????except for the old testament scriptures, no one had anything of the new testament to study....

How clueless can one get?

The OT is pointing to Jesus EVERYWHERE in it.

Jesus Himself appealed to the OT to witness of Himself. How many times did He or the apostles or the writers of the NT say *It is written...*?

The Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ. That was the whole purpose of it.

Since the OT gave us enough prophecy to recognize the Messiah when He came, it gives them enough to know how to live the way God wants.

[metmom]

The new Christian religion was taught by word of mouth for probably many years before there was an organized package of written material to teach from....my estimate would be 100-200 years.

An opinion does not fact make.

[metmom]

Jesus is on top. He is the head of the church, which is His body.

[Loud Mime]

For a true test, if there were no Bible, could you support your faith?

Story-telling is a wonderful sales tactic. What if you couldn’t hear or read the stories; what would you believe?

[CynicalBear]

You asked me to “read it honestly this time” which I always do after praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit. Not only do I stand by my contention in my original post but there is another disturbing revelation contained in that portion of the CCC that you posted. Here is the statement that should alert any true believer that the RCC has corrupted what scripture teaches.

In CCC 846 it states “he is present to us in his body which is the Church.” That is in direct contradiction to what scripture tells us. Christ is in us.

» Romans 8:10: Paul tells us, "If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin."

» Galatians 2:20: Paul speaks of himself and all true Christians: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."

» Ephesians 3:17-18: Referring to the "inner man," Paul mentions that he prays "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

» I John 3:24: John writes: "Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us."

Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Christ dwells within the individual believer not in some organization. The depth of deception by the RCC is pure evil.

[CynicalBear]

>> where did the Bereans get the Scriptures that they were searching????<<

From the Jews who had preserved them and they clearly taught of the coming of Jesus the messiah. They didn’t contain the apocrypha either.

>> The new Christian religion was taught by word of mouth for probably many years before there was an organized package of written material to teach from.<<

First of all, the “scriptures” that were referred to contained the prophesied coming of Jesus the Christ which were being “searched daily” to see if what Paul was teaching was correct. Second, those scriptures were rather well organized by that time obviously or they wouldn’t have been able to “search” them daily.

>> They weren't teaching from the Bible, you know, because there wasn't such a thing for a long, long time after Christ.<<

What difference does that make? It was obvious from the Old Testament writings that the Jews should have known that Jesus was the prophesied coming Messiah. Your contention of not having anything of the New Testament written available for “my estimate would be 100-200 years” denies what Peter said in 2 Peter 3:15 in around 65AD that the writings of Paul were already considered scripture. That meme of the early Christians not having access to scripture is in direct contradiction to what scripture teaches.

[CynicalBear]

It’s stunning how much of scripture Catholics have to deny or corrupt in order to follow the RCC.

[aumrl]

Luke 19:40
the stones would cry out.

[editor-surveyor]

Love your strawmen, where do you buy them?

[editor-surveyor]

>> “Using the number of fish and loaves an people fed, the parallel of John 6 in Matthew is Ch 14.” <<

Yes, but Matthew is not in chronological order; it jumps around. But the feeding of the 5000 is in all four gospels, thus making it easy to fix it in time. Luke and Mark are perfectly chronological. These two are the best way to associate the events.

>> “And John provides a reason why Jesus did not go to Jerusalem in John 6” <<

.
There was no passover in John 6, it was added in 300 or so years later. The early MS do not contain the words of John 6:4.

All should know that Yeshua had to go up for Passover, because he was the lamb, and he had to attend all of the required feasts anyway to fulfill his ministry. Had he missed one he would not have been our savior.

>> “This sounds like a weak unloving god, not a shepherd who would leave the flock to save a single lost lamb” <<

.
You should take up reading God’s word. He says that he will only save a remnant that passes through the narrow gate.

The catholic’s wide gate will be the path of the rest, and it leads to the lake that burns.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “It’s stunning how much of scripture Catholics have to deny or corrupt in order to follow the RCC.” <<

.
I totally concur!

[metmom]

It continues to be an eye-opening experience.

[boatbums]

you were corrected.

Not even close, but thanks for playing our game.

Some people have serious character flaws which can show up in their inability to admit when they are mistaken. This is one such example. Your claim, God did not invent dark or nothing. They are the absence of God. God is the source of light, heat and everything. Was contradicted by sacred Scripture which DOES say:

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)

An allusion to "poetic license" may be addressed here:

As a poetic term in the Western world, darkness is used to connote the presence of shadows, evil, and foreboding. The first day of the biblical creation narrative begins with darkness, into which is introduced the creation of light, and the separation of this light from the darkness (as distinct from the creation of the sun and moon on the fourth day of creation). Thus, although both light and darkness are included in the comprehensive works of the almighty God — darkness was considered "the second to last plague" (Exodus 10:21), and the location of "weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness

Scripture is what corrected you. Your argument is against Almighty God, not Mdmathis6 and not me. It's TRUTH and no game.

[boatbums]

An “organized package of written material” is the tell here. For some reason, Catholics want everyone to pretend the entire Christian community was waiting with baited breath for a “Bible” to be put together by them so that they could know what to believe from then on. Knowledgeable folks know better.

[verga]

I told you the truth, you choose to ignore it. It is on you now.

[metmom]

Scripture tells us the truth.

[terycarl]

What happened is God took the talent of one man (Matthew) and buried it in the ground.

Oh, I see.

[terycarl]

And Jesus wrote in the dust. What SCRIBE read it to the assembled crowd?

who knows??? Or, Jesus could have written a pictograph which explained what He had to say......the overwhelming majority of the people could neither read nor write.......in the crowd, however, were probably members of the government, members of the Jewish religious, tax collectors....all on whom could read.