Posted on 10/27/2013 5:25:55 AM PDT by 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)?
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?
OH GREAT, the list of naughty popes again....I haven't seen it in.....oh, about three days and I miss it.Where on earth did you get it??? Oh yes, from the Catholic church, for most of that period your "denomination" didn't even exist.......we wash our own dirty laundry. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and, whoever is in second place isn't even in sight.
Probably pulled it out of a cereal box.
Actually that's called EVIDENCE TAMPERING.
I can't PROVE that Christ was God, but common sense prevails (as my tagline points out)I know that books were an ultra expensive luxury in those days, that there was no paper to write on, that writing instruments were not easily obtainable because nobody needed them, Staples had no store in Jerusalem, don't you have any concept of common sense or reality at all.....it should be apparent to all, based on what we all know what the conditions were, at that historical time, that the written word was available to the masses only by word of mouth.
a learned person wriote it, a learned person read it, and passed it along to the people by telling them what the document said...as Obama says......PERIOD
all this old testament interpretation took place during the adult years of Jesus' life???????????????
people were trying to execute Him, not recognizing Him as the Messiah....There are still a majority of people onEarth that do not accept Him as Redeemer, nor as God.
The old testament references are clear TO US, but they certainly weren't to the peopple in those days.....talk about clueless!
that car, traveling 70 MPH toward that tree, which is 1 foot from it, in my opinion, will strike the tree.
sometimes opinions are correct. Again, please use common sense....think, think, think, before you speak.
WOW, you are coming around!! Of course Jesus is the head of the church, but while He was here on Earth, He designated a titular head of His church to take over when He left. Upon this rock I will build MY CHURCH...the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
and, by the way you mentioned His body.....
He took bread, gave thanks to God, and said TAKE THIS ALL OF YOU AND EAT IT.....THIS IS MY BODY
and the Prottys don't believe it.....sad
they still don't and it is 2,013 years later....that's who the early Catholics were dealing with.....we knew that the Messiah had been crucified, they didn't....
let's see now....there were ONLY Catholic christians for the first 1,600 years of Christianity. The Catholic nChristians compiled, edited, transcribed, copied (By hand)all the scriptures and various books of the old and new testament, protected them through the ages, kept them from the moslem hoardes, built monastaries, libraries, universities, educated the masses in the scriptures and you are suggesting that they deny or corrupt them......right
You need to read the New Testament more.
Yep.
Jesus never gave up the headship of the church to anyone else.
Ephesians 5:23-32 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
the entire Christian community was them....they weren't waiting for anything, they were bust organizing Christ's church which exists to this day. Knowledgeable folks are Catholic...the rest are followers of some man made "denomination"....good luck with that
we certainly did a better job, and paid dearly, than did our protestant brethren.....who were guilty of FAR MORE egregious events, who paid nothing and basically did nothing to compensate their victims??????
if you think that reading something over, and over, and over, and over again and misinterpreting it every time, is of any benefit to you, you are wrong....
would you get surgery from me if I read a surgery book 100 times, but had never gone to medical school and been TAUGHT BY PEOPLE who understood the skill....
The Catholic Church has taught and understood Christianity for 2,013 years....I listen to them, I am helped to correctly interpret the scriptures, I am guided by their years of study and prayer.
when I was a child, I listened to my parents, grandparents and others who had experiences in life...I thought that I knew it all, but I never became a protestant.
of course He didn't....the word titular means just that....in My absence, you are in charge, what you bind, I will bind, what you loose, I will loose.
a CEO does that all the time, while I'm gone, you are in charge....Jesus was a great manager as well as a Messiah.
It's not like becoming a Protestant is going to get you any more saved than being a Catholic is.
You need Jesus, not religion.
If you want religion over Jesus, then you might as well pick any religion you're the happiest with. Enjoy it while you can cause once you're dead, the party is over.
much less of a chance as a matter of fact...to deny Catholicism is to deny Christ....He started His church on the Apostles and He promised to protect her until the end of time.....the protestants decided to do it their own way...I think that it was a BIG mistake!!!
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