Oh, the books in the Bible fell from the skies.
Well no, but they didn't come from anything distinctively Catholic either. For the first two centuries, more or less, we were all just Christians. Then somewhere along the way those dudes in Rome started in on a major pride ride and bang, zoom, next thing you know, you've got schism.
No need for the early Church Fathers, these theologians and historical scholars that for decades sorted out the fine filaments, word for word, cross checked and fact-checked with the received oral traditions, ritual, and custom, discarded some books and included others, in putting together the Bible.
"fine filaments?" Really? Polycarp was using almost the entire NT we have today by the early part of the Second Century. The later councils basically rubber-stamped what the churches at large had already recognized as the God-breathed Scriptures. Day late, dollar short.
This Petrine authority suddenly vanishes.
Nice try, but something has to exist before it can vanish, and, as I mentioned before,
Peter Lampe's scholarly work demonstrates there was nothing like a Petrine continuity of authority for the first 160 years or so of the Roman Christian community.
The Biblical anarchy and chaos from freewheeling and freelancing scriptural interpretation is evident in the mess that can be referred to what Hillaire Belloc’s says in his book “The Great Heresies” that unlike other heresies, Protestantism has spawned a “cluster of heresies.”
Yes, yes chaos is bad. But there are worse things ...
Worse,
Oh my, we agree on something? What - what could be worse than chaos?
these street preachers like TD Jakes, Billy Graham, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren are all over the place on the issue of gay marriage and homosexuality:
Are you saying you think that error is worse than chaos? That truth matters more than whether everyone has peaceful, Borg-like agreement? Amazing. You're almost there. Another inch in our direction and you'll be a Protestant for sure. :)
Check this famous piece of “scriptural interpretation” rubbish from Billy Graham that is symptomatic of the Biblical anarchy from those who deny Petrine authority.
“I think that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, but the Bible also teaches that pride is a sin, jealousy is a sin, and hate is a sin, evil thoughts are a sin. So I don’t think that homosexuality should be chosen as the overwhelming sin that we are doing today.” Billy Graham
Let me ask you a question or two. Remember Jesus telling some folks they had committed the unpardonable sin? Which one was it? And who committed it? Was it a gay person? Or a straight person? Was it a sexual sin? Or a spiritual sin? Was the offending party a heathen, backwoods ne'er-do-well? Or a highly respected, extremely well-educated, and very religious individual?
Peace,
SR
Strange that those who express disdain for theological research, and the oral tradition must now use a street theology. Don’t take it from me.
What did Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer, state about the Bible? In his “Commentary On St. John,” he stated the following: “We are compelled to concede to the Papists that they have the Word of God, that we have received It from them, and that without them we should have no knowledge of It at all.”
Regardless of what non-Catholic Christians may think or say, according to secular, objective historians, the Catholic Church alone preserved Sacred Scripture throughout the persecution of the Roman Empire and during the Dark Ages.
All non-Catholic Christian denominations owe the existence of the Bible to the Catholic Church alone.
God choose the Catholic Church to preserve Scripture because it is His Church.