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To: NYer
So what did Paul tell the Galatians in chapter 1 even to his calling, who he was, and what they should listen too? It is very different than what RCC teaches. What has the RCC done with gospel that Paul preached to the Galatians, the Romans, and in other places and the church order he set into place? His writings are typical to most non Catholic Christian churches as to their order of services and choosing of pastors, deacons, elders, etc. Would Paul recognize the RCC as something he helped begin? Or would the RCC get a letter like he wrote to the Galatians? Did Paul hold the type of services "Mass" the RCC holds? No. Paul was a preacher so were the others including Peter. Their message was basic and too the point. Paul placed minimal writings for the churches no volumes upon volumes of mans demands. He preached The Gospel.

What did the RCC Popes do instead? Add more to the churches laws instead of saying what Christ and the Apostles wrote is enough. Why isn't the RCC following the Apostles tradition if they claim tradition? Remember they had a real hard time with the early churches who were wanting to "ADD" rituals and conditions to the church and place mans demands upon the churches.

Apostle succession as the RCC refers to would have had those following the initial Apostles abiding in their traditions. Meaning they would actually be following the Apostles teachings instead of allowing Pope after Pope to add more as Paul warned of. They've added "conditions" set by man upon the believers that are not there in scripture.

Those are some examples of why Protestant churches do not follow the doctrines and teachings of the RCC and why the split off from int happened. The Gospel got set aside made secondary and replaced by man written RCC DOGMA and rituals added incrementally throughout two millennium that simply is not Biblically correct.

301 posted on 11/14/2014 8:07:42 PM PST by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
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To: cva66snipe; Heart-Rest; vladimir998
So what did Paul tell the Galatians in chapter 1 even to his calling, who he was, and what they should listen too? It is very different than what RCC teaches. What has the RCC done with gospel that Paul preached to the Galatians, the Romans, and in other places and the church order he set into place? His writings are typical to most non Catholic Christian churches as to their order of services and choosing of pastors, deacons, elders, etc.

Some clarification is needed. Paul wrote an Epistle, not a Gospel. An epistle is a letter written to a person or a church or a group of people, giving them general teaching or answers to specific questions.. A gospel is a historical account of the life of the Lord Jesus. Gospel means "Good news" in Old English.

There are 4 Gospel writers - Matthew, Mark, John and Luke. With the exception of Luke, all were eyewitnesses. The order of the Gospels in our printed Bible is that sanctioned by Tradition. The first three Gospels are frequently called the Synoptics (from the Greek terms syn "together," and opsis "view"). When placed side by side and brought under one view, these three Gospels present a striking resemblance and appear as one narrative. Not only are many of the same events and speeches recorded in each, but the order and manner in which they are narrated is nearly the same.

Matthew's Gospel was intended for the Jewish converts of Palestine, and was written in Aramaic, the language of the country.

Mark's Gospel was written for Gentiles, especially for Roman Gentile converts.

Luke was a native of Antioch - a city renowned for its learning - where he received his early education. From the fluency and perfection of his literary style, it is inferred that he was a Greek. Luke's Gospel is a record of Christ's life and teaching as preached by Paul.

St. John wrote his Gospel partly with a view to supplementing those of his predecessors but principally to establish on a firm basis the Divinity of Christ, even then impugned by Cerinth and other heretics. John has explicitly told us what was the object of his Gospel: "Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of His disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in his name" (20:30, 31). The particular scope of the author and the time of composition have given the fourth Gospel a character quite different from that of the Synoptics. In the first place, St. John's Gospel has little of the Synoptic material. This absence is not due to St. John's ignorance of the first three Gospels, for he knows the Synoptics and makes a clear allusion to their contents (1:26-33; 6:68; 12-27). St. John's aim is not to rewrite the Synoptics but to give the Church another Gospel, a more profound presentation of the Person and teaching of Christ.

The Galatians to whom the letter is addressed were Paul’s converts, most likely among the descendants of Celts who had invaded western and central Asia Minor in the third century B.C. and had settled in the territory around Ancyra (modern Ankara, Turkey). Paul had passed through this area on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:6) and again on his third (Acts 18:23).

What is the purpose of his letter? The new Christians whom Paul is addressing were converts from paganism (Gal 4:8–9) who were now being enticed by other missionaries to add the observances of the Jewish law, including the rite of circumcision, to the cross of Christ as a means of salvation. For, since Paul’s visit, some other interpretation of Christianity had been brought to these neophytes, probably by converts from Judaism (the name “Judaizers” is sometimes applied to them); it has specifically been suggested that they were Jewish Christians who had come from the austere Essene sect.

These interlopers insisted on the necessity of following certain precepts of the Mosaic law along with faith in Christ. They were undermining Paul’s authority also, asserting that he had not been trained by Jesus himself, that his gospel (i.e. message) did not agree with that of the original and true apostles in Jerusalem, that he had kept from his converts in Galatia the necessity of accepting circumcision and other key obligations of the Jewish law, in order more easily to win them to Christ, and that his gospel was thus not the full and authentic one held by “those of repute” in Jerusalem (Gal 2:2). His letter is intended to correct their misunderstandings.

What is the purpose of Paul's Epistle (letter) to the Romans? Like all Paul’s letters, Romans too arose out of a specific situation, when the apostle wrote from Greece, likely Corinth, between A.D. 56 and 58 (cf. Acts 20:2–3). Paul at that time was about to leave for Jerusalem with a collection of funds for the impoverished Jewish Christian believers there, taken up from his predominantly Gentile congregations (Rom 15:25–27). He planned then to travel on to Rome and to enlist support there for a mission to Spain (Rom 15:24, 28). Such a journey had long been on his mind (Rom 1:9–13; 15:23). Now, with much missionary preaching successfully accomplished in the East (Rom 15:19), he sought new opportunities in the West (Rom 15:20–21), in order to complete the divine plan of evangelization in the Roman world. Yet he recognized that the visit to Jerusalem would be hazardous (Rom 15:30–32), and we know from Acts that Paul was arrested there and came to Rome only in chains, as a prisoner (Acts 21–28, especially Acts 21:30–33 and Acts 28:14, 30–31).

The existence of a Christian community in Rome antedates Paul’s letter there. When it arose, likely within the sizable Jewish population at Rome, and how, we do not know. The Roman historian Suetonius mentions an edict of the Emperor Claudius about A.D. 49 ordering the expulsion of Jews from Rome in connection with a certain “Chrestus,” probably involving a dispute in the Jewish community over Jesus as the Messiah (“Christus”). According to Acts 18:2, Aquila and Priscilla (or Prisca, as in Rom 16:3) were among those driven out; from them, in Corinth, Paul may have learned about conditions in the church at Rome. Paul writes to introduce himself and his message to the Christians at Rome, seeking to enlist their support for the proposed mission to Spain. He therefore employs formulations likely familiar to the Christians at Rome. The gospel (i.e. message) Paul presents is meant to be a familiar one to those in Rome, even though they heard it first from other preachers.

Paul’s Letter to the Romans is a powerful exposition of the doctrine of the supremacy of Christ and of faith in Christ as the source of salvation. It is an implicit plea to the Christians at Rome, and to all Christians, to hold fast to that faith. They are to resist any pressure put on them to accept a doctrine of salvation through works of the law (see note on Rom 10:4). At the same time they are not to exaggerate Christian freedom as an abdication of responsibility for others (Rom 12:1–2) or as a repudiation of God’s law and will.

To sum up, the Gospels are the actual teachings of Jesus Christ. The Epistles (letters) are directed to specific groups of christian converts in various communities, intended to correct misunderstandings or reinforce what they have already been taught (orally preached). ALL of these "communities" or "churches" were united in one faith, i.e. the Catholic Church.

Does this answer your question?

346 posted on 11/15/2014 4:40:44 AM PST by NYer ("You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears." James 4:14)
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To: cva66snipe; NYer

cva66snipe, I think NYer did a fine job of answering your questions. One that struck me is the following:

“What did the RCC Popes do instead? Add more to the churches laws instead of saying what Christ and the Apostles wrote is enough.”

Please show me where Jesus or the Apostles ever addressed the following issues:

- abortion
- embryonic stem cell research
- surrogacy pregnancy
- nuclear war
- preemptive war
- and literally thousands of other issues

Quite frankly it is impossible for any group - even the Church - to exist for 2,000 years and not flesh out a number of moral principles and their application (you’re calling them “laws” - and that’s fine). All Protestant groups do EXACTLY THE SAME THING. They’re just not as organized about it. Seriously, it can change from pastor to pastor. The catechism, however, has the same principles - further explicated but the same principles - for century after century.


354 posted on 11/15/2014 7:02:36 AM PST by vladimir998
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