Posted on 01/01/2015 2:06:50 PM PST by RnMomof7
With Reformation Day coming up, this is a good time to recall why the Reformers departed from Roman Catholicism. In our day especially, it seems that many Christians have history-amnesia when it comes to the importance of what God did through the Reformers. During the Reformation, great confusion existed regarding what was, and was not, the true church of Christ. Rome had asserted itself as the true church for centuries, and continues to do so today. However, as the Reformers recognized then, Christians must follow in step today by recalling that joining hands with Rome is a departure from Christ.
To be clear, this is not to say that everyone who sits in a Roman Catholic church is not a Christian. What it is saying is that several changes must occur before Roman Catholicism, by the book, can be considered biblical Christianity. And the men and women of the Reformation understood this, hence their necessary break with Rome. In their case, and ours, joining Christ necessitates breaking with Rome and coming under Christ means coming out from under Rome.
Christians will know that it is time to join hands with Rome when it does the following:
1. Renounce the Papacy.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecripplegate.com ...
Why not! The SDAs screamed it from the house tops for years, “SUNDAY IS THE DAY OF THE DEVIL!” and it is still found in some of their independent publications.
NATIONAL SUNDAY LAW
http://www.seventh-day.org/Read_NSL.htm
***Look at this astonishing statement concerning her act of changing God’s Sabbath to Sunday - “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act (get this now) is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” (1)! Sunday worship is the mark of the Papacy’s authority. The mark. Sunday worship is the “mark of the beast!” ***
And I still remember the AMAZING FACTS program in which the bald headed preacher declared...”YOU are saved by GRACE, IF you keep the Sabbath!”
No mention of Jesus.
No one is denying the authority of Paul. Rather, the point is that the sayings of Jesus stand on their own and do not need Paul to be confirmed.
I agree with a lot of what you say and I really believe we can see some things that are wrong in most Churches Catholic or protestant.
Although James was obviously the recognized leader in the Church at Jerusalem, by reading verses 1 through 7 we can see that no one except Christ should be sitting in the high place.
James 2
1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Verse 12 through 18 shows that the saved by faith alone crowd are falling short.
James is making this personal, it is not what my religion does, it is what i do.
It would appear so. Those with a carnal understanding of scripture will trot out their “proof texts” bereft of context with the rest of scripture. Insistent on a belief that man can somehow merit their salvation by what they do. They will unknowingly reduce Christ to having only opened a door that man in his own goodness can access or even demand entry.
And one only need study scripture to understand that the Catholic Church leads all those in error and apostasy from the truth of God's word.
Why not! The SDAs screamed it from the house tops for years, “SUNDAY IS THE DAY OF THE DEVIL!” and it is still found in some of their independent publications.
As I have plainly agreed that God made the Sabbath for man, not the other way around, we can keep any day we want, we can call any day a Sabbath, but that does not make it THE Sabbath.
The point being that the Sunday Sabbath keepers are just as wrong as the real Sabbath keepers.
Many tried to leave or reform the Roman church earlier. The Heugonots, Albigensians and others. They were dealt with ruthlessly and many were martyred. There was not one big happy family prior to the Reformation, heresy has always been called out, often at the cost of one’s life
Hey, don’t short change the Catholic Church. Most of their beliefs go back to Babylon and Nimrod and his wife Semeramis.
“No one is denying the authority of Paul. Rather, the point is that the sayings of Jesus stand on their own and do not need Paul to be confirmed.”
Okay, but that is not MY point. Jesus gave further, “newer” information after his monumental Resurrection. That information is specifically to us the Church. Are you one of the lost sheep of Israel he came to as one “born under law, to redeem those under law”? Or are you one “not under law but under grace”?
A lot of screwed up theology comes out of being uncertain as to the answer.
So God commanded that the ten commandments should be placed into a coffin and were dead already prior to Jesus death and resurrection? Seriously??
Strong's show ONE case of it being translated coffin and that was well in context and even in that context it could also mean "chest" as it is translated in many other places. Your analogy is bogus at best and totally contrary to the rest of scripture. There are many other portions of scripture that address the need to follow laws or not but this is definitely NOT one of them.
The private messages I get would prove that statement in error.
The scriptures are foolishness to those that are perishing
That is just another lie of Rome
In an article entitled “30,000 Protestant Denominations?”, Evangelical apologist Eric Svendsen exposes the falsehood of this fabrication. Briefly:
Svendsen shows that the source of this figure is the World Christian Encyclopedia (David A. Barrett; Oxford University Press, 1982).
Barrett cites a figure of 20,780 denominations. However not all of them are Protestants. According to Barrett, Protestants account for 8,196 (and incidentally, Roman Catholics account for 223).
However, even this figure of eight thousand Protestant denominations is misleading, for Barrett defines “distinct denominations” as any group that might have a slightly different emphasis than another group. The distinction is made on the basis of jurisdiction, rather than differing beliefs and practices.
Barrett breaks down the Protestant bloc into twenty-one major “traditions” which are much closer to what we usually mean by the word “denominations.” It is interesting that Roman Catholics are subdivided into sixteen such “traditions.”
Svendsen concludes, “In short, Roman Catholic apologists have hurriedly, carelessly - and, as a result, irresponsibly - glanced at Barrett’s work, found a large number (22,189), and arrived at all sorts of absurdities that Barrett never concluded.”
The Catholics trying that tactic should first read the requirements found in 1 Timothy 3 before ever attempting that line.
So you don't believe that those words by Paul were actually the words given him by the Holy Spirit? Or is it that you think the Holy Spirit would have disagreed with what Jesus said?
Sorry you don't seem to believe that the words of Paul were actually the words of the Holy Spirit, right?
Thank you for posting that.
I’m sure it will need to be reiterated again and again, just like the argument that Luther removed books from the Bible fallacy.
**There are many other portions of scripture that address the need to follow laws or not but this is definitely NOT one of them. ***
When they had the LAW, did they follow it?
Deuteronomy 12:8
Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
Judges 17:6
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
With respect Salvation, Paul’s words ARE Christ’s words. He KEPT SPEAKING AFTER THE RESURRECTION. through his apostles.
2 Tim 3
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
Since Timothy had known the scriptures all of his life I believe it should be assumed that Paul was not talking about his own scripture but the scripture which came from the old testament.
Paul also blasted the Christians who still believed in circumcision, but what did he do? he circumcised timothy in Acts 16:3
Galatians 2:11
Paul told the Galatians that he opposed Peter in public.
11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him in public, because he was clearly wrong.
What did Peter do so wrong? he sit with the circumcised.
What did Jesus say about it?
Matthew 18
15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Paul did not do as Jesus said, in fact he told the whole world with out going to Peter first.
So we need to be careful about all scripture coming from God or be careful what we see as scripture.
Sounds like the old Adventist con game:
“$10,000 dollars reward to show in the bible where it says we must worship on SUNDAY!”
Since the Bible does not mention the word “Sunday” the reward is never paid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.