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 ...
Christin denominations.
“Christian denominations”
I was referring to Christian rites
The answer must be true to the New Covenant in Christ which frees us from the law. We are convicted by the law but justified by faith.
Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. We find our rest in him. Any other Sabbath is pagan.
What Christian rites? I know of none.
“But who has the authority to declare what are the core beliefs? Furthermore, since it is claimed that Protestants, despite the large number of denominations, are actually united in core beliefs, what is the justification from cutting off and separating from other Christians over minor issues?”
Been decided for a few hundred years - even longer, if you go back to the early creeds.
We don’t separate over minor issues, except to acknowledge liberty among the rites.
“In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity”
>>> There is no mechanism within Protestantism to correct error. <<<<
That is not the case. Scripture is what is to be used to correct error. Compare a teaching to Scripture and see if Scripture supports it.
Will there be disagreements? Of course, for several reasons.
One of which is that the enemy is always going to be trying to introduce false teachings. He did from the very inception of the church.
Another is that not all believers are at the same level of spiritual maturity and teaching as each other. Some may have been brought up in a church that had really bad teaching and may have to unlearn it. That takes time and the enlightening work of the Holy Spirit. But if they err in something, that does not mean they are not saved either.
Another is the area already mentioned about disputable matters, such as drinking or dancing, or the day you worship on or eating meat sacrificed to idols.
God does not demand doctrinal unity for salvation. Churches do that.
God’s criteria for salvation is faith in Christ. If someone is wrong in an area, it’s God’s primary responsibility to correct that whether He uses simply reading Scripture and seeing it for yourself, or another person to do the correcting.
And again, someone could have all the creeds and catechisms memorized word perfect and what does it gain them? Are they more spiritual for it? More mature? Is it true faith or just intellectual assent?
There’s a world of difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Christ. For all the derision that the phrase *personal relationship with Christ* receives, it gets down to that. Men don’t need to be perfect for God to be able to deal with them as sons. They just need to be forgiven, and that forgiveness is granted strictly by grace on the part of God.
Here is a good definition of sola Scriptura, posted again for anyone who has not yet understood what Christians mean by it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3059418/posts?page=828#828
“First of all, it is not a claim that the Bible contains all knowledge. The Bible is not exhaustive in every detail. John 21:25 speaks to the fact that there are many things that Jesus said and did that are not recorded in John, or in fact in any book in the world because the whole books of the world could not contain it. But the Bible does not have to be exhaustive to function as the sole rule of faith for the Church. We do not need to know the color of Thomas’ eyes. We do not need to know the menu of each meal of the Apostolic band for the Scriptures to function as the sole rule of faith for the Church.
Secondly, it is not a denial of the Church’s authority to teach God’s truth. I Timothy 3:15 describes the Church as “the pillar and foundation of the truth.” The truth is in Jesus Christ and in His Word. The Church teaches truth and calls men to Christ and, in so doing, functions as the pillar and foundation thereof. The Church does not add revelation or rule over Scripture. The Church being the bride of Christ, listens to the Word of Christ, which is found in God-breathed Scripture.
Thirdly, it is not a denial that God’s Word has been spoken. Apostolic preaching was authoritative in and of itself. Yet, the Apostles proved their message from Scripture, as we see in Acts 17:2, and 18:28, and John commended those in Ephesus for testing those who claimed to be Apostles, Revelation 2:2. The Apostles were not afraid to demonstrate the consistency between their teaching and the Old Testament.
And, finally, sola scriptura is not a denial of the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding and enlightening the Church.
What then is sola scriptura?
The doctrine of sola scriptura, simply stated, is that the Scriptures and the Scriptures alone are sufficient to function as the regula fide, the “rule of faith” for the Church. All that one must believe to be a Christian is found in Scripture and in no other source. That which is not found in Scripture is not binding upon the Christian conscience.
To be more specific, I provide the following definition:
The Bible claims to be the sole and sufficient rule of faith for the Christian Church. The Scriptures are not in need of any supplement. Their authority comes from their nature as God-breathed revelation. Their authority is not dependent upon man, Church or council.
The Scriptures are self-consistent, self-interpreting, and self-authenticating. The Christian Church looks at the Scriptures as the only and sufficient rule of faith and the Church is always subject to the Word, and is constantly reformed thereby.
http://vintage.aomin.org/SANTRAN.html
“What Christian rites? I know of none.”
Well, I understand you are a catholic, so maybe you are unaware.
Sorry you don’t seem to believe in Christ’s words — right?
Matthew 23:1-36 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
***Saturday originally never had anything to do with sacrifice, it was a day of rest.***
WRONG! Sacrifices were offered every day, including the Sabbath!
Exodus:20:8-11
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
).
My NUMBERS 28: trumps your Exodus 20!
28 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season.
***
9 And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof:
10 This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.
Matthew 12:
5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple PROFANE THE SABBATH, and are blameless?
The answer must be true to the New Covenant in Christ which frees us from the law. We are convicted by the law but justified by faith.
Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. We find our rest in him. Any other Sabbath is pagan.
Of course we are all on one side of the trench or another. But these posts do nothing to get anyone over to the other side of the trench. The same people just keep arguing about the same points again and again without positive effect.
The people who benefit here are those that are still learning, that they may look at the facts and arguments and get closer to the truth, that they may be saved from wrong thinking........................
Again, remember our Founding Fathers thrived on public debate and would have it no other way.
....”In putting himself in the place of head of the church, the pope has set himself in the place of Christ..... But Jesus Christ alone is the head of the true church (Eph 1:22-23).”....
Well they’ll never dennouce the Pope...ever. Everything else trickles down for there to the Priesthood and then the Dead Saint worship...
Catholicism will cease to be that without the Pope and Priesthood...and mary worship. Of course they will never let looses of that.....thus the reformation would even have to take place today as well. I do not see catholicism changing the pillars it stands on...which is the Pope and the Priesthood....with Mary the c0-redeemer.
So what did Jesus do before he ascended into heaven?
He left the Church in care of St. Peter and the other apostles, the first Bishops.
Pope Francis stands shoulder to shoulder with OBAMA on income inequality, the reboot with communist Cuba and Global WArming agenda.... where it’s now said Francis wants to be a leading voice at a U.N. global warming summit next year, at which time Obama is slated for his greatest pitch for more dramatic action on the environment.
... NWO has Francis in their pocket to bring the throngs of catholics on board with the NWO agenda...Climate Change policies are simply redistribution of wealth to 3rd world countries...and Enviormentalism is the Liberal/Progressives religion.
...”I don’t expect the dragon to become the lamb”...
Well said. Short and to the point.
That does not answer my question of who has the authority to decide. If such an authority did exist in the church where is it today? Where was that authority in the 16th century when the disputes over the Reformation arose?
I remember 38 years ago when deer season always opened on Monday because it was against the law to fire a rifle on Sunday in Arkansas.
That has since changed.
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