To damnation. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12)
“By the time I finished my Ph.D., I had completely revised my understanding of the Catholic Church. I saw that her sacramental doctrine, her view of salvation, her veneration of Mary and the saints, and her claims to authority were all grounded in Scripture, in the oldest traditions, and in the plain teaching of Christ and the apostles.
Meaning he found what he wanted, despite her view of salvation by merit, so that must be spend an indeterminate time in postmortem purifying torments until they become good enough (and atone for sins) to enter Heaven;
, her veneration of Mary and the saints
While Prots do venerate Biblical saints, such as Paul, and men and women of faith, Cath veneration includes bowing down to statues of such and praying to them in Heaven, which is never ever commanded or seen in Scripture, except by pagans making supplication and offerings to the only "Queen of Heaven" in Scripture. (Jer. 44)
One would have a hard time in Bible times explaining kneeling before a statue and praising the entity it represented in the unseen world, even with adulation, attributes, glory and titles never given in Scripture to created beings (except to false gods), including having the uniquely Divine power glory to hear and respond to virtually infinite numbers of prayers addressed to them, and beseeching such for Heavenly help, and making offerings to them. Which would constitute worship in Scripture, yet Catholics imagine by playing word games they avoid crossing the invisible line between mere "veneration" and worship.
Instead they should do what Mary and every believer in every prayer to Heaven did (and I should do more of), which was to pray directly to the Lord, not secretaries. But they must truly become born again for that.
Moses, put down those rocks! I was only engaging in hyper dulia, not adoring her. Can't you tell the difference?
Instead Caths basically say,
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes... (Jeremiah 44:16-17)
her claims to authority were all grounded in Scripture, in the oldest traditions, and in the plain teaching of Christ and the apostles.
Meaning as defined by Rome, with tradition being made equal as needed. Mormons claim and do likewise, and as with them, the RC claim to be Scriptural is based upon the premise that Scripture (etc.) only consists of and means what she says in any conflict. However, the manifest reality is that there is a whole list of RC inventions it has accumulated in its progressive deformation, from infant regeneration and justification thru sprinkling or water, to ensured perpetual magisterial infallibility, to the Lord's Supper being that of offering the "real" but not bloody body of flesh and blood of Christ as a sin offering, and literally consuming this as in order to obtain spiritual life, to a separate class sacerdotal believers distinctively titled "priests" since they uniquely engage in the former practice, to praying to created beings in Heaven, to becoming good enough to enter Heaven thru purgatorial torments, etc.
“Scripture teaches that the Church is the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12). Evangelicals tend to dismiss this as mere metaphor, but the ancient Christians thought of it as literally, albeit mystically, true. ...“For He was made man that we might be made God” (De incarnatione, 54.3)...I saw that salvation itself is nothing other than union with Christ and a continual growth into His nature.
Somehow Anders missed the classic teaching that the church is indeed the body of Christ, thus by persecuting the church Paul was persecuting Christ, (Acts 9) while he adds what is missing from Scripture, that Christians become God by union with Christ and a continual growth into His nature.
That Christians are to progressively become partakers of the Divine nature in becoming more Christ-like in character and virtue, and will one day be conformed to Christ in glorified body, with rewards, is evangelical teaching such as classic commentaries (Matthew Henry, Adam Clark, etc.) exhort. But which Anders seems to have missed, likely under liberal profs.
Like other evang. converts to Rome i have read, this one also seems to have been an evangelical in name only, not regeneration.
“This realization also made sense of the Church’s sacramental doctrine.
Meaning error begats error. Once he lent his mind to Rome for indoctrination, he progressively become like a brainwashed cultist.
Jesus meant it when he said: “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” (John 6:55 NAB).
Therefore, keeping with the literalistic interpretation of Jn. 6:53ff, it is an unequivocal necessity that one believing in the Cath "real presence" and consume it in order to obtain spiritual life. Which is nowhere taught in the rest of Scripture, nor is literally eating anything ever a means of obtaining spiritual life.
The ancient Christian doctrine of the Church also made sense of the veneration of saints and martyrs...By invoking their intercession,
Thus despite over 200 prayers to Heaven in Scripture, all of which are directly addressed to God, and not a single supplication being made to any created beings except by pagans; And in which communication btwn created beings requiring both to be in the same realm, and only God being shown to have the ability to hear the multitudinous prayers directed to Heaven, and Christ is specifically stated to be the only heavenly intercessor btwn man and God, and uniquely qualified to be so, (1Tim. 2:5; Heb. 3,4) this willingly brainwashed fool believes Cath teaching which is foreign to Scripture.
And attempted support for which is based upon specious extrapolation, wrongly presuming a correspondence btwn earthy relations and those btwn the Heavenly and earthly realm that Scripture nowhere examples of teaches.
It is the Protestants who limit the reach of Christ’s saving work by denying its implications for the doctrine of the Church.”
Mormonic theology claims the same, with men becoming Gods, and a heavenly mother, and effectively infallible head, and extraScriptural revelation being above Scripture.
As I continued my investigation of Augustine, I learned that this “Protestant hero” thoroughly embraced the veneration of saints.
Luther was also too Catholic, and which is a another reason why we are "not to think of men above that which is written." (1Cor. 4:6) Somehow this sppsd evangelical missed that and thus became a deceived devotee.
“Once I understood the Catholic position on salvation, the Church, and the saints, the Marian dogmas also seemed to fall into place.
More testimony to progressive error begetting error.
If it is appropriate to venerate the saints and martyrs of the Church, how much more is it appropriate to give honor and veneration to her who made possible our redemption?”
But the Holy Spirit fails to do so after the Catholic manner, for while recording Mary as being a holy worshipful virgin vessel for the body God had provided, and whose Spirit-filled beatitudes are inspiring, the Holy Spirit fails to exalted Mary as the almost almighty demigoddess of Catholicism , while giving far more press to the labors of Paul in birthing Christians and churches, while the Lord made all who do the will of His Father to be His mother and brethren, "missing" a prime opportunity to exalt Mary as per Caths.
No wonder the papacy and forgeries of Rome which supported it were so useful.