Erik #2. Please give me some feed back on his comments

my comments are in blue.

You say the Bible is not meant to be the Christian's living manual. No, I did not say that. I agree the bible is the christian's living manual. Jesus told the apostles to teach, he did not tell them to write a book and give it to everyone and let them make up their own minds. Jesus set up the church as a teaching church. (Mat 28:18-20 NRSV-CE) And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.' Let me ask you: How does one learn how to pray? (Mat 6:9 NRSV-CE) 'Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Go to the Bible. It also says to avoid vain repetitions. What did Jesus do at Gethsemane? (Mat 26:44 NRSV-CE) So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Is Jesus wrong? (Rev 4:8 NRSV-CE) And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, 'Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.' Is John wrong?? Or, are using this verse out of context? vain = means simply to take it for an “empty” (“not good”) purpose. repetitions = constant repetition of the same phrase or the mechanical recitation of a long series of obscure or meaningless formulas. Erik, you are a starter man then this. The rosary is NOT empty or meaningless. Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. (Luke 1:28; 2:42)

How do we avoid satan's temptations? Check the Bible. Jesus used the Scriptures to deal with satan. How do we know what are God's Commandments? The bible. How do we deal with a brother who errs?(Mat 18:15-17 NRSV-CE) 'If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. How do we know if what is preached to us is true and not false teaching? Now we are getting to the main issue here. Who did Jesus give his authority to? Peter, and later the rest of the apostles. (bishops) and again what did Jesus tell the apostles to do before he departed into heaven? (Mat 28:18-20 NRSV-CE) And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.' Lets take a closer look at these 3 verses. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and how did he send his apostles out into the world? With his authority. He told them to make disciples, (confirmation) baptizing, teaching them to obey everything He has commanded. What was the early church like? The teachings of the Apostles? These are the same thing. Read Acts. Go to the Bible. The Bible even says not to go beyond what is written. Where?

The religious leaders of Jesus' day were learned men who claimed to be pious and devout but they mixed man made traditions with the Truth and nullified the Word of God. Yes, I agree.Jesus called them white washed tombs. They added teachings such as washing hands before meals, etc which became unscriptural burdens not God's commandments. They endorsed legalistic bondage. Yes.

Many times Jesus said: "It is written," indicating the primacy of God's Word. Or He would say: "You err," or "you do not understand, because you have not read the Scriptures." He never said go to the Synagogue and have a rabbi read the Scriptures to you and interpret it for you. No? again I refer to (Mat 28:18-20 NRSV-CE) And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.' The Bereans searched the Scriptures for themselves whenever Paul, Silas or someone else preached to them. That is right, Acts 17:11. they were being taught, and they were searching the old testament. They judged the preachers and what they taught by the Scriptures, not the other way around.

Jesus resisted the temptations of satan 3 times by saying: "It is written." Jesus said to the Jews: "You search the Scriptures thinking in them you have eternal life, but you don't do what it says!" John 5:39 says: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Yes, He was speaking to the pharisees. You are not taking the side of the pharisees are you? Paul warned: "see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men...rather than according to Christ." (Col. 2:8). Jesus used the authority of Scriptures to rebuke false teachers. The only way false teachers can be confronted and exposed is in the power of God's Word. Yes.

The Jews considered that eternal life was revealed to them in their Scriptures, and that they had it, because they had the word of God in their hands. Jesus urged them to search those Scriptures with more diligence and attention. You do search the Scriptures, and you do well to do so. They did indeed search the Scriptures, but it was with a view to their own glory.They admired and overvalued themselves. Jesus said, Search the Scriptures, and it was spoken to them in the nature of an appeal. It is spoken to us as advising or commanding all Christians to search the Scriptures. Not only read them, and hear them, but search them; which indicates diligence in examining and studying them. We must search the Scriptures for everything pertaining to salvation is in there. As do I. I can not speak for other catholics, but in my parish we are encouraged to study daily. A Catholic Exegesis of Sacred Scripture has for 2,000 years been based on four rules in the Exegisis of Scripture fully defined Established by Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) seconded and confirmed by Pope Benedict XV in Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) and by Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) Pope Pius XII declared in Divino... that Leo's encyclical Providentisisimus for interpreting the bible to "the supreme guide in Biblical studies"

Four rules for interpreting the Bible for the Catholic Church

1. Always pay attention to the Magisterium the authority of the Church

2. Be guided by what the early fathers had to say about a particular passage.

3. Always to be guided by what the Bible has to say as a whole (not key phrases here and there for defining ones theology and ignoring passages which do not fit one's theology, see opening quote). One must take into account all of Scripture which pertains to a given doctrinal truth.

4. Always take the Bible Literally unless it is reasonably unattenable

Most outside of the Catholic Church would ignore rule number one. But all Christians outside of the Catholic church ought to pay attentions to the last three rules particulary rule number "2" and "3". Rule "2" states to always be guided by what the early church fathers had to say. Why? First we were not there to hear and see everything and can easily be fooled into reading something not there into Scripture or reading something out of Scripture. The First Fathers were trained by the Apostles and the preceding Fathers are closer to the time frame allowing for less corruption of the teachings to occur. We are 2,000 years removed from the original source. Second and Most Important is that Scripture is clear on this and is repeated often by Paul that we are to pay attention to both the Sacred Oral word as well as the Sacred Written word passed down.

The Apostle John concluded his gospel acknowledging that the life of Christ was too wonderful to be contained in any book. He was not commenting on the general purpose of Scripture or the need for tradition. Neither was he implying that he had left out of his book essential revelation received from Christ. He included in his gospel all the essential teachings of Christ necessary for salvation. Show me where it says just that. The RCC tries to claim that many things were left out of the Bible because John says nothing about 7 sacaments, Oh really?? (Joh 3:5 NRSV-CE) Jesus answered, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. (Baptism). (Joh 6:53 NRSV-CE) So Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (Eucharist). (Joh 20:23 NRSV-CE) If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.' (Confession). (Joh 20:21 NRSV-CE) Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' (Holy Orders). humm, 4 out of the 7 sacraments, the sacrifice of the mass, penance, or an institiution such as the RCC. (Joh 21:15 NRSV-CE) When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'(Joh 21:16 NRSV-CE) A second time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Tend my sheep.'(Joh 21:17 NRSV-CE) He said to him the third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?' And he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.

Who told catholics they cannot interpret the Scriptures? Not God, but the RCC.(2Pe 3:15 NRSV-CE) and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, (2Pe 3:16 NRSV-CE) speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. (2Pe 3:17 NRSV-CE) You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. If one is depending solely on a priest to tell them every Sunday what the Bible means, then one will remain woefully ignorant of the life giving riches which it contains. Here I agree with you, many Catholics have fallen way behind our protestant brothers. The Scriptures were written to all people, yes. not to popes or the Magisterium to be interpreted for lay people. no, this is the mission of the church, to teach. Paul delivered the uncorrupted Word of God to every man's conscience in the sight of God. (2 Cor. 4:2) Any time we allow others to interpret God's word for us, we leave ourselves open to deception. That's why Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. (1 Tim 2:5)

It isn't just popes who are guided by the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us all born-again believers in Christ receive the indwelling Holy Spirit who testifies of God's truth. John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.".context my friend, context. this is the last supper. Who was there? the apostles. Jesus was speaking to them. Can you remember everything Jesus said and did?

Since the books were written under the inspiration of God, they were canonical the moment they were written. A council was not necessary to affirm what was already true. Yes, it did. No book became canonical by the action of a church council. What the council did was determine which books did not meet certain tests for canonicity. Right, thanks for making my point.

We have the infallible Bible today, not because of the RCC, So you think all the gnostic gospels should have been in the bible? right... but because Almighty God has protected it and will continue to do so (Matt 5:18). One day we will all be held accountable for what we did with God's Word. It is His Word that will judge those who supplant God's authority with an authority of their own.