Q&A to a Troll in a Catholic website (Part 2): What was the means did Jesus make for the transmission of our Christian faith?

PART II 

*Months ago, I was visiting a favorite Catholic website of mine on Facebook and was reading a newly released article about our Blessed Virgin Mary. As I was reading various comments of Catholics regarding the article, I noticed one particular person who appears to be trolling under the comment box, unsolicitedly "refuting" different Catholic teachings to any one who would dare to read his comments and take the bait. As I skimmed through other articles of the site, I was baffled to see that same person trolling the comment boxes again under those respective articles, taking on anybody that challenges his varied assertions and accusations, one Catholic at a time that comes his way like in a one-man-versus-an-army martial arts fighting scene. I started to see his trend.

If I recall correctly, he said he used to be Catholic and now belong to some strain of Protestantism (among the roughly 33,000 in existence today) and the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura) is his sole authority. I told him that swapping Bible verses won't get us anywhere (to argue about Mary, Purgatory, Saints and all other Catholic beliefs that Protestants think are a bunch of hooey). Instead I politely ask him if he is willing to answer 3 fundamental questions about our Christian faith. He obliged although seemingly a bit reluctant at first, but answered it nevertheless. Here's one of the questions I raised, his reply and my response back on his reply:

Me: What was the means or provision did Jesus make for the authoritative transmission of the Christian faith?

His Reply:

Jesus gave men to teach the gospel, first apostles to write and conclude scripture (remember, the canon of scripture was closed at AD 94 with the conclusion of the book of Revelation). While those who followed the apostles did not write scripture (it was already concluded) the Holy Spirit gifts men to be table to pass on the gospel though not perfectly.

My Response:

Jesus never direct His apostles to write or read the Bible as the means to transmit the faith. The Bible did not even exist yet during the ministry of Christ. We don’t find that teaching of Jesus in any of the writings of the apostles. Even the apostles themselves never expected they are going to be writing books when they signed up to follow Christ. Moreover, only 3 out of the 12 apostles wrote scriptures, where were the paperwork of the remaining 9 if writing was such a priority? We don’t find in scriptures that says: "We only need the Bible as our sufficient rule of faith and here are its table of contents (and make sure it's 66 books only! No more nor less, OK?)" Also it is good to keep in mind that the letters Paul wrote where occasional documents meant to address problems within a specific community of believers (e.g. I, Paul am writing to you, Corinths because of this issue, Galatians here is my letter to your issue, etc.)

Instead, Jesus said in Matthew 28 to the apostles "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations and teach them to observe all the Commands (ie., orally) I gave you. And I am with you always to the end of time." Everything He commanded was Oral. Jesus did not write everything down. Some of it were rituals: "Do this in memory of me" (ie., Eucharist)... or "Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit"... or "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (ie., Confession), etc. etc... So he commanded all these to the apostles, to be passed down (ie., tradition) to their successors and in perpetuity guaranteed by his divine authority “I will be with you until the end of age,” and “the gates of hell will never prevail.” Jesus gave us a Church, to be the pillar and foundation of our faith (1 Tim. 3:15). St Paul even affirms this Oral tradition (1 Cor. 11:23, 1 Cor. 11:2, 2 Thes. 2:15, 2 Tim. 2:2, Rom. 10:17).

So then we ask, where is this church in the 1^st century, or 2^nd, or 3^rd down to the present 21^st century that the gates of hell will never prevail as Jesus promised us? There’s only one in direct continuity tracing back to Jesus and the apostles for 2,000 yrs: The Catholic Church. (The so-called protestant “reformers”, they were 1,500 years too late). And we all know what happens when we leave it to ourselves to interpret the Bible (Sola Scriptura, a man-made doctrine by Martin Luther): 33,000 denominations and counting, all claiming the Holy Spirit is in their side of the argument and their biblical interpretation, and everyone else's got it wrong. St Paul clearly says in 1 Cor. 11:16 -- “If anyone wants to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.” Also, 1 Cor. 1:10 -- “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction.”

"Denominationalism" isn’t found in the bible. The whole protestant tradition exists in all its multiplicity because of this incoherence. Every protestant theologian or pastor that pops up is going to give you his authoritative take on what is dogma and what’s opinion and the next guy gives you something different.

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Q&A to a Troll in a Catholic website (Part 3): "What divine authority has revealed the contents of the Bible?"

PART III

*Months ago, I was visiting a favorite Catholic website of mine on Facebook and was reading a newly released article about our Blessed Virgin Mary. As I was reading various comments of Catholics regarding the article, I noticed one particular person who appears to be trolling under the comment box, unsolicitedly "refuting" different Catholic teachings to any one who would dare to read his comments and take the bait. As I skimmed through other articles of the site, I was baffled to see that same person trolling the comment boxes again under those respective articles, taking on anybody that challenges his varied assertions and accusations, one Catholic at a time that comes his way like in a one-man-versus-an-army martial arts fighting scene. I started to see his trend.

If I recall correctly, he said he used to be Catholic and now belong to some strain of Protestantism (among the roughly 33,000 in existence today) and the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura) is his sole authority. I told him that swapping Bible verses won't get us anywhere (to argue about Mary, Purgatory, Saints and all other Catholic beliefs that Protestants think are a bunch of hooey). Instead I politely ask him if he is willing to answer 3 fundamental questions about our Christian faith. He obliged although seemingly a bit reluctant at first, but answered it nevertheless. Here's one of the questions I raised, his reply and my response back on his reply:


Me: What divine authority has revealed the contents of the Bible?

His Reply: Thank you for asking. As believers, we know that God guided the formation of the bible, and essentially all of the books of the bible were already generally accepted as scripture when the bible (the compilation of scripture, a bookkeeping exercise) was generated. The Catholic church did great work in the librarian sense, with some protestants later putting chapter and verse numbers on the bible. All this is practical in order to reference scripture, but no librarian task had any effect, nor grants any authority over understanding or teaching scripture. That's misguided, though it is a view held by a small minority. Remember, scripture is God's word, and came from God, not from men. It doesn't require men to say it's so in order to be God's word.

My response: Sorry to say I don’t find your version of History compelling. You said “essentially all of the books of the bible were already 'generally accepted' as scripture when the bible was generated” but how do you know which scriptures belong to the Bible in the first place before it was generally accepted? In the first 4 centuries there are a lot of scriptures and books floating around, some spurious and false we now know today, that claims to be divinely inspired as well. How come books like: the gospel according to the Hebrews, St Paul’s epistle to the Laodiceans, Epistle of Clement, Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, Doctrine of the 12 apostles, Apostolic constitutions, the Gospel of James, gospel of Thomas, Acts of Pilate, Acts of Paul and Thecla and many others, why are these books not in our Bible today? If the Catholic Church did just bookkeeping and plays merely a librarian like you said, they played a lousy job compiling and missing out a lot of books. So how do we know only 27 New Testament books were accepted as divinely inspired and included in the Bible? Who said so? We don’t find any verse or chapter in the Bible that says Hebrews or Corinthians or Revelation, etc., should be included in the Bible’s table of contents. Scripture itself does not dictate its own table of contents. Again, there had to be an authoritative church before the Bible was compiled to determine what books belongs to the Bible.

It is a fact of history that the Councils of Hippo and of Carthage in 397 AD (all Catholic bishops) under Pope Damasus I, gathered and determined what books were divinely inspired and which one weren’t, settled the Canon or collection of new testament scriptures, decreed that its decision should be sent on to Rome for confirmation, and promulgated it to the whole world saying this is the Word of God that all Christians ought to read. This does not sound like a job of a mere librarian to me. Of course they were guided by the Holy Spirit in determining those books, Jesus said so in Matt 16:18-19; Luke 10:16. The chapters in the Bible were later put forth by 13th-century Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton (he does not sound like a Protestant to me, either), and the verses where put by 16th-century French printer named Robert Estienne (better known as Stephanus).

So if you accept the authority of the Bible, then you accept the authority of the Catholic church because the Catholic church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, was the one who "hand-picked" and decided only 27 books were divinely inspired among the rest and compiled the Bible (Old Testament & New Testament) you and I and the whole world are now reading today. (The first Protestant, Martin Luther, an ex-Catholic priest, where do you think he got the Bible from)? If you don’t accept the authority of the Church, then you might as well throw the Bible out in your hands then, because the Bible is a product of Catholic tradition.

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Child-Like Faith (An Exhortation)

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters. I know the kids are all eager and excited to go trunk or treating this afternoon. So I will try to make it as short and sweet as I can.

I’m pretty sure all parents would agree and can relate to this. That children, especially toddlers are utterly free. They don’t worry about anything.

For example, my 2 year old son, or even my daughter for that matter, when we go for a ride in the van, they get in their car seats without asking "Where are we going, Daddy?" They fall asleep in those car seats and wake up somewhere else and never wonder what happen last night.

My son loves to climb tables, chairs, and shelves like all typical boys do, he even loves to play in the stairs heading down the basement. On a couple of occasion, while he was playing on the stairs, he suddenly threw himself up in the air towards me without warning, catching me off guard. Good thing I caught him, or else I would have been in trouble.

So kids are utterly free, they don’t worry about anything, that’s because they have a father and a mother who love them, who look after them, even catch them if they jump. Even looking around the children here right now all gear up with their favorite Halloween costumes, they don’t care what people think of them.

Reflecting on these instances, makes me realized that how I wish my faith to our heavenly Father is like that of our children’s faith in us. As parents, our kids teach us how to be holy by simply who they are and just by doing what they do every day.

So as we prepare to worship this afternoon, I wish to invite everyone to ask for the grace to fully trust and fully surrender to our Lord all our doubts, fears, and troubles. To have a child-like faith.

MARK 10:15 “(For) Anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Let us pray.

Lord, we believe in you, help our unbelief. Increase our faith and help us to have a faith like a child.

EXHORTATION 10-21-18

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Worship entails Sacrifice (An Exhortation)

Last Tuesday, we had our Cell Group meeting. Our point of discussion was about Sacrifice. We were sharing what are the sacrifices we can offer so that it may enrich the lives of others, in our family, our work and the community we are in. I felt it was a productive and fruitful discussion as it drives us away from ourselves for once and focus on living sacrificially for others more instead.

In a similar sense, whenever we have a community gathering such as today, as I approach worship time, I like to put into heart what St. Paul wrote to the Romans in the very 1^st verse of Chapter 12: “I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.”

Worship entails we sacrifice something. Without sacrifice, we are merely venerating or adoring somebody like we do the saints or our Blessed Mother Mary. If you are in a bad day of coming here today (where your heart and your body are in two opposite spectrum), I wish to tell you to take heart, everyone around here today is already fulfilling a sacrifice for our Lord even just by your mere presence, regardless of your emotional state. And I invite you all to have that mindset and try properly disposing ourselves to worship due to God and God alone by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, through our presence, through our songs of praise.

EXHORTATION 2017-11-5

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On abuse and sex scandalsin the Catholic Church

On abuse and sex scandals

in the Catholic Church

For 2,000 years, the fact that bad priests or popes, scandals and corruptions had NOT been able to destroy the Catholic church is proof that the church was founded by Jesus Christ. Holding on to His promise in Matthew 16:18 that "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it."

 © EWTN 2018-3-1

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Is Infant Baptism Biblical?

CATHOLIC 101

Is Infant Baptism Biblical?

© EWTN 2016-3-24