‘Bible alone’ is not the basis of faith
Jesus in His life never mentioned about a Bible. He never commanded us to believe in a book. We cannot see He ordered apostles to write a Book. During the time of apostles there was no Bible at all. Jesus founded, not a book as the basis of faith, but the Church as the "pillar and foundation of the truth" (2 Tim 3:15). And He promised not that book, but He himself will be with his Church till the end of the age (Mt. 28:20) and the Holy Spirit will lead the apostles and the successors in to the ‘fullness of truth’ after his ascension to heaven (Jn 14: 16-17). He even said, "If everyone refuses to listen to the Church, treat him as if you would a gentle or tax collector."
Tradition and the Bible
In the early cenuries, before the Bible was formed, Christians believed the teaching of the apostles and their disciples, as the basis of their faith, which the Church calls "Holy Tradition." These traditions were not human customs mentioned in Mt. 15: 3, 6 – 9, that were observed ny Pharisees, but theyw ere accepted as guided by the Holy Spirit.
In fact, the words such as ‘Bible,’ Purgatory, ‘Trinity,’ and Assumption are all coming from these early Christian traditions! Later, when the Bible came, it defended those traditions.
2 Thess. 2:15 "So then, brethen, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us."
1 Cor. 11:2 "Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you."
Why the Bible was formed?
In early centuries of the church, there appeared more than 50 gospels, which include 4 gospels that we see in New Testament and other gospels such as gospel of James, gospel of Thomas, gospel of Hebrews,etc.. There were 22 Book of Acts, Acts of Apostles, Acts of Paul, and Acts of Thecia etc… There were numerous Epistles that we see in New Testament and others such as Paul’s letter to Laodiceans, Epistle of Barnabas, etc.. It created total confusion among early Christians because some of the books and letters were ‘spurious’ and others genuine. Some of them contained even superstitiouns and funny stories of miracles of Jesus and apostles. Many false prophets appeared with different theologies contrary to the apostolic teaching. For Arius, Jesus was not God. For Aollinarius, Jesus was not man. Macedonious preached Holy Spirit is not God. For Maricionites, all the gospels are false. All of them started to quote the scriptures available at that time.
To defend the true church and its doctrines from the apostasies, the Catholic Church decided to select some books that seemed genuine and inspired; it is known as the canon of Bible (Greek ‘Kanon’ means something serving to determine, rule). Thus, the Bible came from the church! The Church is not coming from the Bible.
CHURCH MADE THE BIBLE
It was Melito, Bishop of Sardis (170 AD) who first tried to have an Old Testament Canon but many of the inspired books are not seen in his list.
The Council of Laodicea (360 AD), with the permission of the Pope in Rome, produced the first canon of the Bible. But it is only in the year of Pope Damasus (367 AD) a great effort was done to form a Bible. This Holy Pope compiled the books which he felt genuine and ordered St. Jerome to translate them into Latin, which was the official language of the Church. St Jerome went to Jerusalem and lived 30 years in a cave to do the job. At 397 AD, he finished his works and presented it to Pope. This is known as ‘Latin Vulgate.’ Pope Siricius called it called it the ‘Bible,’ which means ‘collection of books.’
In fact, the term ‘Bible’ has a pagan origin. The Greek word ‘biblia’ is coming from the Phenition city of ‘Byblos’ that was a trading port for papyrus. For the Greeks, ‘biblios’ meant those books ‘an invocation of the goddess or muse’ (daughters of Zeus who inspired poets, speakers and artists. Remember, critics always accuse Catholic feasts, such as Christmas for its pagan background. Even the Bible itself has a pagan background.)
Though Luke was not an apostle of Jesus, the Pope accepted his gospel because it clarified all doubts about doctrines of Mary – as it was believed in the early Church that Luke got ideas about the infancy of Jesus from Mary. Luke was also famous for his paintings of Mary and Child Jesus (One of these pictures is still kept in the Basilica of Mary Major in Rome). Matthew gives very clear idea about the Primacy of Peter and the Church Jesus founded on him. John’s gospel was used by early Christians to defend the real presence of Jesus, as one whole chapter of this Gospel deals with that subject "my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink." Mark, being a close associate of Peter in Rome defends the selections of Peter, and his authority.
NO BIBLE WITHOUT THE CHURCH
Those who deny tradition, Primacy of Pope and believe in new dogmas of "total apostasy" are really questioning the validity of the Bible. When we say gospel written by Luke, Mark or Matthew, it doesn’t mean we have any evidence that it is written by them. These beliefs are based only on tradition. All scholars in ‘textual criticism of the Bible’ say many of the gospel parts are later additions of the disciples of evangelists. Mark and Luke were not even apostles of Jesus; they wrote what they heard from Peter and Paul.
The Bible has no errors just because the Catholic Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, didn’t include erroneous books in the Bible. The Church even accepted some disputed books in the Bible such as Epistles of Jude, James, Peter and John. The Book of Revelation was considered unacceptable in many early Christians. They were not considered genuine in some churches. But it was the infallible decision of the Pope that made these books unacceptable to all. They believed the Bible is trustworthy because the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church; the Pope is infallible (Mt 28:20) – "Teaching them to observe what I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age."
All what apostles preached and early Christians practiced are not found in the Bible. The Bible itself admits that (Jn. 21:25) "there are in fact, many other things also which Jesus did, which, if ever they were written in full detail, I suppose the world itself could not contain the scrolls written." Those who accept the Bible as the only basis of faith will never reach the fullness of truth that Jesus revealed later through his Church. (Jn. 16: 12-13) "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when He comes, the Spirit of Truth, He will guide you to the fullness of truth.
PROPHECIES AND WARNINGS IN THE BIBLE
The prophets who claimed death of the original church Jesus instituted, created churches just against the teachings of the Bible and contrary to the practice of the early Christians. Joseph Smith claimed he is the last prophet! Felix Manalo claimed as the last messenger, an angel. Millions are sent already in T.V. shows to announce the emergence of this modern ‘savior.’
"We will be saved only through their doctrines!"
"His Church will last till the end of the world while the Church founded by Jesus failed to exist!"
Are they more powerful than Jesus himself? For Manalo, he’s an angel, while Jesus is only a man. They all prophesied their times as the ‘Last Days’ about which Jesus said, "Neither the angels in heaven nor the Son knows." But this new angels and prophets are very sure that their time is the Last. They may have more wisdom than Jesus. (After their surety of Last Days, even centuries passed without any happenings. But their T.V. shows continue to keep its believers in a hope by showing Tsunami, Katrina, Rita and War in Iraq as symptoms of Last Days.) But Jesus warned us not to believe in any ‘christs’ who come in his name. (‘Christ’ means Savior).
In the Last Days, Jesus didn’t promise he would send an angel or prophet as His Last Messenger. The Bible says the message that we received from Jesus is the Last: "In times past God spoke in partial and various ways through the Son… through whom he created the universe" (Heb. 1:1). These people who put themselves in the place of Jesus is really fulfilling the prophecies of the Bible, which warned the coming of Anti-Christ. "Whoever denies the Father and the Son will be the Anti Christ. No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father." (1Jn 3: 22-23).
"For many will come in my name, saying ‘I am the Christ", and they will lead many astray" (Matt 24: 4-5). The Bible warns about these fake angels who may appear to destroy the only one church Jesus founded in this world. The Bible makes this prophecy: ‘for such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, who pretend as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan pretends as angels of light. His ministers also pretends as ministers of righteousness!" (2Cor 11: 13-14)
Gal 1:8 "Even if an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one that we preached, let that one be accursed!"
We should not forget the warning of St. Peter – the First Pope: "False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction." (2 Pet. 2:1)
Labels: know the truth
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