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Now THAT you are right about! If you depend on THE CHURCH for moral authority over conscience, you will disagree with those who depend on THE WORD OF GOD for everything.
Suire, of course, Sola Scriptura virtually guarantees disagreement, which Luther, himself, was concerned about, while the church at least has a continous legacy of understanding, that aligns with Scripture. When a person is willing and able to see clearly they acknowledge that Sola Scriptura means to rely on man's private interpretation, whether on our own or in conjunctiion with others who've taken the same independent route. In good conscience I can no longer take it. The church teaches that a man must, necessarily, go by their own conscience, and never act against it. But the conscience is informed and developed over time and Sola Scriptura ultimately proves itself to be unsupportable.
Not proud of the RCC are we? "Continuous legacy of understanding, that aligns with Scripture"? Maybe you should go visit the atheist forum on Craigslist Forums, ask them about the record of the RCC. You will want some ear canal cleaner.
Oh, I've heard it all-beginning well before I entered the RCC. Atheists don't have much good to say about Christianity in general for that matter. As for myself I mainly just had to shed a good part of my former human priggishness in order to be able to understand how people in the church might sin, in spite of their own teachings.
The RCC is no anchor.
Jesus created the Church and heads the Church. When disciples listened to Peter they were not ultimately "answering" to Peter, they were ultimately answering to God. The Catholic Church did not compile the Bible until some time later, giving the world the Bible in the late 300s. And it was roughly a thousand years later when the idea of turning over authority to a book really caught on.
Is it the Word of God, or not? John 1 might help you understand the point I'm making. The Word of God has been around literally forever.
Let me clear up your misconceptions. Catholics believe that the worship due God is for God and for God alone. We do not "adore" the pope, popes are sinners, and some have been quite the sinners. This has been so from the beginning, our first pope denied Our Lord three times. As to forgiving sins, read John 20 21-23: Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Been there done that-with you-multiple times in the past. If you didn't see it then you probably won't now. You're swayed by a somehwat skewed gospel. Fortunately, at the end of the day most people live as if what they choose to do counts -and don't presume that they're already necessarily numbered amiong the elect, regardless of theology.
