Nice to hear from you Phil.
Ill be happy to give thoughts to your questions! Thanks for posing them - yet another chance to share! How awesome is that?
Philip said:
Could you point out these cautions?
The cautions you are asking about were what I mentioned about using "additional tools" instead of a Bible only worship/life.
Here is some great thought on the matter, including scripture! Let explore:
2 Peter
1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
16We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."[1] 18We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit
If in the Bible we have been given all things, then there is no need for additional creeds or books! The Lord tells you there is additional need? Id venture to say its not the Lord you are hearing from!
2 Timothy
3:16-17 All scripture (wow the Bible!) is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
If the Bible furnishes us to all good works, what need is there for further revelation? What can a church creed or discipline do for us that the Bible cannot?
Questions in the face of such scriptures make readily visible the uselessness of human works aka church creeds or suggetion.
Creeds change, positions are re-evaluated, but the Bible remains constant. Since this is true (and you know in your heart of hearts that it is), many Catholic settings never know from year to year what belief will be re-evaluated. Consider what the Papal Council suggested to the Jews as a man made olive branch for peace - basiclly they said lets all ask Christ upon His return if this is the 1st or 2nd time!
Now, the Bible is the seed of Lord's Kingdom. We read about this in Luke 8.
1After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
4While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
9His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
" 'though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.'[1]
11"This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Here we have
only one seed that produces what the Lord is after, the Bible!
We can also be reminded of what King David has to say on the issue of the Lord's word:
Psalm 119
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
Hebrews 4
12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-­edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
How wonderful it is that the Lord our GOD, Jesus Christ our teacher, has provided us with just one simple tool - his word, The Holy Bible!
Ecclesiastes 12
9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails-given by one Shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
Could you please provide some Scripture that states those who have fallen asleep in Christ are somehow separated from us? All Christians, both those on Earth and those in heaven, are part of the Church, the Body of Christ. Physical death does not separate us.
We first hear of death from the garden, so a seperation of life and death occurs:
Genesis 2
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
BUT we learn that in death to sin and earthly life, we leave the cares of this world behind! The only one from Heaven who is with us always in heart is Christ, for out of his own mouth he said:
Matthew 28
18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[1] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
John 16
16"In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me."
17Some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,' and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" 18They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying."
19Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, "Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me'? 20I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
Daniel 12:2 "... many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt"
The Lord Jesus Christ declared: "...the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation (John 5:28,29)
And Paul, in his defence before Felix, declared: "But this 1 confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust" (Acts 24:14,15)
IN any of this do you see that those in heaven are reachable to those on earth? Naww, we are seperate, but in many cases we are equal - but conversation is not possible:
Consider Saul and his attempt to gain the Lords help via the dead Samual using a medium. Talking to folks who have passed on is not what we are to do! Samual was with the Lord when Saul did this, and the Lord was not pleased! Read the entire book of 1 Samual, and by all means take the Lords word for it, if you wish to not believe me! Why would you want to disturb anyone person who is in Heaven, except the Lord, with your troubles? Man let them be! Read Samual's feelings on the matter of being disturbed with life's worldly troubles! For someone you so endear, Id think you would want to leave them to their heavenly bliss - that is if you could bug them!
Since you admit that you do not know what is in a Catholic heart, why do you assume that it is anything other than what they say? If their actions seem strange to you, why do you assume the worst, rather than seeking to understand?
Understand comes from what is portayed by your worship in comparison to study. You portray Ill understand it for what you are doing. The Lords suggests we take notice of the fruits rather than the lip service.
Wow, putting this together took up a lot of time. I have enjoyed it nontheless.
Thanks for the questions!
edited for additional freaked out html coding - admin, this string seems to have ghost code work! What up wit dat?
