Eric: John, stop and think for a moment, are Roman Catholics Christians? They are if they have trusted in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of their sins, and had a born again experience. However, if they believe that the are saved by God’s grace and their works, then they are not saved — even if they believe their works are done by God’s grace — since they then deny the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice. Being a Christian does not mean being a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholicism is not faithful to Scripture. Attached are Scripture verses and explanations that prove the Catholic Church is no longer representing Christianity, but apostasy.
J. Salza: Eric, you have no business quoting from the Bible to disprove the Catholic faith when it was the Catholic Church who gave you the Bible. This is the brash arrogance of Protestant Christians, who are ignorant of history and twist the Scriptures to their own destruction. I call it “spoiled brat Christianity.” You despise the very Mother who gave you the Scriptures. The Bible is indeed the Word of God, but you only know that because the Catholic Church told you so. How do you know what books should be in the Bible when the Bible doesn’t tell you? You only know it because the Catholic Church definitively declared the Bible canon at the end of the fourth century.
If the Bible canon is necessary for our salvation, but Christ did not reveal it to His apostles, then Christ must have established an authority that would guarantee the early Christians’ determination of the Bible canon after He ascended into heaven. This authority is the Holy Catholic Church.
There was no Bible as you know it for 400 years after Christ’s death, and it wasn’t even distributed for 1500 years after His death. If the Bible is the only way to get us to heaven, then what happened to those millions of poor souls who never had a Bible during the 1500 year period? Eric, you need to get familiar with basic history. Jesus Christ established a Church to proclaim the good news. He never intended on having the Bible be the sole infallible guide for the Christian faith. This is why the Catholic Church is one, and your Protestant denominations are 30,000.
The Catholic Church wrote, translated, copied, and preserved God’s written word throughout the ages. That is the only reason you even have a Bible. Quit trying to interpret the Scriptures without the Church, because it is the Bible in the Church, the Church before the Bible, the Bible and the Church (both or neither).