Post
by RND » Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:19 pm
Sam, I'm always amazed that the underlying reason for the Council of Jerusalem's actions seem to be always overlooked whenever the questions of Acts 15 is broached.
Act 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, [and said], Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
The question was "Who could be saved." And certainly the answer by the council was in relationship that question, and they had the authority to make a decision. This was not to suggest that the council had the power to declare anything they wanted, for these verses clearly limit their ability to the question of "salvation" in this particular passage.
The Roman Catholic church for many centuries has made claims regarding it's absolute authority regarding scripture and salvation. Sadly, iIt uses Acts 15 in a vain attempt to hold on to power it was never given.
The Catholic Church Can Never Fall From God's Grace
"To the one true (Catholic) Church of Christ, We say, that stands forth before all, and that by the will of its Founder will remain forever the same as when He Himself established it for the salvation of all mankind. The Mystical Spouse of Christ has in the course of the centuries remained unspotted, nor can it ever be contaminated." Pope Pius XI, Pontifex Maximus, in Mortalium Animos (The Promotion of True Religious Unity), Encyclical promulgated on January 6, 1928.
No One Should Have the Freedom to Choose What Non-Catholic Religion They Consider to be True
"[It is error to believe that] Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true." Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section III, Indifferentism, Latitudinarianism, #15.
"[It is error to believe that] Hence it has been wisely decided by law, in some Catholic countries, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own peculiar worship." Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section X, Errors Having Reference to Modern Liberalism, #78.
No One Should Have the Freedom to Express, or Publish, His Non-Catholic Religious Beliefs
"[It is error to believe that] Moreover, it is false that the civil liberty of every form of worship, and the full power, given to all, of overtly and publicly manifesting any opinions whatsoever and thoughts, conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to propagate the pest of indifferentism." Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section X, Errors Having Reference to Modern LiberalismI, #79.
"This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it....a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty.
"Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor. We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice." Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism), Encyclical promulgated on August 15, 1832, #14 & 15.
The Catholic Church Alone is the Hope, Salvation, and Refuge of the Christian
"Do not hold aloof from the Church; for nothing is stronger than the Church. The Church is thy hope, thy salvation, thy refuge." St. John Chrysostom, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. IX, Introduction to the Two Homilies on Eutropius, Homily II.
"He who thinks he can remain a Christian by his own efforts, deserting the institutional bonds of the visible hierarchical Church, is deceiving himself. The fact remains that God established His Church as a bridge over which we must pass, leading from our unhappy lot to His salvation." Pope Paul VI, Mystici Corporis, PTC:1022 ff. 59, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 1: "Only Catholics Can Be Christians").
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
You Are Israel
Sabbath Truth
Heavenly Sanctuary