The Absurdity of Sola Scriptura

"There is a major hole in the logic of those Christians who protest against the Catholic Church: you cannot use the authority of Scripture to attack the authority of the Church when it was the authority of the Church that recognized the Scripture’s authority. The hierarchy, the sacraments, the major doctrines of the Catholic Church were all well in place — centuries in place — before the biblical canon was in place and, of course, it was the Catholic Church that authorized the biblical canon. Chesterton says he can understand someone looking at a Catholic procession, at the candles and the incense and the priests and the robes and the cross and the scrolls, and saying “It’s all bosh.” But what he cannot understand is anyone saying, “It’s all bosh — except for the scrolls. We’re going to keep the scrolls. In fact, we’re even going to use the scrolls against the rest.”" - Dale Alquist quoting and referring to G.K.Chesterton.
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St. Augustine: Quotes

St. Augustine (AD 354-430)

Faith Alone?

“we should advise the faithful that they would endanger the salvation of their souls if they acted on the false assurance that faith alone is sufficient for salvation or that they need not perform good works in order to be saved.” (On Faith and Works, 14:21)

“When St. Paul says, therefore, that man is justified by faith and not by the observance of the law, he [Paul] does not mean that good works are not necessary or that it is enough to receive and to profess the faith and no more. What he means rather and what he wants us to understand is that man can be justified by faith, even though he has not previously performed any works of the law. For the works of the law are meritorious not before but after justification.” (Ibid)

Church Authority

"In the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep (John 21:15-19), down to the present episcopate.

And so, lastly, does the very name of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.

Such then in number and importance are the precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should...With you, where there is none of these things to attract or keep me... No one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion...For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church."
Against the Epistle of Manichaeus AD 397
[Contra Epistolam Manichaei Quam Vacant Fundamenti]

_________

"Let us love our Lord God, let us love His Church, Him as a Father, her as a Mother; Him as a Master, her as His Handmaid; for we are children of the Handmaid herself.  But this marriage is held together by great love; no one offends the one and gains favor with the other. . . . Cling, then, beloved, cling all with one mind to God our Father and to the Church our Mother."
Sermons [inter A.D. 391-430]: Reconciliation

_________

Penance

"If you want God to forgive, you must confess.  Sin cannot go unpunished.  It were unseemly, improper, and unjust for sin to go unpunished. Since, therefore, sin must not go unpunished, let it be punished by you, lest you be punished for it.  Let your sin have you for its judge, not its patron.  Go up and take the bench against yourself, and put your guilt before yourself.  Do not put it behind you, or God will put it in front of you."

________

"If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself."  

The Church IS Christ

"About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they are just one thing, and we should not complicate the matter." -St. Joan of Arc

"Christ and the Church are two in one flesh." - St. Augustine (in Ps.142,3).

"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" ..."Who are you, Lord?,...I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" -Acts 9:3-5

"Unflaggingly, let us love the Lord our God and let us love his Church. Let us love Him as the Lord and the Church as his handmaid.
No one can offend the one and still be pleasing to the other. What does it avail you if you do not directly offend the Father but do offend the mother?"
- St. Augustine (Commentary on Psalm 88, 14)

Unity of the Gospels

Here is quote from St. Bede concerning the unity of the four Gospels...

But though there were four Evangelist,
yet what they wrote is not so much four Gospels, as one true harmony of four books. For as two verses having the same substance, but different words and different metre, yet contain one and the same matter, so the books of the Evangelists, though four in number, yet contain one Gospel, teaching one doctrine of the Catholic faith.

When Did the Church Fall into Apostasy?

This is a question every non-Catholic Christian must address. An Apostate Catholic Church is a required doctrine of all Protestants or non-trinitarian sectarians such as Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. The Catholic Church is not just another denomination out of many. For any professing Christian, the Catholic Church is to be either loved and obeyed as Christ's very own authority here on earth.... or despised as Antichrist. 

Don't be so sure you know the answer because the Biblical and Historical reasons for the Catholic Church to make such claims for Herself are quite strong and weighty. Remember that the scribes and Pharisees were confident that the Scriptures proved Jesus was false prophet and a blasphemer. They were hard hearted...we all need to check our own hearts and pride daily.

Ask yourself...If Christ had established One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church would not Satan himself do everything he could to deceive people, spread lies, rumors,infiltrate Her with wolves in sheep's clothing, cause confusion about Her doctrines and try to discredit Her where ever possible...yet the gates of Hell shall not prevail against It.

So, please do not be so sure you understand the arguments and positions. I was raised Catholic, left before the age of thirteen to enter Evangelical, Conservative Protestant churches. I thought I knew the Catholic side of the story (I became an Anti-Catholic)...but I was wrong, I began to realize I couldn't explain to my inquiring Protestant friends why exactly Catholics believe what they believe.

So, 25+ years later I began to study for myself the Catholic arguments, in their own words. I have been blown away by the Christo-centric and Scripturally solid evidence for Catholicism. Enough so, that I do now believe that She speaks with the Authority of Christ Himself and I am so grateful that Jesus loved me so much to not only die for my sins but He as given me a Church, made me a member of the tangible Family of God which is the Pillar and Foundation of Truth (1Timothy 3:15). I can trust Her and be loved by Him, ministered by Him, nourished by Him through Her.

The Biblical Foundation for Church Authority.....
And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter (kepha*), and on this rock (kepha*) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:17-19 ESV
*kepha is the word Jesus would have used in his native language, Aramaic.

To Peter alone are these keys given which we see from the Old Testament in 1 Kings ch.4 how Solomon had established twelve ministers/officers over the different parts over His Kingdom. We see in Isaiah 22 that only one of these office holders is the Prime Minister and holds important keys of authority and responsibility. Look closely as the Lord speaks to one of the holders of the office of Prime Minister to the King, the Son of David...

"I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons."  Isaiah 22:19-24 ESV

Any honest reading of these two similar passages from Matthew 16 and Isaiah 22 would admit that Jesus, the Davidic King, was appointing Peter to this office of Prime Minister. And remember "offices" must remain filled, for as we observe the first immediate action the Apostles took after Christ ascended was to fill the vacant office left by Judas Iscariot...

Peter in leading says...."For it is written in the Book of Psalms, "May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it"; and "Let another take his office."
Acts 1:20 ESV

We see that Jesus also gave His authority to the other 11 Apostles and the 72 (although Peter was primary). Speaking to appointed disciples whom the Early Church believed the Bishops to be their successors. Christ says:

"Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.  Matthew 10:40 ESV

He clearly gives His very Authority to the 12 Apostles. Yes, they gave us the Holy, Inerrant New Testament Scriptures but remember only 3 of those initial 12 actually wrote any of those books/epistles. He clearly came to do more than inspire books to be written, he came to establish an Authoritative, tangible Church made up of men (although they were flawed) whom He chose, appointed and sent out with a mission. As we see in the Gospel of Matthew....

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

Another Catholic blogger at beginningcatholic.com explains this passage well....

"This brief passage contains several critical points about Church authority:
Jesus tells the Apostles that the authority he is giving them derives from his own, divine authority. ("All authority..." / "Go therefore".)
The Apostles' authority and mission comes directly from Christ himself.
The nature of this mission is to lead or govern ("make disciples"), sanctify ("baptizing them"), and teach ("teaching them to observe").
Christ promises to remain present with them always in support of this mission ("I am with you always").

Also, Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you." (John 20:21)

And...
"He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me." Luke 10:16

I will work on expanding this post or explaining in future posts how we see biblically the truth and function of Apostolic Succession because that is a very vital doctrine which understandably must be proven for the Catholic claims to Apostolic Authority to be valid. (I will get working on that as time permits).

But assume for a minute you have been given ample evidence for the possible belief in Apostolic Succession...you may object to submission because the Catholic Church has had some corruption in her past, present and most likely her future. But Biblically we see that corruption does not negate ones God given authority.....

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,  so practice and observe whatever they tell you— but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
Matthew 23:1-3 ESV

Bryan Cross from Called to Communion deals with the question thoroughly in his article and podcasts called Ecclesial Deism. Please read....and/or listen to his Podcast here (Episode 6).

Liturgies : Living Histories of Church Doctrine

A Liturgy is a construction of doctrine and ritual used to direct organized/orderly worship by a particular Church (in some ways even modern Evangelical Mega-churches have a liturgical structure). You will see at the following link that each of these written Orthodox, Catholic (and Coptic, Assyrian Church of the East / Nestorian , Liturgy of the Holy Apostles (Armenian),etc), Qurbana (Indian) liturgies are uniquely beautiful but yet they each also contain the same basic elements such as; Scripture readings, prayers, songs of worship and most notably all include a common and clear belief in the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist and their common emphasis on the transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine as they become the very real, physical presence of the Flesh and Blood of Christ.

What makes this so amazing and profoundly important to understanding the history of Christian doctrines is that the Assyrians broke from the Great Catholic Church around 430 AD, the non-Chalcedon / Monophysite Churches left around 450 AD and the Eastern Schism of the Orthodox took place about 1000 AD.  Hence, we can hypothesize that these doctrines and rituals entered the Church very early and not through a Roman Catholic Apostasy of the Middle Ages as Protestants often wishfully state. It may even be suggested from this evidence that these practices even came from the Apostles and Christ Himself as the historic Apostolic Churches have been claiming from the beginning via Sacred Tradition.
 
2 Thessalonians 2:15 ESV
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

Sermons of the Saints - Audio Link

Found a new treasure today. This web site is a rich collection of
Sermons of the Saints (click link)
  Many of these relatively brief selections from the writings of these great Christian heroes of the Faith (40-50%) are available in downloadable audio format. There is a wide variety of authors to chose from: Ambrose and Anthanasius to Francis de Sales and Teresa of Avila.

St. Francis de Sales : Missionary to Protestants

After studying Catholic Apologetics very thoroughly from various modern scholars and evangelist, I was taken aback when I did finally (after several recommendations) read St. Francis de Sales collection of pamphlets he published in the late 1500's and distributed to 2nd generation Calvinist. His arguments are so completely relevant to modern day ears. He covers the core issues that truly separate Protestants from their Mother Church.

The following is from and linked to www.goodcatholicbooks.org

The Catholic Controversy

by Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop and Doctor of the Church

After being repeatedly rebuffed in his attempts to re-evangelize Calvinist Protestants who would not listen to Catholic preaching for fear of reprisals, St. Francis turned to writing leaflets and inserting them into copies of his sermons, which he then posted on walls, slipped under doors and handing to whomever he could. Four years later, almost 72,000 had returned to the ancient Catholic Faith! These tracts have been compiled into a book and given the title The Catholic Controversy.
The works are still as fresh and powerful today as they were then, and give some of the most compelling arguments against Protestantism that have ever been written, presenting a defense of the Catholic Faith that in some respects has never been equalled.

What reviewers say about this book:
"If you ever had any doubts about the truth of the Roman Catholic Faith, read this book. Saint Francis will set you straight!"

"St. Francis de Sales uses scripture like no other. His arguments are as persuasive today as they were then. For those looking to understand the biblical basis for Catholic teachings (i.e., purgatory, papal infallibility) this book is a must."
"this is a fantastic read, overflowing with strong arguments for classic Catholic doctrine."

Order this book on Amazon

Table of contents

1. The Authority of the Church

2. The Doctrine of Purgatory.

3. The Protestant Violation of Scripture.

4. The Mission of the Church.
;
5. The Authority of the Pope.

6. Faith and Reason.

*Source:
www.goodcatholicbooks.org

The Mystery of Israel & the Church

Mystery of Israel & the Church 

This Audio Recommended Link is a real hidden treasure of Catholic thought. The lectures you can access are extremely rich and thorough. The site can be a bit confusing to navigate though. So please read the directions carefully.

The speaker is Lawrence Feingold, an Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, Saint Louis, Missouri. He is very well spoken and brings to light various key elements of Catholic theology and philosophy. 

The Association of Hebrew Catholics has been offering a Fall and Spring lecture series on various themes within The Mystery of Israel and the Church...

Each series of 12 lectures treats an overall motif. In many lectures, Dr. Feingold highlights the unique role and positive contribution of the Jewish people.

- Each Lecture Series link you see in the table in this link, takes you to a page where the various lectures are available for online listening or downloading to your computer. 

- The free mp3 audio for these lectures can be accessed or downloaded by clicking on the title of the lecture. 

- The free mp3 audio of the Q&A sessions following each of the lectures can be accessed or downloaded by clicking on Q&A where respectively. 

- The text for these lectures, when they are available, can be accessed by clicking on the symbol "[PDF]" next to the title. The pdf containing the text of the lecture will be removed once a book containing that lecture is published.

http://hebrewcatholic.org/Studies/MysteryofIsraelChurch/mysteryofisraela.html

Cyprian's Confidence in Papal Authority

Cyprian of Carthage in 251 A.D. 

"The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever things you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, they shall be loosed also in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]). ... 

On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were also what Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. 

So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?" 

(The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251]). 

*Source: http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-authority-of-the-pope-part-i