Catholics or anyone knowledged in both Canons?

Question

I'm an atheist so I have no issue with you. I'm just curious.

I know that you have the original canon of the christian church. I know this is one of the reasons Protestants of today despise you (Whole different reasons during the Protestant Reformation). I also know that there are additions and subtractions made on both sides.

Does the verse John 14:6 exist in the Catholic version. If it does does it say : Jesus saith unto him, I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me.

If it doesn't that's all I have. If it does then why the need for a priest.

Answer 1

copied and pasted frm your question a couple minutes ago....
Marysia

yes it exists. however there is also In 1 Cor 12:12-30 we are taught that we are one body, one membership but that there will be set aside in the church some as first second third and so on, some will have gifts of faith, healing, tongues, etc. Thepriests are teachers on the earth. how many times did you play relephone or grapevine as a kid?! the game where one person starts a story and everyone has to repeat it toone person - doesit ever come back the same?! nope! the priest is there as a teacher to helpguide and lead those who need help and istill hope in those who are needing comfort and help guide the misguided backto Christ.

Answer 2

It's almost like asking why do protestants have preachers: to teach, guide, counsel, etc. But the role of a priest goes further than that. From the beginning of the Christian Church, priests have always been there. Now, the first and only high priest is Jesus Christ. However, He also vested men with some of His power and authority here on earth. Those first men were the twelve apostles. The apostles in turn taught and granted certain powers and authorities to others that succeeded them and took over the leadership of the Church, and so on and so forth. Those successors, then and now, are our bishops and priests.

Two of the most common powers that priests have - and only priests (and naturally the bishops too) - is the power to absolve sins throught the sacrament of confession, and the power to say Mass, where bread and wine are consecrated and changed into the sacred body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I cannot, repeat... CANNOT go to confession to a protestant pastor. They have no power to absolve my sins. Nor can they consecrate the bread and wine. That power and authority is only present in the lineage of priests and bishops that are in the Church that Christ Himself instituted. I bring this up because that is what sets a priest apart from a protestant. The same would hold true, for example, if a catholic priest would leave the Catholic Church to do his own thing. If he would leave the Church, he would be leaving the source of authority and power that came from Jesus Christ, and I could not go to confession to him.

As you can see, everything in the Church goes in a straight line back to Jesus. Nothing of our faith or our church has any power outside of Jesus.

Quick note: the line of authority goes like this...

1. Jesus Christ (One and only High Priest)
2. Pope (Head Bishop)
3. Bishops
4. Priests
5. Deacons

Hope this helps.

God bless.

Answer 3

As an ex-Catholic and current agnostic, I understand your curiosity. I wonder, though, why this would imply that a priest is of no help.

If you were told that the only way to be healthy was to exercise, would you not agree that a personal trainer could help? Despite what Protestants believe, the role of the priest is not much different from the role of a minister.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about what Catholics do. Protestants say "Why confess to a priest -- we confess to God." Catholics don't confess to a priest -- they confess to God in the presence of a priest -- and that is a big difference.

The Catholic Canon has been unchanged since the 4th century. Many of the differences in belief come about because Protestants decided in the 16th century that certain books in the Canon did not belong.

Answer 4

The role of a priest is vastly different from that of a Protestant minister. In fact, Catholic lay men and lay women routinely do everything that Protestant ministers do, except baptize. What Catholic lay persons don't do, and Protestant ministers don't do either, is fulfill the specifically priestly functions in the Church of God. By definition, the principle role of any priest is to offer sacrifice to God on behalf of the people. That's what "priest" means. Jesus didn't want His supreme sacrifice on the cross to become simply a distant memory or a pious fantasy to His followers. Therefore He instituted and personally demonstrated a sacred rite which would keep that same once-and-for-all-time sacrifice current to all generations of Christians thereafter. Immediately after He celebrated the first Mass and the first Eucharist he commanded those present - the priests of His Church, and no-one else - "DO THIS (what I have just done) in remembrance of Me". His own Church has continued to obey this direct command of God in every generation since that divine institution. No Protestant minister obeys this command of Jesus, nor would he/she be capable of doing so even if he/she desired to.

The other specifically priestly functions are the ministration of the Holy Sacraments of the Church - forgiveness of sin through the Sacrament of Reconciliation; empowerment with the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation; ordination to the priesthood through the Sacrament of Holy Orders; and annointing of the sick through the Sacrament of the Sick. No-one but a validly ordained priest can validly minister these Sacraments to the faithful.

Protestant ministers can baptize validly, even though they do not have an accurate vision of what the Sacrament actually is and what it actually accomplishes in the recipient. The administration of this sacrament however is not a specifically priestly function, since Catholic lay persons can also administer it in emergency situations.

Without the priesthood, the sacramental life of God's Church would not exist, which means that the principle channels of grace that God provided for the upbuilding of His people would not exist. That's why we need God's holy priesthood.

Answer 5

The New American Bible translates John 14:6 as:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth 5 and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

The New Testament canon of the Catholic Bible and the Protestant Bible are the same.

The difference in the Old Testaments actually goes back to the time before and during Christ’s life. At this time, there was no official Jewish canon of scripture.

The Jews in Egypt translated their choices of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the second century before Christ. This translation, called the Septuagint, had wide use in the Roman world because most Jews lived far from Palestine in Greek cities. Many of these Jews spoke only Greek.

The early Christian Church was born into this world. The Church, with its bilingual Jews and more and more Greek-speaking Gentiles, used the books of the Septuagint as its Bible. Remember the early Christians were just writing the documents what would become the New Testament.

After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, with increasing persecution from the Romans and competition from the fledgling Christian Church, the Jewish leaders came together and declared its official canon of Scripture, eliminating seven books from the Septuagint.

The books removed were Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom (of Solomon), Sirach, and Baruch. Parts of existing books were also removed including Psalm 151 (from Psalms), parts of the Book of Esther, Susanna (from Daniel as chapter 13), and Bel and the Dragon (from Daniel as chapter 14).

The Christian Church did not follow suit but kept all the books in the Septuagint.

1500 years later, Protestants decided to change its Old Testament from the Catholic canon to the Jewish canon. The books they dropped are sometimes called the Apocrypha.

With love in Christ.

Answer 6

Yes, our New Testement contains that verse. Actually, the New Testement is the same in both Catholic & Protestant Bibles. It is the Old Testement that is different.

Why the need for a priest, you ask? Because Christ Chose 12 Apostles to minister to His Church, & the priests are all their successors.

Answer 7

Good question. By the way I am on of Jehovahs Witnesses. The Bible does say that scripture. And Im not sure if you know but we dont have priests or one man higher than everyone else that we talk to God to. With Jesus' ransom death a 'door' was opened allowing people to talk to God personally and be forgiven. Jehovah wants to have a one on one personal relationship. We dont need a 'higher' person to go through to him...honestly most religions have it wrong. Sorry to say...

Answer 8

It's in there!

We need priests because Jesus established the sacrifical priesthood in order to make his glorified and resurrected body, blood, soul, and divinity physically present for us at every Catholic Mass.

Once that's accomplished, Jesus personally approaches his Father in heaven on our behalf, obtaining forgiveness for our sins, and all necessary graces.

Then, we personally receive him.

That's exactly how we come to the Father through Jesus, and it's exactly the way he told us to do it.

Here's some more scripture for you, illustrating what I just described:

Luk 22:19 And taking bread, he gave thanks and brake and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me.
Luk 22:20 In like manner, the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you.

Answer 9

This is an excellent line to pick up on. Jesus said that, but did he mean for everyone to pray to him? If so, then why did he teach his to his disciples his Fathers Prayer. Some believe that they must pray to Jesus alone but Jesus specifically taught his fathers prayer. Others believe, that line was for us to be like him.

Answer 10

U got the point exactly.
Jesus is the head priest for all Christians and we should make all our prayer or confessions only to HIM and in HIS name.
Pastors preach and teach us bible and they DO have temptations as like other humans.