Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. Do most Protestants realise that?

Question

Protestants accept the Bible as the irrefutable Word of God. Yet the texts were chosen by a council of Catholics, from a large selection of epistles, gospels and books. Either they were divinely inspired and thus God Manifest in His Church or the selection and resulting 'New Testament' is entirely without merit....is that why they've abandoned the Church?

Holy Mother needs You!

PaulCyp: A heretic is a heretic. What happened to burning Lollards?

Answer 1

That's why I wish Protestantism would be able to go to preConstantine to evolve. the Catholic church did what it wanted and especially with uneducated people interpretation could go in whatever way they wanted

Answer 2

By RCC teaching is not possible, but this is a dilemma for the RCC. Trent pronounced many anathemas on the Protestant Reformers. UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO teaches: "The children who are born into these [separated] Communities and who grow up believing in Christ cannot be accused of the sin involved in the separation, and the Catholic Church embraces upon them as brothers, with respect and affection. For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect. The differences that exist in varying degrees between them and the Catholic Church- whether in doctrine and sometimes in discipline, or concerning the structure of the Church--do indeed create many obstacles, sometimes serious ones, to full ecclesiastical communion. The ecumenical movement is striving to overcome these obstacles. But even in spite of them it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ's body,[21] and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church.[22] " I believe Roman Catholicism is a false religion just as Luther and Calvin did. Yet, by RC doctrine I must be embraced as a brother. For certain the feeling is not mutual.

Answer 3

Protestants have other quarrels with the Church (e.g., papal infallibility) than the exact content of the bible. Yes, there is no particular reason to suppose that the collection of books that was chosen was in any significant sense better than others that might have been. However, the hundreds of errors in the bible show that to suppose that it is the word of god is silly.

Answer 4

With the understanding of course that "the Church" has a much broader scope than actual membership in the Holy Catholic church. That is the teaching of the Catholic Church itself. You do adhere to the Church's current teaching, right?

Answer 5

yet, within those volumes upon volumes that the council did not choose was the sentence which stated "this is all a sick joke."