Questions for fundamentalists?

Question

1. Where is the tradition of sola scripture outlined in the Bible?

2. Which passage in scripture outlines which books should be kept or tossed from your Bible?

3. What did Jesus mean when he told the apostles, rather than hundreds of people on a hillside, that they had the authority to forgive sins?

4. Why was the thief that Jesus told would enter heaven not baptized by submersion in water?

5. What did Jesus mean when he said "This is my body" instead of "This represents my body"?

6. What did Jesus mean when he said "This is my blood"?

7. What did James mean when he said "Faith without works is dead?

8. What did Jesus mean when he said "Upon this rock I build my church?

9. What did Paul mean in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 when he told them to stand fast and hold to the TRADITIONS?

10. Where in the Bible does it say that we are to ignore what the early church leaders said, and to hold only to what they wrote, was voted on, and accepted as Canonical?

If you wish to claim that you follow scripture strictly, and that Catholics don't, please expound.

Chris:
Great expose. You've quoted "Bible teachers" who claim that Catholics are wrong. Is that Sola Scriptura? Great job at bashing without answering a single point. Is that the answer for the hope which lies within you? Is that what you'll tell Christ when he asks why you sewed division in his church?

Paulo:

I love C.S. Lewis. Which blade of the scisors? Sort of goes along with James, I think.

The Raven.
I'm just trying to point out a little bit of the ignorance that is being passed around about Catholicism. There are many points, but I figured ten was enough for today.

Beekay.

Do not add to the word of God. Fine. Toss out the New Testament in its entirety? It was certainly added after the writings of Moses and Solomon.

Then again, Paul (See later question) said to hold to traditions.

"All scripture is good ...." I'm sorry, but do you see the word "Only" prior to scripture? Maybe I misread.

Fr. Joseph.
I think you are correct.

Enrico:

Sola Scriptura is not scriptural. Try as people might, I don't think anyone will come up with a sufficient answer. My guess is that thee will be few responses from fundamentalists on this one. I'm not a theologian. I'm not even a Christian. I'm just tired of the false accusations against Catholics and want to see the people making the attacks try to justify their positions in a rational manner. I don't believe they can.

777
Believe it or not, there ARE Married Catholic priests. It is only SOME who are not permitted to Marry. Paul said it is better not to do so, and the Catholic rites that follow Paul are not permitted to do so. Check out the Maronite Catholic church, which follows the Pope. Look at the number of converts from other churches who were ordained in other faiths, and became priests in the Catholic church who are permitted to be married. Look at the Deacons who are married in the Catholic church.

There ARE married Catholic priests; it is merely that those under the Roman rite are not permitted to get married. It is a vow, following the admonition of Paul, which suggests it is better for a man to not be encumbered with marriage.

Also, I don't see "Non-denominational church, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Sola Scriptura, Communion, Trinity or even "Bible" for that matter in the Bible. By the way, which questions were you actually answering?

I just went back to your "answer". Jesus didn't say "Thou art rock and upon ME I shall build my church". He called Peter Rock, and said that it would he would build his church upon the Rock.

Bruce:

Awesome job. Unfortunately, you are obviously not a fundamentalist. You do certainly get the point! Nice job.

smegmakid8677

You know, I was actually looking forward to the possibility that AT LEAST 1 person might come up with AT LEAST 1 good answer to AT LEAST 1 of the quesions. Alas.

Born Again Catholic:

I wonder what it says about the fundamentalist position regarding Catholicism when a non-Christian can ask them questions that they simply cannot answer. They complain about Catholicism and works, but refuse to step up to the plate to answer a few simple questions regarding scripture.

I believe that if one is going to make accusations, one should be able to support them. If you are going to claim a position, but are unable to support it, even with your own criteria as a judge, then your position is not valid.

I'm going to leave the question open for a while longer and see if ANYONE from the fundamentalist side is willing to step up to the plate.

Misty.

Thanks for the comments. I'm still waiting for one decent answer. No luck yet. What a shame. I do enjoy a good debate.

Lucky:

Still waiting. Not one serious taker yet. :(

Jack,

I've only seen Chris (CJ) here, and he didn't even try to answer one single question. The usual Catholic Bashing cast of characters is silent. Might I presume that this might mean that they haven't an answer?

Answer 1

What an excellent set of questions, each worthy of a Yahoo!Answers page.

1. Where is the tradition of sola scripture outlined in the Bible?

That idea is not only not in the Bible, but no Christian ever taught it until Martin Luther, 15 centuries after Jesus.

2. Which passage in scripture outlines which books should be kept or tossed from your Bible?

There is none. Jesus never wrote books because he taught by word of mouth, as did all the apostles. For example, Paul wrote, "So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter" (II Thess 2:15).

3. What did Jesus mean when he told the apostles, rather than hundreds of people on a hillside, that they had the authority to forgive sins?

Only the disciples, his carefully chosen and ordained followers, had a special commission to hear sins and act as Jesus' representatives to forgive sins. This makes sense, because it would take special character and training to act as forgiver and not as a mocker or gossip.

4. Why was the thief that Jesus told would enter heaven not baptized by submersion in water?

There was no opportunity. However, Jesus taught that ordinarily, "no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit," which means baptism.

5. What did Jesus mean when he said "This is my body" instead of "This represents my body"?

Anyone seriously reading John 6 understands that Jesus was speaking literally. He restated his words so graphically and with such emphasis that many disciples left him because they knew he was not making poetry. "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink."

6. What did Jesus mean when he said "This is my blood"?

Again, he meant it literally. Though bread and wine do not physically change, Jesus promised that his living body and blood are present in the sacrament. We see this by faith, not by our senses.

7. What did James mean when he said "Faith without works is dead?

He clearly refuted the nice idea of "faith alone," Christianity on the cheap. Jesus taught the same, most notably in Matt 25, where those who had faith but gave the hungry nothing to eat, gave the thirsty nothing to drink, did not invite strangers in, did not clothe the needy, and did not look after the sick and prisoners were denied heaven.

8. What did Jesus mean when he said "Upon this rock I build my church?

The word rock (Petros) refers to Simon Peter, who Jesus appointed to lead the Church. Peter's successors eventually came to be called "papas," or popes.

9. What did Paul mean in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 when he told them to stand fast and hold to the TRADITIONS?

It meant that the Bible alone doesn't have all of Jesus' teachings in an unambiguous format. He entrusted the disciples in his Church to "hand down" the ideas that help us understand the Bible. See also John 21:25: "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

10. Where in the Bible does it say that we are to ignore what the early church leaders said, and to hold only to what they wrote, was voted on, and accepted as Canonical?

Again, it is not there, and it would certainly be foolish to rule out all the writings and traditions not included in the slim volume of the New Testament as false or irrelevant. On the other hand, calling the collection of writings the "word of God" clearly contradicts John 1:14, which says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." Jesus is the Word, not the writings of the apostles.

Cheers,
Bruce

EDIT: Okay, I admit I'm not a fundamentalist. But I used to be. Does that count? :^)

Answer 2

Outstanding question Deirdre H

..Rudy P , Jolly Roger, Edge, New Creture, CJ, Brian , Suzi & kjv_gods_word -? There is nothing so useless as an idle tongue flapping in the wind,you cannot debate with such as these because they can only repeat the same tired old stupid rubbish like parrots.


One faith means one set of beliefs, one set of doctrines; doctrines which never change. There is only one Catholic Church but there are over 26,000 Protestant denominations today; each separated from the other by differing doctrines. Each of these denominations can be traced back to a single individual who was not Saint Peter or one of the apostles

Answer 3

Fundamentalists are very obsessed with this "sola scriptura" thingy. Sola scriptura is in error, because, it was never even considered untill hundreds of years after Christ had died. If it was considered, Jesus would have written something himself. But instead He command, " do this, in memory of me".

Yes, faith without works is dead. If salvation is based only by faith, what's the use of Jesus' commandments.

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

Catholics did not add any scriptures, their traditions are inspired from the Word of God in the Bible.

There are many fundamentalist christian groups with different interpretations, and beliefs about the Bible, and the Word of God BUT in the Catholic Church there is only one belief and one interpretation of the Word of God and the Bible. Catholics are one in the Body of Christ.

Wow!! Great Questions!!

Answer 4

Awesome. And it figures that your first "answer" was from CJ (oh, excuse me, "Chris" now) with his latest lazy cut-and-paste. And it also figures that he whined about you asking a lot of questions in one.

Hmm. I suppose that's different from the typical laundry list we get asked:
"Why do you Catholics worship Mary? And call your priests father? It says in the Bible not to call any man father, didn't you know that? I guess you wouldn't if you never read it. It also says not to make any graven images so what's up with all those statues? And why do you confess your sins to a man instead of just asking God for forgiveness? That's just a man-made rule. Like praying a rosary. Don't you know that's vain and repetitious and you're supposed to pray from the heart and say "just" and "Lord" about a dozen times while you're thinking about what to say? I really want to know why you follow the Pope instead of Jesus. Peter wasn't the first pope, the Bible never says he went to Rome. Oh, and purgatory's not in the Bible, either. Can you quote me chapter and verse from Scripture to back any of this up?"

Answer 5

Deirdre - great points and good rebuttals. I doubt you will find anyone who can support their positions concerning these points.

One fundamentalist said, in response to another question, that the Bible was the final authority in all things. I find that such an odd statement, because that statement alone is not authorized by the Bible. They have a real cyclical error going on with that.

And good old Chris (aka CJ) is just plain old boring. Saying the same erroneous statement over and over, hardly makes it true.

Answer 6

wow, I was actually waiting for even one fundamentalist to step on a plate to answer even one of your questions! but no one took the challenge. I wonder why that is... and Chris (CJ) just easily dismissed your questions with giving you his own irrelevant personal final conclusion about Catholicism that they are not saved and are not Christians and all that crap, thinking he could just dismiss your questions as easily as that!
he doesn't seem to realize that by not answering your questions to support fundamentalists' claims biblically, their opinions about Catholicism are nothing but opinions based on ignorance.

Answer 7

I think all of our mouses are safe.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

The Catholic Church does NOT forbid anyone to marry.

Answer 8

So....no fundamentalist could answer intelligently?????

Oh well, I never expected them to. They read the Bible without understanding.

Answer 9

Wow Deirdre, excellent questions!!! It appears that fundamentalists follow much more TRADITION than they
claim. ;-)

If someone is actually able to justifiably provide an answer to all ten of your questions, making a strong case for their views, I shall eat my computer's mouse.

Answer 10

I will take #7 for now - James, the New Testament Kill-Joy strikes again!

It is like CS Lewis wrote - "Arguing which is more important to our salvation - faith or works - is like arguing which blade of the scissors is the most useful; you need both!".

Personally - I'm counting on a lot and I mean a lot of Grace and Mercy!