re: Much Needed Clarity Regarding the Pope and the Recent Document Regarding Blessings

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The apostles never once in the New Testament acted as if they had the authority to forgive a person’s sin.

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Then they disobeyed Christ’s orders when he sent them out into the world. Naughty, naughty Apostles.

So Christ gave them the express authority to do something, but because there is no express instance in the scriptures of them doing so, they didn’t?

Let me ask you, did they poop?

You sola scriptura people,are going to have to do some serious mental gymnastics to figure out how the digestive systems of the early believers worked.

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Perhaps I should've just said that does not happen.

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it does, I’m sorry you don’t understand it believe. I’ll pray for you.

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1 Timothy 2:5-6 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people.

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actually in the confession a person is confessing their sins to Jesus, just in the presence of the priest.

I encourage you to read up on how a priest is in persona christi and how when a priest celebrates the sacraments it is not the priest doing it but Jesus working through the priest.

Video explaining In Persona Christ, and other things

the video above is from Fr. Mike Schmitz explaining the section of the catechism that explains the two priesthoods of the faithful, common and ministerial. Also explains the concept of in persona Christi Capitis.

simply put, when a priest celebrates the sacrament it is really Christ working through him. In a deeper way Jesus is the one doing the work of the sacrament, the priest is merely an instrument.

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And this is always the caveat. You proclaim yourselves the arbiter of all truths. Meaning, we make up any rule we want to accommodate our beliefs and circumvent anything that’s inconvenient to our theology.

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This is exactly how Protestantism was founded!

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teachings that aren’t taught in the Bible

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Like sola scriptura?

I found it revealing when in an earlier post in this thread, a poster with a good memory mentioned that the same two Protestants (Rev and Foo) have been at this game for over ten years - bashing Catholics.

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Jesus said a person had to be born again to see the kingdom of heaven. The Bible tells a person all he/she needs to know to be saved. This is the most important thing, and it’s all in the Bible.

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Define sola scriptura as you see it, then justify your definition by doing nothing but quoting the Bible.

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Sola Scriptura simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture.

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And that fundamental axiom of Protestantism is nowhere to be found in the Bible. There's a quote from a letter from Paul saying that Scripture is sufficient and useful, and that is always cited as the Proof Text for Sola Scriptura, but, that interpretation of that passage really strains credulity, when you read it with an objective point of view.

Fact is, Sola Scriptura was invented over Fifteen Centuries after Christ founded His Church on earth. It was an absolutely unknown theological concept until the 1500s A.D. That's more than 15 centuries after Christ.

As such, to be persuaded by the Protestant arguments on this issue, one cannot approach the matter as a completely objective analyst searching for Truth. If you are, you realize that 15 Centuries is a long time to wait for a Fundamental Truth to be Revealed by God. You realize that surely God bequeathed Truth to his people a bit sooner than over One Thousand and Five Hundred Years after Christ founded His Church. I mean, that's what makes logical sense.

However, if a person has always been in a Protestant environment, they will take that Proof Text for granted. They won't subject it to any logical analysis.

I personally approached this issue with an objective and open-minded viewpoint. I wanted to logically analyze this "Proof Text" without any pre-judging or predisposition. I did not approach my task from the perspective as a committed Catholic, because I was not a lifelong practicing Catholic when I considered the issue.

The conclusion I reached was that the Catholic positions on Bible Alone and Faith Alone are correct. Study of History bears this out. Study of Church history supports this. Also, logic supports the Catholic interpretation.