Evangelicals are often called “People of the Book” and it is not a compliment, but rather a condemnation. In Father Joe’s words:
“I have found very few who really know Jesus in depth, which is sad, because he really is the Christian religion, not theology or the Bible…Jesus never told anyone to write a Bible. The early Christian teachers wrote the New Testament part of the Bible, so it shares only as much authority as the early Church had to write it. Jesus gave authority to the apostles and to those upon whom the apostles would lay their hands in imparting their authority. Jesus committed his message to them; they are and will always be the rule of faith in Jesus’ mind. The New Testament is an expression of a part of their teaching. In keeping with his promise to send the Holy Spirit, Jesus has been guiding the apostles through the centuries in an ever-deepening understanding of his message. To go back to the book alone is to deny the Holy Spirit’s two thousand years of guidance, and all the growth in understanding that has taken place in those two thousand years.”
According to this teaching, we cannot know Jesus and we cannot know the Holy Spirit without returning to the Catholic Church in unity. The rule of faith is solely with the apostolic succession. Father Joe goes on:
“Men cannot appoint themselves as apostles. They must be chosen by apostles before them. Otherwise, like branches broken off the vine, they and their followers will eventually wither and die.”
Remember, we have chosen not to try and solve this great divide from unity. We should note, however, that millions and millions of people have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior through the Book as well as through the Church.
Surely the Spirit is free to move where he wishes.
Surely there is family connection here. Come back for Parts 6, 7, and 8 to see the flicker of hope.
“I have found very few who really know Jesus in depth, which is sad, because he really is the Christian religion, not theology or the Bible…Jesus never told anyone to write a Bible. The early Christian teachers wrote the New Testament part of the Bible, so it shares only as much authority as the early Church had to write it. Jesus gave authority to the apostles and to those upon whom the apostles would lay their hands in imparting their authority. Jesus committed his message to them; they are and will always be the rule of faith in Jesus’ mind. The New Testament is an expression of a part of their teaching. In keeping with his promise to send the Holy Spirit, Jesus has been guiding the apostles through the centuries in an ever-deepening understanding of his message. To go back to the book alone is to deny the Holy Spirit’s two thousand years of guidance, and all the growth in understanding that has taken place in those two thousand years.”
According to this teaching, we cannot know Jesus and we cannot know the Holy Spirit without returning to the Catholic Church in unity. The rule of faith is solely with the apostolic succession. Father Joe goes on:
“Men cannot appoint themselves as apostles. They must be chosen by apostles before them. Otherwise, like branches broken off the vine, they and their followers will eventually wither and die.”
Remember, we have chosen not to try and solve this great divide from unity. We should note, however, that millions and millions of people have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior through the Book as well as through the Church.
Surely the Spirit is free to move where he wishes.
Surely there is family connection here. Come back for Parts 6, 7, and 8 to see the flicker of hope.
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