Protestant Christian

[Trinity]

Originally Posted by Leslie

Last time I read my Bible, it said that the Church was founded at Jerusalem, not Rome. I'm still surprised you guys aren't based at Jerusalem instead of Rome.

In addition and with the above Columcille answer, keep in mind, that Jerusalem was completely destroyed and deserted in the year 70 (first century).

Trinity

[Leslie]

I think that in order to understand what a Protestant Christian is, you must first understand what it is that he or she is Protesting against in the first place. Which is the traditions and practices not found within Holy Scripture, which the papists would have you believe are absolutely needed to go to Heaven. That is what we protest. You're essentially saying all those Christians (including Catholics) who didn't believe in Papal infallibility go to hell, or the Marian Dogmas which were not around in the earlier years.

If i'm going to hell because I don't believe in these things, we can just blame the Apostles or even God himself for not having them write these things down in Scripture where it would be God-Breathed.

[Columcille]

Originally Posted by Leslie

I think that in order to understand what a Protestant Christian is, you must first understand what it is that he or she is Protesting against in the first place. Which is the traditions and practices not found within Holy Scripture, which the papists would have you believe are absolutely needed to go to Heaven. That is what we protest. You're essentially saying all those Christians (including Catholics) who didn't believe in Papal infallibility go to hell, or the Marian Dogmas which were not around in the earlier years.

If i'm going to hell because I don't believe in these things, we can just blame the Apostles or even God himself for not having them write these things down in Scripture where it would be God-Breathed.

There are so many things to be addressed in this quote of yours Leslie, but the livelyhood of the discussion will get no where if we run every tangent. A Protestant did protest the Catholic Church, that goes without saying. But is it well founded or consistent in its applications? When you start talking about Canonicity, you might rationally talk about a rubric or standard from which you apply to each book of the Scriptures. However, each rubric that is highlighted contradicts other books in the bible, leading to an inconsistency that really rests on the work of the Catholic Church in the fourth century. One such rubric is that it is prophetic with a "thus says the Lord" type of authority. You will judge Wisdom lacking such qualities, but in regards to Song of Songs or Esther you are completely silent. When it comes to a timeline, you are running yourself in circles because you have taken for granted what the Church Fathers actually believed. You believe in the Trinity, yet the Apostles didn't write "Trinity" down in a dogmatic formation. Scripture is God breathed; and it is the Church as a universal community that recognized it by the Holy Spirit when the Council of Rome persuaded the Council of Carthage, which in turn was submitted to the Trullo and ratified by the seventh Ecumenical council of Nice II. Yet, you talk about if the ratification never took place until the Council of Trent in response to the Reformation. Before the ratification of the canons of Carthage at Nice II, you have a long list of individual's giving their own lists that do not correspond to the Scriptures that even Protestants use. Perhaps the closest is St.Athenasius, but only one list? http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf...i.iii.xxv.html

Of course, if you accept his as the closest, you have already rejected Baruch.