Then There was…

Then There was...

The second part of the series “Pillars of Catholic Authority”. The first part “In the beginning, there was… ” can be found here.

THEN THERE WAS…

The Apostles taught mainly in the same manner as their master; orally, that is. “He who hears you hears me; and he who rejects you, rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me.” (Lk 10:16).

But due to the vast area and the number of cities they had to travel to, St Paul mainly started writing letters to communicate with the different Church commuities of that time. This letters were mainly responsed to questions or complaints that were sent to him.

After his death, some of his disciples and admirers followed in his footsteps writing letters containing advice and teachings which they believed were “faithful” to Paul’s mind. Examples of these letters are 2 Thessalonicans, Colossians and Ephesians.

During this time also, a number of narratives of the Life of Jesus were penned down to preserve an eyewitness account for their immediate readers (1st Century Christians) and for those who may come after them.

Problem of Limited Readership
Due to the stress involved in writing a book (not to mention replicating one), almost all the books written could only be read by those in a particular city or area or to whom they were addressed. In other words, those in Corinth were able to read only 1 and 2 Corinthians which were written and sent to them, they could not read the book of Romans which was written and sent to Rome.

Fake “Apostolic” Writings
Then, some individuals outside the Church started writing their own versions of the Gospel adding into it, different stories from what happened and naming it after Apostles to make them seem to be True Apostolic Books. Examples are “The gospel of Thomas”, “The gospel of Mary”, e.t.c. Some also wrote their own epistles and sent them out claiming that they were truly apostolic.

The Old Testament
The Apostles and Early Christians taught and evangelised in the Greek language and so they quoted from the Greek translation of the Sciptures known as the “Septuagint”. This version was composed by Alexandrian Jews and in it were not just books written/preserved in Hebrew-Aramaic but also those in Greek. The Septuagint contained 46 books and this Canon of the Old Testament was adopted by the Early Church.

Creation of Individual Canons
Due to this, the Apostles and leaders of the Church started individually to decide which books(among the ones they had received) were apostolic and which were not. They also instructed christians telling them which books they were to accept and teaching them how to know if a book was apostolic or not. An example is found in Galatians 1: 8 – 9.

Over time, Bishops continued to create canons of New Testament (A canon is a list, in this case, a list of approved books to be taken as Scripture) for the areas/christians under them. In 367 AD, Saint Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt made a canon of the New Testament that contained only 27 books saying “In these alone is proclaimed the Good News of the teachings of the True Religion”.

Creation of An Official Universal Canon
Soon, the Church decided to hold Councils to determine once and for all, which books were to be considered as Scripture among the books claiming to be so.

A Council was called at Rome in 382 AD which made a Complete Canon of the Bible containing 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.

Two North African Local Councils held in union with Rome in the years 393 and 397 AD (Council of Carthage and Council of Hippo) both made the same Canon.

Criteria
Some of the criteria used in determining which books were to be in the Bible are:
1. The book must be of Apostolic origin.
2. The book must have a special relationship to God (In other words, it must be based on divine inspiration).
3. The book must have been used in Church liturgical services.

The First Bible
From 382 to 405 AD, St Jerome prepared the first Bible at the request of Pope Damasus I. This Bible is known as the Vulgate and was written in Latin. St Jerome translated the Old Testament directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek and revised the existing Latin version of the New Testament.

Sola Scriptura?
The mantra “By the Bible Alone” is one that is at least incorrect. The existence, nature and origin of the Bible totally contradicts it. Just a few points to consider:

If Christianity is based on the Bible only, what about those Christians who joined the Church at the Pentecost, which Bible were they given?

If the Bible was meant to be a maual of Christian Faith, why didn’t the Apostles write the Same content in the Epistles to the different Cities? Or does the manual for Christian living for the Romans differ from that of the Corinthians?

If the Bible is “Infallible”, what does it say about the people and Church that wrote and compiled the Bible? Can a book be more-trustworthy than its author?

Next in the series: …AND THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN

In The Beginning, There was…

The Pillars of Catholic Authority
There are 3 pillars on which the whole of Catholic Doctrines rely. These are Tradition, Holy Scriptures and the Magisterium. The purpose of these series of articles is to introduce us to them and explain how and why the pillars exist. Over to the actual beginning.

IN THE BEGINNING
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us” (John 1:14)

These verses tell us the simple identity and origin of Christianity and the Church. The Church is the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ himself. Coming down into our world by Incarnation, He called people to himself. From these people generally known as disciples, He called aside 12 people whom He called Apostles (the ones to be sent out). To these 12, He said and explained a lot of things which He did not say to the others. This was in preparation for the task He was about to give to them.

He did not do this just for the task but also to rebuild them to be able to take on the new identity which He was going to give to them (and through them, to us all.) He was planning a miracle unlike any other that He had done. He had multiplied 5 loaves of bread into so many loaves that 5,000 men (not counting the women and children) ate and there were 12 baskets of left-overs.

This time, He was not going to perform Multiplication but a supernatural Fusion. He was going to make the 12 into one body, and not just any body, but His body. He was going to make them Himself, the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ.

And so at the Last Supper, after turning ordinary bread and wine into His Body and Body, Jesus prays “May they all be one… as we are one: I in them and you in me.” There and then, He added the First 11 (Judas had left) members of the Church. To the 11 whom He had given special training and instructions, He gave Himself fully in the Eucharist and told them to do this in memory of Him.

After His death and Resurrection, He gave this Command to His Apostles “Go, therefore, and make disciples from all nations. Baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to fulfill all that I have commanded you. I am with you always until the end of this world.” (Matthew 28:16 – 20)
Here, He gives them the directive and power to continue this fusion. He asks them to bring more people all into His Body. He also tells them how this is to be done; by Baptism and by Catechatical instructions. This instructions was followed as is shown in Acts 2.

TRADITION
Carrying out the mission given to them, the Apostles traveled around making more disciples and teaching them what the Lord had taught them. In times of confusion or seeming disagreement on issues, the Apostles met and decided on what was right so they could teach the truth to others.

Who were the Apostles? We know of “Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, which means “men of thunder”; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. We also know of Matthias who replaced Judas, Paul, Barnabas and a few others which comes to a total of less than 20.

The Apostolic Age ended with the death of the Last Apostle John the Beloved in 98AD.

The teachings of the Apostles handed down to their successors and the early Christians from that time till now were passed down partly by writing and mainly by oral teaching. These teachings of theirs are what we refer to as “APOSTOLIC TRADITION.” We find them recorded partially in written form in the Bible and the other verified writings of the Apostles and their successors.

Christ sent the Apostles to pass on His teachings to us, having infused them with the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth.

Next in the series:  THEN THERE WAS…

Confession

Are there sins which require confession or is that just a Catholic invention?
Well, let’s ask the bible.

Matthew 9:1-8. (Note verse 8).
Mark 2 : 5 -12 (Note verse 10)

Then John 20 : 19 – 23 (Note verses 21 – 23).

Then 1 John 1 : 9 says if we confess our sins to God, he will forgive!

Therefore, the Catholics are the ones who created confession, right?

Just read the same 1 John 5 : 16 – 17.
(Oh, You didn’t know it was written in the bible.)

Now my question is, if they should not be prayed about directly to God, then how will they be forgiven?

CONFESSION!!!!!

Saint Paul said this plainly in 2 Corinthians 5 : 17 – 20.
(Verse 19)”…… He hath placed in us the word of reconcilation.”
And that is exactly what confession is.
The sacrament of RECONCILATON to God.

Or maybe I’m more stupid than I thought and those verses are not in the bible.