I have returned! Back to the Blogging

The Church
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"When the Gospels were written, they recorded a tradition that was already there. They did not create it. After a while men had decided to put the traditions into writing, which explains the beginning of the gospel of St. Luke. He begins, "That thou mayest know the verity of these words in which thou hast been instructed". He assumes people already had been instructed. The Gospels did not start the Church the Church Started the Gospels. The Church did not come out of the Gospels; it was the Gospels that came out of the Church. The Church preceded the New Testament, not the New Testament the Church. Men did not believe in the Resurrection because the Gospel said there was a Resurection. The Gospel writers recorded the story of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection because they believed it.

In like manner, the Church did not come to believe the Virgin birth because the Gospels tell us there was a virgin birth it was because the Living Word of God, in His Mystical Body, the Church, already believed it and the sacred writers set it down in the Gospels"
-Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Perhaps the biggest difference between Catholics and Protestants is found in the area of Ecclesiology(doctrines regarding the church). Many other issues are minor in comparison to this one, and once someone accepts either view the rest of the doctrines can usually fall into place. Protestants adhere to the theological principal known as "Sola Scriptura" which sees the Bible as the only source for authority and doctrines in the church. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, believes that the Church has teaching authority(Magisterium) and that the Scriptures are complemented by Holy Tradition. Together these make up the "Deposit of Faith" which was given to the apostles, and passed down through Apostolic Succession through the Bishops.

To me the Catholic view seems more historically feasible. The Church had existed for quite a few years before the first of what we know as the New Testament was written. The New Testament was produced through the Church. I think that this view also provides a better frame for interpretation of Scripture, instead of that of personal/private interpretation. This was one issue that I had the hardest time getting through in my journey to the Catholic Church, and it is a huge one. Once one is convinced of either side being correct though, then many of the other doctrines which puzzle believers make sense.

This is my beginning of a new series of blogs. I am hoping to soon take you back in a journey through time, to the time of the early church, and see how things worked back then.