Good morning to you!

Thank you for your kindness. I opened this thread because Doc and Radiance continually quotes this verse of their proof of the beginning of the Catholic Church. I found it amazing that this complete religion is based on one verse, actually, one word and their interpretation of that word.

My knowledge and faith comes from the Bible and only the Bible. I have only a high school education and have only seriously studied the Bible later in life, so I know my limitations when conversing with the ‘big boys’!!!!
Sometimes the most obvious or most quoted points or scriptures are just taken for granted or ignored. In this case, it doesn’t look like they are interested in discussing the most definitive verse of 1,986 years. I was looking forward to an actual adult discussion. I watched a couple of discussions or debates on the John Ankerberg and they are always respectful, very passionate and always ends with a handshake! I would love to see that happen here.

For me, the Bible is many books in one! It is a science book, a history book, a book of passionate love stories, a futuristic book, a supernatural book with ghosts,mind readers, giants, talking mules and more! How much more exciting can you get that! But it is ultimately about Jesus Christ our Savior and his story of the ultimate gift of life that is available for each and every one of us! It is about his birth, his journey to choose 12 Apostles that would follow him and teach his chosen people that He was the Son Of God-Jesus Christ ! The Bible is about his death on the cross and his resurrection 3 days later, his revealed himself to many during the 40 days before his ascension to sit on the right side of God the Father. After his ascension, Jesus revealed himself to Paul! Paul who was to go to the world and reveal the mystery that was revealed to him by Jesus Christ! Romans 16:25 At the end of Peter’s life he said this about Paul, “ therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found in him peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these thing, in which some things are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2 Peter 3: 14-16. Paul brought in the Church age or the Dispensation of Grace and will end at the rapture of the church! Charles Ryrie said, “ Grace is God’s benevolence to the undeserving.”

The Bible is about Jesus, not any specific church, not the Catholic, not the Church of Christ , or any other denomination or religion. The only church in the Bible is the Church that all Christians belong to that has accepted his gift of salvation.

This is what I believe by reading and studying the Bible and 10 years in a very dedicated home Bible Study group that required countless hours to answer some very detailed questions by a very seasoned leader who made up her own questions! She will have a special crown to lay at the feet of Jesus Christ!

Your testimony is priceless, TexaCan.

It is a spiritual tragedy that millions of people have been brainwashed into accepting the false gospel of Roman Catholicism.

In this country, where, theoretically at least, every one has the freedom to choose what they will read, and the Holy Scriptures of the Bible are freely available, the Roman Catholic church stamps their approval inside the front cover of those books their members are allowed to read. Without that stamp, they are taught it is a sin to read the unfettered Word of God in an unauthorized (by the vatican) version of the Bible.

Political Correctness has reached such a fever pitch in this society, one cannot write the truth in the religious/spiritual section of an online political forum without expecting to receive, at the very least, vitriolic feedback.

Again, I applaud the beauty of your personal experience with God's Word.

There is no debate of substance in any of the topics in this section at present, TexaCan,

That may well be because only one side has viable ammunition, and that is the Sword of the Spirit, properly applied.

As for the personal insults, after being called a rude, loud mouthed, unethical woman repeatedly by a lady who is surely a paragon of virtue (just ask her), I find it hard not to dissolve into laughter, which surely is a loss of proper perspective on my part.

Claims sometimes become worthless after being challenged. Doc has virtually created his own website subsection, at no expense to himself, and with no mental output requirement, but with a modicum of readers because they're allowed no response or interaction that might threaten his unsubstantiated beliefs.

Having given him more attention than his activities warrant, I'm going to have a quiet retreat and seek an attitude adjustment.

God bless your day.