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Protestant Bible and Protestantism: A Historical and Spiritual Wrong Way Turn.

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1442**

The Ecumenical Council of Florence affirmed the list of inspired books as was already being infallibly {see short article bottom of previous page} taught by the Ordinary Magisterium of the Catholic Church for over 1000 years.

1545*** The Wrong Way Turn of Protestantism. Deficiencies of The Protestant Bible.****

The canon of the Bible was solemnly defined and made dogmatic (beyond the permissibility of doubt for Catholics) by the Fourth Session of the Ecumenical Council of Trent of the Catholic Church held in northern Italy 1545-1563 A.D. by the Decree "De Canonicis Scripturis" on April 8th, 1546. Pope Pius IV formally confirmed all of its decrees in 1564 A.D. This put the canonicity of the whole Traditional Bible or Latin Vulgate (LV) beyond the permissibility of doubt on the part of Catholics. The books of the canon were listed individually and agreed exactly with the earlier listing already being infallibly taught (for about 1000 years prior to the Council of Trent) by the Ordinary Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The Council of Trent lists 45 books of the Old Testament not 46, because like the Traditional Bible or Latin Vulgate (LV) it considers Lamentations part of Jeremiah. It also lists 27 books of the New Testament. This canon is exactly the same as the Traditional Bible (LV) as it was listed for over 1000 years before the Council of Trent. This canon of the Bible was agreed upon (after much debate) by the earlier popes and both regional (provincial) and ecumenical official Church councils or synods. Today's Catholic Bibles usually count a 73-book canon of Scripture not 72. This is simply because they number the book of Lamentations separate from Jeremiah. However, once dogmatically defined, there can be no dispute as to the canonicity of the sacred books on the part of Catholics. The Reformers accept the 27 books of the New Testament. (Martin Luther dishonored and nearly eliminated some of the New Testament books like James, Hebrews, Jude, and Revelation. The insistence of his friends stopped him from eliminating some of the New Testament canon. Luther was suffering from scrupulosity.) The Protestant reformers accept 39 books found in the Hebrew Canon. They do not accept 46 books as they thought their to be seven (7) additional books to the canon of the Holy Bible only composed in Greek (LXX). Actually, many of the the books were preserved in Greek (not composed or originally written in Greek). Here, the reformers of the 16th century had taken, or been guided into, a historical and spiritual, wrong way turn. The archeological evidence available to the reformers of the 16th century led them to believe that the deuterocanonical books were later Greek language compositions and additions to the Holy Bible. Relatively recent archeological findings and analysis of the Dead Sea scrolls (Qumran) of 1947 revealed that several deuterocanonical books were originally composed in Hebrew or Aramaic.*** The Protestant reformers, not guided by a Holy Spirit, were led away from the fullness of the truth in the Catholic Church, and into a lesser truth. This would lead into chaos: cascading divisions, lack of beauty, lack harmony and unity, and growing numbers of Protestant denominations with partial truths or wrong doctrines. One Bride of Christ. One Bread, One Body. One Bride of Christ. One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless. And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord. Gentile or Jew, servant or free, woman or man no more. Many the gifts, many the works, one in the Lord of all. ( 1 Corinthians 10:14-18; 12:1-31 ) ( Galatians 3:23-29 ) ( Ephesians 1:15-23; 2:1-22; 5:1-33 )The Catholic Church, founded by Jesus Christ, has the fullness of the Truth. The Catholic Church has Christ as its head; and the Holy Spirit as its soul; the faithful as its body. The Catholic Church has the guarantee of the Holy Spirit to keep it from falling into error on matters of faith and morals. Truth is a matter of life and death. ( John 14:6; 5:24 ) In his ( Letter to The Philadelphians, Chap. 3 ) Saint Ignatius of Antioch, before 117 A. D., wrote: "...For, all who belong to God and Jesus Christ are with the bishop. And those, too, will belong to God who have returned, repentant, to the unity of the Church so as to live in accordance with Jesus Christ. Make no mistake, brethren. No one who follows another into schism inherits the kingdom of God ( 1 Cor. 6:9 ). No one who follows heretical doctrine is on the side of the passion..." Ultimately, wrong doctrines lead to death; so choose life. ( Deuteronomy 30:11-20 ) In their own presumptuous way, and promoting individual authority, the reformers of the 16th century adopted a shorter 66 book canon of the Holy Bible. They did this based on the archeological evidence available to them at that time, and to suit the new doctrines they invented - "sola scriptura" and "sola fide". And what spirit (authority) guided the reformers (deformers) on this historical and spiritual "Wrong Way" turn? Protestantism, similar to the revolt of Korah (Numbers 16:1-11), is a turning away from unity and a rejection of authority. Protestantism tends to divide the head (Jesus Christ) from the people or the Body of Christ. Rom. 12:5 "so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others". The idea of "just me and Jesus" or "nothing but a personal relationship between me and the Lord Jesus Christ" is popular in some Protestantism denominations. The "just me and Jesus" mentality excludes others in the Body of Christ to varying degrees and it may also exclude the Church founded by Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church and its authority is all part of God'ss plan in the economy of salvation. Some Protestant denominations seem to be saying "yes to the man but no to all of His plan". The Catholic Church Christ founded is part of Christ's plan and is an instrument of salvation. When Protestant Ministers, under their own human authority, found their own "church" ( Without the guarantee of the Holy Spirit to keep them from falling in doctrinal error. ) they are ( may be unwittingly ) saying in effect: "I have a better idea than Jesus Christ." Protestantism fails to integrate the person fully into the Church founded by Jesus Christ, the saints and His entire family. The Church is the Body of Christ, a large family with members in heaven, in purgatory, and on earth. The language of the Bible is predominantly in terms of "family" or "covenant family" relationship with God not some legal courtroom. The Protestant reformation (deformation) was a turning away from the unity and fullness of the truth in the One True Catholic Church. It was a turn towards chaos, cascading divisions, a shorter Bible, and a lesser truth in the many Protestant churches. Just recently (Nov. 2003), a major Protestant church ordained an openly homo se xual bishop. This may result in yet another cascading division, another "truth". [ Update: Nov. 2009 more divisions have resulted and more are likely to follow!] Already, many Protestant churches leave contraception up to individual conscience. It was not a Holy Spirit that guided the Protestant reformers into a lesser truth, cascading divisions, historical failure, and a turning away from authority (Matthew 16:18-19 "on this rock I will build my church... I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven..."), a turning away from Jesus Christ (Luke 10:16 "...he who rejects you rejects me..."), and the Catholic Church that Jesus Christ founded. Christ prayed in John 17:10-12 "...that they may be one..." Along with Jesus then we pray that our Protestant brothers and sisters will ( make a right way turn ) and return to the Catholic Church; that we may be one. We pray that our Protestant brothers and sisters will be one with us in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We pray that they will accept the gift of grace from the communion of saints, and the seven sacraments. We pray that they will choose life. We pray that they by free will, aided by grace; choose the beauty and the splendor of Truth. We pray that they have full communion with the family of God - The Catholic Church family. Ut unum sint Ioannes Paulus PP. II1995 05 25 PASTORAL VISIT TO GREAT BRITAIN ECCUMENICAL CELEBRATION IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II Saturday, 29 May 1982

** The Ecumenical Council of Florence of 1442 A.D. affirmed the list of inspired books (canon) set by the earlier Synods of Carthage of 397-419 A.D. This is about 100 years before the Council of Trent. The "Decretum pro Jacobitis" by Pope Eugenius IV lists the inspired books and according to the common teaching of theologians these documents are infallible states of doctrine. Since there was no urgent challenge or compelling reason why it should, the Ecumenical Council of Florence did not dogmatically pass on the canonicity of the inspired books.

*** Relatively recent archeological findings and analysis of the Dead Sea scrolls (Qumran) of 1947 revealed that several deuterocanonical books were originally composed in Hebrew. Read page 1041 in full of The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall 1990, Raymond Edward Brown, Roland Edmund Murphy, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Editors, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. In part, Page 1041, #38 states the following: "...(2) it was once thought that the extra (deuterocanonical) books in the Alexandrian canon had been composed in Greek and not Hebrew or Aramaic the sacred languages known in Palestine. Actually, a good number of the deuterocanonical books were originally composed in Hebrew (Sir, Jdt, 1 Macc) or Aramaic (Tob). The Qumran discoveries prove that some of these books were in circulation in Palestine and accepted by Jewish groups there. The fact that the codices of the LXX do not isolate the deuterocanonical books as a group but mix them in with the Prophets (Bar) and the Writings (Sir, Wis) shows that there was no awareness that these books had a unique origin, as there would have been if they were thought to be later and foreign additions to an already fixed collection translated from Hebrew. The thesis that the Jews in Alexandria had a different theory of inspiration from the theory shared by the Jews in Jerusalem is gratuitous..."

**** Where We Got the Bible, Our Debt To The Catholic Church by Bishop Henry G. Graham, Pages 27-30, Deficiencies of The Protestant Bible.

(See "How Scripture Came to Be" in the History section. Formation of the Oral Tradition - Bible dates on Torah from Oral Tradition to written word.)

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