The Catholic Church has a nasty habit of both overestimating and overstating its own importance. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than the ludicrous claim that the Catholic Church produced the Bible. This historically illiterate claim is so common that it is used as a trump card in almost any theological debate regarding Catholicism. It doesn't matter what the actual topic is. It could be the existence of Purgatory, the legitimacy of the Papacy, the true nature of the bread and wine during the Lord's Supper, any argument Catholics get into, they always have the baseless claim that theirs is the Church which produced the Bible in their back pocket, ready to spring on anyone who just happens to believe the Bible means what it says. And that's just on the one issue. Catholics genuinely believe, and even stake their claim to authority on the claim, that without the Catholic Church, the world would know nothing about God.
But that honor actually belongs to the Jews.
A great victory of the Reformation is the ability of even the commoner to read the Bible in his or her own language. I have multiple Bibles right next to my bed today because the Church that used to punish people for doing so no longer has that political authority. Because of this, I can conclusively tell you that the Jews have quite an advantage, because in Paul's own words, "...unto them were committed the oracles of God." (Romans 3:1-2). From the moment God promised Abraham that his seed would exceed the number of stars, the Jews were a blessed people, set apart as Holy for God.
It was the Jews whom God released from Egypt and brought across the Red Sea. It was the Jews to whom He appeared as a pillar of fire by night, and smoke by day. It was from the Jews that the Lord raised up prophets. It was the Jews to whom God revealed the Holy words of the Old Testament, including His law. It was a Jewish king whose throne the Lord promised to establish forever. It was a Jewish woman, living in the Jewish homeland, who bore the Jewish Messiah, who perfectly exemplified the Jewish law, and chose Jewish Apostles, who wrote the Jewish New Testament.
Jews, Jews, Jews, God acted through the Jews. "But they rebelled", the Catholic may reply. But the scriptures God gave us through the Jews tell us two things. First of all, they tell us "...Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." (Romans 11:1-4). From this, we clearly see that even the rebellion of the Jews is not enough for God to forget His promises to them. Replacement Theology, no matter which Church professes it, is an utter heresy from the pits of Hell.
But of course, some Jews will be cast off. Rejecting Jesus is rejecting salvation, plain and simple, and so the Jews who reject Him are cast off. Nevertheless, Paul continues his divinely inspired thoughts:
"And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." (Romans 11:17-25)
If you believe God would abandon the Jews for their rebellion, how much more swiftly do you imagine He would abandon Rome? One does not need to know much about the Bible to know that Catholicism is not the Church Jesus founded. All throughout scripture, the Catholic Church is absent in all but concept. Certainly, the Jews angered God by worshipping the Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-25), just as Catholics call Mary the Queen of Heaven. God cast out the nations before the Jews because they sought the dead on behalf of the living, rather than seeking God (Deuteronomy 9:5; Isaiah 8:19-20), just as God despises when Catholics seek the intercession of the Saints on their behalf. And the Galatians certainly fell from grace when they tried to add works to faith in order to receive salvation (Galatians 5:4), just as the Catholic Church presents that false gospel, condemning its leaders to a fierey end (2 Peter 2:1). But the Catholic Church itself is evidently not yet present within the pages of scripture.
By the time the Apostles had completed their earthly ministry, up to and including giving us the Jewish New Testament, and the Faith was delivered once for all to the saints (Jude 1:3), the Catholic Church was nowhere to be found. Pontifex Maximus was still a title belonging to the chief high priest of the Roman College of Pontiffs, whereas churches still acted independently. Mary, while still respected, was not ascribed the goddess-like attributes the modern Catholic Church is today. We find no mention of the mythical 7 Sacraments. The Catholic Church, contrary to its claims, cannot trace its origins back to Jesus, to Peter, not even to the first century. The Jews, upon whom they look down, can trace theirs back to Abraham.
Both of these things are meaningless, as at the end of the day, it's not about how you came by your authority, legitimate or not, but about how you use it. The Jew may tell you Jesus never rose, the Catholic may tell you "...The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship..." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 971), you can reject both of these claims as being both lies and blasphemies, because they set themselves against the truth, as we find it in the scriptures. Anyone can claim to have authority from God, but no one may claim authority equal to, or higher than God, and so when you speak from His word, you speak with an authority greater than the Catholic Church, and even higher than that of the Jews. The Bible, given to us by God, will always be greater than man made traditions, and no amount of "we gave you the Bible" will change that.
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