|
Hi Agostinho,
I have news for you: There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Christian sects
that are able to present a convincing case that what they say comes exactly
from the Bible contradicts what other similar-believing sects
say.
The Bible is the most distorted text in all of history and it is not that hard
to make it say whatever you want it to say, if you select verses carefully enough, so
don't be deceived by what your father says. Calm down and realize that it only appears that what he says, is what the Bible teaches. If you study the Scriptures more deeply, in the
context of history and Christian tradition, you will see it in a much different light.
You said:
He tells me that Sunday is not a day of worship
but Saturday is and that I can read the Bible by
myself.
Saturday is the day the Jews worshiped, to be sure. It is not the day
that Christians worship however. You can read this for yourself in the
Bible. In Acts 20:7 the disciples were gathered together to break bread
— to celebrate the Eucharist in other words —on the first day
of the week. In 1 Corinthians 16:2, there is a reference to a collection
on the first day of the week, and it would only make sense that this would
occur when they met together. An early Christian martyr, St. Justin Martyr,
described Christian worship in the mid 2nd century, and he too testifies
that worship was on Sunday so it's not as cut and dried as they are making
it out to be.
And what about Colossians 2:16: "Therefore no one is to act as your
judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon
or a Sabbath day"? Did they ever tell you that one?
You said:
He uses the Bible, and only the Bible,
to justify his teachings. On top of that, he uses only the verses that conveniently fit his agenda.
Let's first get rid of this notion that justifying things from the Bible
alone is somehow better. Here are some verses he won't tell you about:
"Hold fast to the traditions which you received, whether by word
of mouth or by letter"
(2 Thessalonians 2:15).
"Watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your
way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned."
(Romans
16:17)
"Keep away from every brother who does not live according to the
teaching you received from us."
(2 Thessalonians 3:6)
"The grass withers and the flowers fail, but the word of the Lord
stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you."
( 1
Peter 1:25)
"Earnestly contend for the faith once for all entrusted to the
saints."
(Jude 3)
"Church of the living God", "which is [] the pillar and
foundation of the truth."
(1 Timothy 3:15).
"And we also thank God continually because, when you received the
word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word
of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you
who believe."
(1 Thessalonians 2:13)
I have probably five times as many similar verses. The point of them is
that Sacred Tradition — that which was preached by the Apostles and handed
down to the saints — is equally authoritative to Scripture. The Gospel
was chiefly an oral message in the early church. Not surprising given the
expense of books and the dismal levels of literacy. You will not find a
single reference in Scripture to the Word of God being written down — it is, and we believe it, but we believe it by Tradition.
You will
find more references to the oral proclamation of the Gospel than to the
written Scriptures. Now, this is not to disparage the Scriptures, but to
highlight the absurdity of the idea that we have to only justify what we
believe from Scripture alone. This idea was invented in the Reformation
and has no prior history.
You said:
I love the Catholic Church but he tells me that
it is the religion of the devil and that the
Pope will persecute and kill the Sabbath (Saturday)
keepers.
- What should I do:
- confront my father, or
- leave
my Catholic faith?
Learn your faith and study both the Scriptures and history with Catholics,
not just SDA folk.
My first recommendation is that you sit down and read
the New Testament start to finish. Get a Catholic study guide if you can.
Ideally you should read the Old Testament too but that's far more formidable
and I don't want you to avoid reading anything for fear of reading all
of it. Go to:
The St. Paul Center For Biblical Theology, Scott Hahn
where there are free online courses you can take and other resources.
The other thing you need to do is study history.
"To be immersed
in history is to cease to be Protestant."
Venerable John Henry Cardinal
Newman.
Study the early church and you will see that they believed everything
that's essential to Catholicism.
The notion that the Pope will persecute and kill Sabbath keepers is purely
a product of an overactive imagination.
- If the Pope hasn't done this in
two hundred years, why would he do it now?
- Is there any solid evidence
that the Pope has prepared to do this, or is this is just
one of thousands of kooky self-deluded religious groups?
Besides our site, you can find a wealth of information about Seventh-Day
Adventism from Catholic Answers, searching for "Adventist", such
as this article:
This shows, for one thing, that the observation of the Sabbath was abolished,
according to
St. Paul.
Hope this helps,
Eric
|
