Kindle Notes & Highlights
We read that Christ breathed on the apostles and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. When you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven. When you hold them bound, they are held bound.” This is one of only two times in the whole Bible that God breathed on man, the other being Genesis 2:7, when he made man a living soul.
“By their fruits you will know them.” If you look around you’ll find that there are no active anti-Episcopalians, no active anti-Methodists, no active anti-Quakers. No one takes out ads in the newspaper to run down these other religions. No one writes mean-spirited letters full of all kinds of exaggerations about these religions, but a lot of anger is vented at the Catholic Church, especially by ex-Catholics. It’s much like the fellow who jilts his girlfriend and then, to make himself look good, bad-mouths her.
Stop and wonder why, if even a portion of the charges you’ve heard are true, the Catholic Church, and the Catholic religion, didn’t collapse in a paroxysm of laughter centuries ago.”
“Are you saved?” inquires the Fundamentalist. “I’m redeemed,” says the Catholic, “and, like the apostle Paul, I’m working out my salvation in fear and trembling, with hopeful confidence but not with a false assurance. And I do this as the Church has taught through all the centuries.”
But reason and experience tell us the Bible can’t be each man’s private guide to the truth. If individual guidance were a reality, we’d see every Christian believing the same thing. It does no good to say that we believe the same on the major points. You would have to believe the minor points identically also because, if the Holy Spirit enlightens you, he’s not going to distinguish between major and minor points. He would enlighten you completely. He would not teach you error.
