Revelation in the New Catholic Catechism

 Bill Jackson's comments in ( )

p. 5 - "catholic doctrine [which comes from] scripture, tradition and magisterium." (An admission of a Bible+ theology.)

p. 22 #65 "He spoke everything to us in this sole Word [Christ] - and has no more to say. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him...by living with the desire for some novelty. [St. John of the Cross]" (I wonder what "St. John of the Cross" would say about Tradition and Apparitions?)

p. 25 #77 "the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them 'their own position of teaching authority.'" (This is a basic statement concerning Apostolic Succession, which is not biblical, not provable, but a necessary foundation for a false religion like Roman Catholicism.)

p. 25 #78 "This living transmission...is called Tradition." (Tradition can be described as falsehoods which we don't need that don't tell us how to get to Heaven or live a life pleasing to God.)

p. 26 #82 "Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence." ("St." Robert Bellarmine had 5 rules for recognizing the true Apostolic Tradition. (1) When the Universal Church accepts as a dogma of faith something which is not found in the Divine Scriptures, it must be said to originate from the Tradition of the Apostles. (2) When the Universal Church observes something which no one, except God, would have been able to establish and which, in any case, is not found to be written down anywhere, it must be said that it was transmitted by Christ himself and by his Apostles. (3) Whatever has been observed in the Universal Church and throughout all ages past is rightly believed to have been instituted by the Apostles, even if it is the kind of observation which could have been instituted by the Church. (4) When, by common consent, all the Doctors of the Church, either in General Council or in their individual writings in books, teach that something descends from Apostolic Tradition this must be believed to be Apostolic Tradition. (5) It must be believed to be descended without a doubt from Apostolic Tradition that which is held as such in Churches where the succession from the Apostles is integral and continual. [From 30 Days, # 5, 1992, p 68])

p. 27 #85- "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living, teaching office of the Church alone. This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome." (This is just another example of the audacity of the Roman Magisterium to try not only to add to Scripture by their Tradition, but to boast that their interpretation is correct. However, the Bible is very clear in 2 Cor 2:14 that natural (unsaved) man does not receive the things of the Spirit.)

p. 28 #92 "The whole body of the faithful...cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith (sensus fidei) on the part of the whole people, when, 'from the bishops to the last of the faithful,' they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals." (This is an example of Roman Catholic wishful thinking.)

p. 29 #95. "It is clear therefore that. . . sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one cannot stand without the others." (The Bible believing Christian has no problem in believing that, as the hymn says, "The Bible stands, and it will forever, for its Author is divine." Heaven and earth including "Tradition" and the "Magisterium" will pass away, but God's Word will never pass away.)

p. 32 #110 "In order to discover the sacred author's intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking, and narrating then current." (Whatever happened to John 16:13, 1 Corinthians 2:13 and I John 2:27? This seems to be an attempt to have the individual Catholic from believing what the Bible says.)

p. 32 #113 "Read the Scripture within `the living Tradition of the whole Church.' According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture [`according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church']." (The writer must assume first that the Roman Catholic Church is the One True Church. This statement is an restatement of the old Roman Catholic cliche, "You can read the Bible but don't try to interpret it. The priest alone can do that." This discouraged Catholics from reading the Bible, for they were fearful lest they should come to some conclusion that was contrary to the Church's official teaching.)

p. 34 #119 "All that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God." (Catholic apologists have often stated that the Catholic Church is the Mother of the Bible. If this be so, we have a classic example of child abuse.)

p. 34 #119 "But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me [Augustine]." (This is an unbiblical sentiment, as the Gospel is not intellectually accepted because of some human authority, it is spiritually accepted as a response to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Also, Augustine's words apply to the universal Church, called "catholic" because of its universality.)

page 47 #171 "The Church, `the pillar and bulwark of the truth,' faithfully guards `the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.'" (Does this "faith" include baptismal regeneration, finite sacrifices and sacraments and a host of other unbiblical beliefs and practices?)

p. 180 #688 "we know the Holy Spirit. . . in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses; in the Church Magisterium, which he assists; in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ." (The writings we can receive of the Church Fathers are unreliable, since no extant copy exists that comes before the Roman Church's control of the flow of literature; the Church Magisterium sounds like a collegiate view of Cardinals, but actual teaching authority resides only in the Pope. His last infallible statement was that Mary was assumed into Heaven. Did that come from the Holy Spirit? The last statement is one that admits sacramental salvation.)