Those Inconsequent Church Fathers
To give an example of the naiveté of Thomas Aquinas, called the angelic doctor of Roman Catholicism, I will show you the following reasoning (5.
8, Q.
26, A.
5).
"Augustine says that we ought to love our neighbor more than our own body.
" Thomas combines this quote with Ephesians 5.
28 and concludes that we must love our parents more than our wives! According to Scripture, however, a man leaves his parents and cleaves to his wife, who is now his closest neighbor or fellow human.
If one were to reduce the reasoning of these church fathers (Augustine had no business to leave his common law wife, by whom he had a son, for a cloister; he should have married her) ad absurdum, then you have to love your neighbor's wife more than your own! And then they call Thomism an ark of salvation! Due to Thomas's slavish adherence to the so-called authority of the church fathers, who are quoted about just as forcefully as Scripture (sic!), as well as Aristotle; his theology is riddled with rationalistic dualism, not to say dichotomism of reason and matter.
The soul, spirit and heart are juggled together and become one mess of intellectualistic circle reasonings.
I know this all sounds very sarcastic and perhaps painful and insulting in the ears of a devout Catholic.
But even though there is much good in Thomism (due to the light of the gospel), the other side must be shown too; which is naiveté, and even nonsense and idolatry of reason.
Of course only Scripture is an Ark of Salvation in that it points the way to Him who is the way, the truth and the life, Who IS the real Ark of Salvation.
Human systems, including my own, are never an ark of salvation.
Aristotelianism and Thomistic Artistotelianism certainly is not an ark of salvation, but a conglomeration of ancient ideas that are only good in so far as they are based on revelation and creation.
By the way, the saints of Catholicism have similar functions as the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greek and Roman religions.
Also, just as then one could ascend to heaven through apotheosis (becoming one with the gods), so now one can become a saint.
A more serious heresy defended by Thomas is his condoning of clergy having mistresses, so as to secretly uphold celibacy.
So on the one hand the Vatican says it upholds holy matrimony and condemns anticonceptives, but on the other hand, through their teaching of celibacy, they flagrantly violate this institution.
The bible calls this the teaching of demons (1 Tim.
4.
1-5).
The ensuing difficulties, consequences and evils of celibacy, instituted by the Bishop of Rome cum suis, have spread the entire globe through the colonies.
Moreoever, who is now really the angelic doctor of the Roman church, Thomas or Aristotle, who is called by Thomas himself 'the philosopher', as having the final say.
We have it then from 'the proponent' of Roman Catholicism himself that they owe their insights to a heathen.
This heathen, Aristotle, was the school master of Alexander the Great, who went on to become a megalomaniac like Hitler and Napoleon in their days, in certain ways even more corrupt.
But the Lord's judgment has been announced from old in the epistle to Thyatira.
All who commit spiritual idolatry with Jezebel (who later is called the whore of whores and who during the millennium will live in the land of Shinar, where a home will be prepared for her) will be sorely oppressed.
She is now invoked as 'Mary'.
For this these initiates are introduced to the 'depths of satan' [also mentioned there], but they will find out to their dismay that satan is truly a master of trickery and that in their 'gnosis' they will be found out by the true Lord of lords and King of kings.
How arrogant is popery that in an event where God the Father was to be prayed to as Holy Father, they left this title out, since it is one of the names of the so-called vicar of Christ.
Who then do these blinded Romans think they have preferred! NOT the real HOLY FATHER..
..
But when the Lord, Who in the epistle to the Ephesians clearly is called the Head of the Church, said that upon His ascension He would send the Comforter; did He not indicate that the Holy Spirit is the true Vicar of Christ!? But no, we christians must make everything visible, instead of learning to concentrate our hearts on the Invisible One...
If you are a so-called protestant, evangelical, baptist or whatever, do not think that you stand innocent here.
Where the Roman church has 7 instruments of grace supposedly, there the prostestant left two too many, communion and baptism.
The latter misleadingly in the place of (and often in combination with a supposed spiritual "Abrahamic covenant" sealed by) a literal circumcision; as if the Almighty has renegued on His sworn promises to the Jewish people, thus making Himself a liar.
But not only replacement theology is a lie of demons, but the very title of 'reverend' (there is only One Reverend, the Almighty; [to eschew such flattery is indeed the 'fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge']), pastor, bishop, or whatever is a wile of the great adversary to have them rule it over the flock, lull them to sleep and so make merchandise of them; so that in the end they only swallow some social psycho babble and their children already for a long time have decided to join decide, or simply kill time smoking a joint till they leave their godforsaken elderly place, old man and woman; who will never understand what they did wrong.
The folly of these deceivers will be known to all, as has been foretold in 2 Timothy 3.
9 (but I pray that matters do not derail when this happens).
They go on not 'knowing what they say, nor what they affirm (1 Tim.
1.
7),' and when the temptation comes over the entire habitable world, as prophesied in the epistle to Philadelphia, they will turn to the opposite extreme; as blind as always.
And in the utter blindness of their minds and consciences they even dare pretend to be godly christians [I hasten however to state and do confess that I in my sinful self am not really better than anybody else, nor do I want to pretend to be], but they deny this by their works that are even too shameful to mention.
And the bible says much more about them, such as that they are "as beasts without reason...
blaspheming dignities...
" and that "angels, greater in power and might, dare not accuse them.
" Solomon, who studied both wise and foolish things and in this guarded his heart, stated about such people that they begin with foolishness and end with utter insanity.
Scripture also predicted that clergy in general would go the way of Cain and that they would teach the doctrine of Balaam and that they would rise up like Dathan and Abiram.
Now Cain refused a true sacrifice and thought that He could please the Lord with good works.
Balaam seduced the people to commit adultery with Moabitish women and so clergy seduces Christians to commit spiritual adultery.
And just as Dathan and Abiram misgrudged Moses his honor, so clergy not really want the Lord to be truly honored.
From the local pastor who thinks that he can pronounce the blessing in God's stead, to the pope, who practically plays god, the entirety of christendom is sick and diseased; not to mention other religions.
And it is all far worse.
Ignorance here is bliss for the truly bornagains.
Indeed the very highest title to which a person can arrive is 'brother of the Lord,' as 'He is not ashamed to call them brothers.
' To continue exposing the misleadings of Thomism I refer to his summa theologica (P.
5, Q.
1, A.
8 and P.
5, Q.
3, A.
2), where he states that happiness is the supreme end of the human being and that it is man's supreme perfection.
Now, the bible does not state this anywhere.
It does say that our joy may be totally fulfilled, but not that this is the highest goal of human life.
Worship of God the Father and God the Son is the proper supreme goal, which goes beyond human joy; very much like "agape" love goes beyond all other forms of love.
Christ says: "For the Father also SEEKS those that WORSHIP Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4).
This is a singular statement, unique in that it is the only verse that expresses the most intimate wish of God's heart.
To accentuate happiness as the goal of human life is a humanistic, quasi anthropocentric idea, lacking its theocentric counterpart; which is not just knowledge, but worship of God (cf.
P.
5, Q.
3, A.
2).
The act of true worship is our supreme perfection.
8, Q.
26, A.
5).
"Augustine says that we ought to love our neighbor more than our own body.
" Thomas combines this quote with Ephesians 5.
28 and concludes that we must love our parents more than our wives! According to Scripture, however, a man leaves his parents and cleaves to his wife, who is now his closest neighbor or fellow human.
If one were to reduce the reasoning of these church fathers (Augustine had no business to leave his common law wife, by whom he had a son, for a cloister; he should have married her) ad absurdum, then you have to love your neighbor's wife more than your own! And then they call Thomism an ark of salvation! Due to Thomas's slavish adherence to the so-called authority of the church fathers, who are quoted about just as forcefully as Scripture (sic!), as well as Aristotle; his theology is riddled with rationalistic dualism, not to say dichotomism of reason and matter.
The soul, spirit and heart are juggled together and become one mess of intellectualistic circle reasonings.
I know this all sounds very sarcastic and perhaps painful and insulting in the ears of a devout Catholic.
But even though there is much good in Thomism (due to the light of the gospel), the other side must be shown too; which is naiveté, and even nonsense and idolatry of reason.
Of course only Scripture is an Ark of Salvation in that it points the way to Him who is the way, the truth and the life, Who IS the real Ark of Salvation.
Human systems, including my own, are never an ark of salvation.
Aristotelianism and Thomistic Artistotelianism certainly is not an ark of salvation, but a conglomeration of ancient ideas that are only good in so far as they are based on revelation and creation.
By the way, the saints of Catholicism have similar functions as the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greek and Roman religions.
Also, just as then one could ascend to heaven through apotheosis (becoming one with the gods), so now one can become a saint.
A more serious heresy defended by Thomas is his condoning of clergy having mistresses, so as to secretly uphold celibacy.
So on the one hand the Vatican says it upholds holy matrimony and condemns anticonceptives, but on the other hand, through their teaching of celibacy, they flagrantly violate this institution.
The bible calls this the teaching of demons (1 Tim.
4.
1-5).
The ensuing difficulties, consequences and evils of celibacy, instituted by the Bishop of Rome cum suis, have spread the entire globe through the colonies.
Moreoever, who is now really the angelic doctor of the Roman church, Thomas or Aristotle, who is called by Thomas himself 'the philosopher', as having the final say.
We have it then from 'the proponent' of Roman Catholicism himself that they owe their insights to a heathen.
This heathen, Aristotle, was the school master of Alexander the Great, who went on to become a megalomaniac like Hitler and Napoleon in their days, in certain ways even more corrupt.
But the Lord's judgment has been announced from old in the epistle to Thyatira.
All who commit spiritual idolatry with Jezebel (who later is called the whore of whores and who during the millennium will live in the land of Shinar, where a home will be prepared for her) will be sorely oppressed.
She is now invoked as 'Mary'.
For this these initiates are introduced to the 'depths of satan' [also mentioned there], but they will find out to their dismay that satan is truly a master of trickery and that in their 'gnosis' they will be found out by the true Lord of lords and King of kings.
How arrogant is popery that in an event where God the Father was to be prayed to as Holy Father, they left this title out, since it is one of the names of the so-called vicar of Christ.
Who then do these blinded Romans think they have preferred! NOT the real HOLY FATHER..
..
But when the Lord, Who in the epistle to the Ephesians clearly is called the Head of the Church, said that upon His ascension He would send the Comforter; did He not indicate that the Holy Spirit is the true Vicar of Christ!? But no, we christians must make everything visible, instead of learning to concentrate our hearts on the Invisible One...
If you are a so-called protestant, evangelical, baptist or whatever, do not think that you stand innocent here.
Where the Roman church has 7 instruments of grace supposedly, there the prostestant left two too many, communion and baptism.
The latter misleadingly in the place of (and often in combination with a supposed spiritual "Abrahamic covenant" sealed by) a literal circumcision; as if the Almighty has renegued on His sworn promises to the Jewish people, thus making Himself a liar.
But not only replacement theology is a lie of demons, but the very title of 'reverend' (there is only One Reverend, the Almighty; [to eschew such flattery is indeed the 'fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge']), pastor, bishop, or whatever is a wile of the great adversary to have them rule it over the flock, lull them to sleep and so make merchandise of them; so that in the end they only swallow some social psycho babble and their children already for a long time have decided to join decide, or simply kill time smoking a joint till they leave their godforsaken elderly place, old man and woman; who will never understand what they did wrong.
The folly of these deceivers will be known to all, as has been foretold in 2 Timothy 3.
9 (but I pray that matters do not derail when this happens).
They go on not 'knowing what they say, nor what they affirm (1 Tim.
1.
7),' and when the temptation comes over the entire habitable world, as prophesied in the epistle to Philadelphia, they will turn to the opposite extreme; as blind as always.
And in the utter blindness of their minds and consciences they even dare pretend to be godly christians [I hasten however to state and do confess that I in my sinful self am not really better than anybody else, nor do I want to pretend to be], but they deny this by their works that are even too shameful to mention.
And the bible says much more about them, such as that they are "as beasts without reason...
blaspheming dignities...
" and that "angels, greater in power and might, dare not accuse them.
" Solomon, who studied both wise and foolish things and in this guarded his heart, stated about such people that they begin with foolishness and end with utter insanity.
Scripture also predicted that clergy in general would go the way of Cain and that they would teach the doctrine of Balaam and that they would rise up like Dathan and Abiram.
Now Cain refused a true sacrifice and thought that He could please the Lord with good works.
Balaam seduced the people to commit adultery with Moabitish women and so clergy seduces Christians to commit spiritual adultery.
And just as Dathan and Abiram misgrudged Moses his honor, so clergy not really want the Lord to be truly honored.
From the local pastor who thinks that he can pronounce the blessing in God's stead, to the pope, who practically plays god, the entirety of christendom is sick and diseased; not to mention other religions.
And it is all far worse.
Ignorance here is bliss for the truly bornagains.
Indeed the very highest title to which a person can arrive is 'brother of the Lord,' as 'He is not ashamed to call them brothers.
' To continue exposing the misleadings of Thomism I refer to his summa theologica (P.
5, Q.
1, A.
8 and P.
5, Q.
3, A.
2), where he states that happiness is the supreme end of the human being and that it is man's supreme perfection.
Now, the bible does not state this anywhere.
It does say that our joy may be totally fulfilled, but not that this is the highest goal of human life.
Worship of God the Father and God the Son is the proper supreme goal, which goes beyond human joy; very much like "agape" love goes beyond all other forms of love.
Christ says: "For the Father also SEEKS those that WORSHIP Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4).
This is a singular statement, unique in that it is the only verse that expresses the most intimate wish of God's heart.
To accentuate happiness as the goal of human life is a humanistic, quasi anthropocentric idea, lacking its theocentric counterpart; which is not just knowledge, but worship of God (cf.
P.
5, Q.
3, A.
2).
The act of true worship is our supreme perfection.
Source...