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When I said "uniqueness" of Christ/Christianity I was implying the Exclusionary Principle of Christianity. That He is the narrow door to true salvation and no one and nothing else is.
I never said salvation was attainable through other means or entities. Just that one can incorporate them into the whole cosmic landscape that includes Jesus without discounting his words and the gospels.
The bible clearly elaborates other aspects of the spiritual world which one can interact with. Various hierarchies of elohim which includes numerous categories of benevolent non-human spiritual beings; form cherubim and seraphim to archangels and the Hosts of Heaven, or the Four Living Creatures who are covered in eyes.
And interfacing with these beings through prayer and altered states is also affirmed by the myriad Old and New Testament examples of prophesy and encounters made during dreams and fasting.
Nothing I said is mutually exclusive with Christ's teachings.
While a spiritual realm exists (the dead, spiritists, etc.), we are not supposed to talk to them or worship them.
We have one Intercessor, one High Priest. The His name is Jesus. He is a jealous God. There is no prayer or spiritual experience outside of Him.
The Bible gives us everything that we need for faith and godliness.
It is mutually exclusive.
If we acknowledge the catholic church has been corrupted and it seems for centuries.....how are you so sure the Bible itself hasn’t been corrupted as well? Who are these monks that copied the Bible through the ages? How hard would it be to change a few lines here and there every edition? Just thinking out loud. The Bible and the church has been used by elites to control peasants forever. I believe there is God and most of the things the Bible teaches is truth but there is a lot of room for corruption.
I am not Catholic, nor have I said anything about the Catholic Church.
The manuscriptural evidence, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, puts to bed your question. There was no doctrine changing corruption between what we have today and ancient manuscripts. We have tens of thousands of manuscripts supporting the Bible.
The Truth and authority of the Bible, especially today, stands in stark contrast to postmodern thought.
I’ve said this all my adult life. Back before I was a believer. Between my forced teen years of church and adult years of not going, I’d argue with my mom about this. She would get so angry because I said, “men put in it what they want you to know”I was young and very arrogant. Look at the origin of the King James Bible! If King James 8th would have had a boy with Catherine of Aragon (Spain) things might have been very different. Those that wanted England Protestant were not very good men. There’s several documentaries about books left out of the Bible. Now that I’m older and have faith I believe God was in control of the Bible writings. Especially the prophetic scripture. There’s to much that’s relatable to current events. (I don’t believe prophecy was for one time period.) Much of prophecy relates as much to events in the past as the current. I think because human nature has always been the same, Good vs Evil. We know more about the evil now because of technology.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
Exodus 20:5
Now you are just willfully ignoring the things I said while also offering your personal interpretation of scripture (incorrect interpretation I might add).
"There is no prayer or spiritual experience outside of Him."
Loads of prayers are made to Mary and hundreds of saints. That doesn't mean they are put on higher pedestal than Jesus.
And to say there is no such things as spiritual experience (experience of spirits and spiritual nature) that doesn't include Jesus is just so patently absurd and incorrect and only shows you've probably never had a spiritual experience or connected to spiritual nature.
"The Bible gives us everything that we need for faith and godliness."
That's sad if you are limited to only the book and not the universe of spiritual understanding and knowledge that lies within and without that Jesus refers to. There was no book for the first few centuries and no single agreed upon text for the next thousand years. Are you saying every Christian for the first few centuries had no access to "faith and godliness" and truth?
Honestly your worldview sounds pretty shallow and close-minded and judgmental. Not very Godly.
Angels (the name means "messengers") can speak to us and we can speak to angels and learn from them. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. It doesn't remove Jesus from the throne or contradict any of the teachings.
As long as we are shrewd about which spirits, angels, and aspects of nature are benevolent, deceitful, or merely neutral, there's nothing wrong with interacting them, should the opportunity arise.
1 Timothy 2:5 - There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.
Luke 4:8 - “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
There is absolutely no scriptural basis to pray to anyone other than God alone. There is no need to, either. Jesus, our Intercessor, has it covered. No one in heaven can mediate on our behalf except for Jesus Christ. Only God can hear and answer our prayers.
I have this conversation with catholics, somewhat regularly. You are spot on, 100%. They can’t explain those points out of a wet paper bag! It’s so simple to understand, yet the years of brow beating the catholic principles into them has literally brainwashed them. Much like liberalism…
Romans 2:12-16
12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
It isn't sad. It is the reality of Biblical Christianity. It is narrow and defined by God's Word.
Like the Constitution defines our government (much to liberal's chagrin), the Bible defines faith, godliness, worship and spirituality (much to liberal's chagrin).