No denomination is 100% correct in all of it's teachings, not southern baptist, the RCC, methodist, etc. The only time we will have perfect doctrine is during the Millenium Kingdom and after when Satan, along with all evil/sin, is destroyed.[Rev 20:10, 21:8] If you want to talk about apparent discrepencies then we can start a new thread.
That isnt true. Christ promissed a Church that had him as the head, and that would not falter. The gates of hell would never prevail against it. So there is a Church that is perfect. The Catholic Church is not a denomination. It is THE Church.
A few verses that would insinuate the Catholic church might not exactly be the church, based on Catholic teachings. "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Matthew 6:7 "Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" Matthew 13:55-56 "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 2:5 "A bishop, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)" 1 Timothy 3:2-5 "But the Holy Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth." 1 Timothy 4:1-3 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her." Mark 1:30 "in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." 1 Corinthians 14:19
Catholics venerate "saints" as having some special connection to God when in fact every believer is called a saint and has the same connection to God. What about the doctrine of Mary's immaculate conception? What Biblical proof is there of that other than catholic tradition? Mary is even equated with Jesus in his redemptory role. Now let's contrast what the popes said to what Jesus and Paul said: Note that Paul doesn't say everyone but Mary has sinned, no it says ALL have sinned. It is downright blasphemy for someone to equate mary's role in salvation and her sinless birth and life with Christ's. There is one major problem with "The Church" right there. Also, Jesus says he alone is the way to salvation there is no co-savior or coredemptorix.
You really need to read up on what Catholics beleive co-remediator means, because it is not what you described. I won't explain the theology because it would take to long, but you should read the Baltimore Cathechism or the article on newadvent.org. Essentially Co does not mean equal. She did play a role in our salvation, but only because God allowed her too. The same is true of her immaculate conception and eventual assumption into heaven. As to Paul wrote All have Sinned you have to take it in a greater context. It deflates his message if he says All have sinned, except Jesus and Mary. The use of all does not always mean 100% in the Bible. John rights that none have seen God, but that is not true. Moses and Amos saw him, along with several others in the OT. And many thousands saw Jesus who is God. This is just another example.
All a saint is is a role model. It is someone who has lived out his or her live in the light of Christ and has been joined with him in the Kingdom of Heaven. A saint is an example. As far as Mary's role in the Church, she has a redemptive role only in an analogous sense. Whatever light she has is a reflective light that comes from Christ. She has no light of her own. The Church has never described her as a co-redeemer with Christ. By her example she points the way for others in a unique way because of her relationship with Christ. In that sense, Mary holds a special place in the Church and in the faith of the Church. Regarding the role of tradition, the Holy Spirit did not stop working in the world as soon as the last Evangelist or Apostle laid down his pen. It continued to inspire the Church as it still does today. One way it inspired the Church was through its councils and writings of the Church Fathers which through the centuries established principles of faith firmly grounded in Scripture. It is because of these councils and writings - Church tradition - that that the Church determined in the 4th century which books or writtings would be considered canonical (inspired) and would, therefore be included in the Bible. It is because of those early councils that we have 4 gospels instead of 5 or 6. Were it not for Church tradition there would be no understanding of the Trinity, which the Bible barely even mentions. The only Trinitarian reference to the Trinity is in Christs' instructions to the Apostles "...baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." That is it. Nothing more can be found concerning the Trinity in the Bible. All else that Christians believe about the Trinity (3 equal persons in one God, the undertanding of person, the nature of the unity of the three persons) all come from Church tradition.
No on has seen God's full glory, although Moses came the closest when God allowed moses to see his back on Mt. Sinai. Every other time it says that so and so saw God it was God in human form, most likely pre-incarnate Jesus. Jesus says no one has seen the Father, yes many people saw Jesus, who is God, in his unglorified human body, yet no man has seen God the Father in his shekinah glory.
The word trinity is never actually said in the Bible but that doesn't mean we wouldn't have any understanding of it without tradition. In fact there are numerous Bible verses that confirm the triune nature of God. I AM was the name God gave Moses during the burning bush by which the Hebrew people would know who sent Moses. Those are all old testament sayings of GOD the Father, YHWH. New Testament scripture saying that Jesus is the first and the last while the old testament says GOD is. How can that be if Jesus and GOD aren't the same? To say there would be no understanding of the trinity without Catholic tradition is flat-out wrong because there are clues everywhere in the Bible pointing to Christ's divinity and equality with GOD the Father. LSUsupa: I didn't look up co-redemptrix from my last post and i'm sorry. I assumed it meant something that it did not and will read up on it and see if my statements still apply.
None of your excerps are considered Trinitarian statements. God speaks of himself, Jesus speaks of himself and of his relationship with the Father, but there is no statement tying the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together. I repeat, the only truely Trinitarian statement found in scripture is the one I mentioned. Virtually all Trinitarian theology comes from later writings, particularly from those of St. Augustine, the Capadocian Fathers and the councils of Nicea, Constantinople and Trent.
