If Paul was a Catholic Bishop . . .

[Sid]

If Paul were a Catholic bishop, the Berean episode would have ended quite differently:



We must listen to the so that we will act as God’s Word teaches us to act. Consider the story of Paul in Berea,
[B]Acts 17:10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.Paul preached there in the synagogue and many Jews responded to his preaching with eagerness. We are told that after they listened to Paul each day they examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true.


[B]How did Paul react?


Did he say that the Scriptures were not clear, and that only he as an apostle or the rabbis or the Sanhedrin could tell them what the Scriptures really meant?

Or did he say that they should not expect to find the truth in the Scriptures because they were incomplete and needed to be supplemented by tradition?

Or did he say that they were insulting his apostolic authority, and that they should simply submit to him as the infallible interpreter of the Bible?

Or did Paul say that they should defer to Peter as the only one who could interpret the Bible?


No! He did not say any of these things.


The practice of the Bereans is praised in the Bible. They are called noble because they evaluated everything on the basis of the written Word of God.


Acts 17:10-12 (http://www.sola-scriptura.ca/whatis.htm)

[Sid]

Other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the most divinely gifted and inspired evangelist in the first century was the Apostle Paul. As the most prolific writer of the New Testament, there is much that we can learn from his example and teachings, especially in dealing with opponents of the Gospel. In the first century, the greatest opposition to the spread of the Gospel came from the corrupted religion of Judaism.

Today, the Gospel's greatest opposition is the deceptively false religion of Roman Catholicism. With its great power, wealth, control and influence, many evangelicals are reluctant to expose it as an enemy of Christ and His Gospel. In both corrupted religions, the authority of God's word runs smack into the unbending traditions of men. With this in mind, let us look at the Apostle Paul's motivation and ministry and how he contended for the faith.


If we follow Paul's example we will warn Catholics that:


1) sinners are justified by faith in Jesus, not by water baptism;

2) sinners are purified by the precious blood of Jesus, not by purgatory's fire; and

3) sinners have their sins expiated by the redemptive work of Jesus, not by penance and indulgences.


To follow Paul's example is to call professing Christians off the broad road that leads to destruction while pointing them to the narrow road that leads to eternal life.

Paul also urged believers not to be partakers or partners with deceivers (Eph. 5:6-7) (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Eph.%205:6-7&version=49). Accordingly, he renounced secret and shameful ways and urged believers to mark and avoid deceptive teachers. This vital element of contending for the faith and exposing deception is not practiced by many in the body of Christ today.

In fact there are many parachurch ministries that embrace Roman Catholicism as a valid Christian denomination. As a result, the church has given the enemy free reign to sow tares among the wheat (Mat. 13:25) (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mat.%2013:25;&version=49;). Many churches have more tares than wheat and thus reflect a picture of the world rather than a sanctified sanctuary of believers.



More . . . (http://www.reachingcatholics.org/witnessing_for_christ.html)