Protestant here, but i can say this is so refreshing to hear. Suan is one of the reasons I started to believe in Catholicism. It helps alot when i realized O.S.A.S is false 100%, i told myself this was a huge reason why the Reformation had happened. I know Luther did not teach once saved always saved, but it helped me understand Catholicism better, so once I saw that Sola scriptura is false that's what led me on my journey to Catholicism God bless u all 💯🙏🏼
Uh, I'm seeing your previous comments and there's a difference. You're previous comments say you're a Former Protestant, but here it's the opposite. I'm a Catholic, but you need to stop misleading people.
@@Unknown86483 yeah that's my mistake my friend, you know growing up a Protestant my whole life, & you know how protestantism interprets the Bible differently , & have such freedom in their churches. So I agree with Catholicism, but a protestant will agree with a certain Church, and call themselves that Christian from that in particular denomination. r how that person may just go open a new church, and if you don't like a church you can go to a diff church, and then they say you're a Baptist, Methodist, calvinist etc etc. So that's my mistake for not realizing I cannot just call myself a Catholic, if I'm not a Catholic yet, and didn't take RCIA classes yet, and I'm sure you understand what I'm saying now. so I basically had to recant my position, I believe in the Catholic church but since I am not baptized a Catholic, I still have to call myself a Protestant now. I do believe I'm a former protestant cuz I believe in the Catholic church now, but i jus cant call myself a Catholic Christian jus yet, but I'm sure you understand my position now... And if I'm not mistaken I believe Steve Ray did this at first when he went to a Catholic church for the 1st time. He said he walked in a catholic church went to the bishop, or the priest, and said I'm a Catholic now, and he looked at Steve & said that's not how it works lol. I didn't know exactly how it works either, so im sure u can tell how indoctrinated I'am with protestantism my friend, so that's my mistake. But I didn't mean to mislead people, are to trick people what my position is. God bless u and thanks for pointing that out
@@Unknown86483 i do wish i remembered how to find my old comments when i 1st said this. Then i would've been able to edit them, & correct it. But now that u have left your comment here for me, is the only reason why it popped up on my UA-cam page. So now I'm able to correct that mistake. So thank u I appreciate that.
Yep, you gotta read ALL of 1st Clement. "…Take heed, beloved, lest His many kindnesses lead to the condemnation of us all. [For thus it must be] *unless we walk worthy of Him, and with one mind do those things which are good* and well-pleasing in His sight…." "… Let us cleave then to His blessing, and consider what are the means of possessing it. Let us think over the things which have taken place from the beginning. For what reason was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he wrought righteousness and truth through faith? (Jam 2:21)…" "It is *requisite, therefore, that we be prompt in the practice of well-doing;* for of Him are all things. And thus He forewarns us: “Behold, the Lord [comes], and His reward is before His face, to render to every man according to his work.” He exhorts us, therefore, with our whole heart to attend to this, that we be not lazy or slothful in any good work." "… Let us therefore earnestly *strive to be found in the number of those that wait for Him,* in order that we *may* share in His promised gifts. But how, beloved, shall this be done? *If* our understanding be fixed by faith towards God; *if* we earnestly seek the things which are pleasing and acceptable to Him; *if we do the things* which are in harmony with His blameless will; and if we follow the way of truth, casting away from us all unrighteousness and iniquity...."
Also this: "Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One, let us do all those things which pertain to holiness, avoiding all evil-speaking, all abominable and impure embraces, together with all drunkenness, seeking after change, all abominable lusts, detestable adultery, and execrable pride. For God, [says the Scripture], resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. *Let us cleave, then, to those to whom grace has been given by God. Let us clothe ourselves with concord and humility, ever exercising self-control, standing far off from all whispering and evil-speaking, being justified by our works, and not our words* ." - Clement of Rome, 1 Clement, Chapter 30
@@IAmisMaster Wow, how did I miss that?! Seems like a contradiction at first sight, but apparently Clement preserves the teaching of both Paul and James. "being *justified by our works,* and not our words" vs. "All these, therefore, were highly honoured, and made great, not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they wrought, but through the operation of His will. And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are *not justified by* ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or *works which we have wrought in holiness* of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Fascinating. Many believe James wrote first, and so Clement gives James' teaching first. But then follows up with Paul's more fundamental teaching that only works grounded in faith/grace can justify. Once again, only the Catholic position can hope to embrace BOTH and reconcile BOTH, by appeal to the process of salvation and the distinction between initial salvation and perseverance/final salvation. Many forms of Protestantism seem to have to reject outright any essential role for works in our ultimate salvation.
@@tonyl3762 Yes, that is the correct theology of grace and works in salvation. I'm not Roman Catholic, and I don't believe Matthew J. Thomas is either. We follow the "New Perspectives on Paul" (ie NT Wright, James Dunn, John MG Barclay) which essentially comes to the same high level conclusions as the Council of Trent on how a person is justified, though with different justifications and Scriptures to support it. Matthew J. Thomas' book proves this is what the ante-nicene church believed, and makes a lot more sense of Romans and Galatians than Luther and Calvin twisted Paul. As Peter said, they twisted Paul's difficult to understand writings to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).
@@IAmisMaster Fair enough. I shouldn't have limited "the correct theology of grace and works in salvation" to Catholicism. Our Orthodox brothers and sisters and even some forms of Protestantism have this same correct view. Thank you again for point out that passage to me! Seems like it should have been brought up in the video discussion too.
Nice to see Luther and Calvin refuted again as well as all their Reformed apologists like Anthony Rogers and Other Paul who have embarrassed themselves again claiming Clement of Rome taught sola fide. Glad Matthew J. Thomas is teaching the the gospel of Christ's kingdom reign and impending return with judgment of every person according to works, just as Christ told us He would (Matthew 13:27; John 5:28-29)!
@Bb Dl Source? Anyway, even if true, that’s an ad hominem. He was a Protestant and left behind that faith alone trash by reading the Bible Protestants like NT Wright, James Barclay, etc.
@Bb Dl It’s an ad hominem to not engage Thomas’ argument and just say “he’s a Catholic so he must not know what he’s talking about.” Well you are also slandering me. I never had a problem saying Jesus Christ is God or the Holy Spirit is God. You clearly just don’t understand the monarchical trinitarian and ante-nicene trinitarian view. I believe what all early Christians believed about the Trinity. Watch Beau Branson, or read Irenaeus. Or better yet, just read Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:6. Tell me if he says the Trinity is the One God or the Father is the One God. No one is damned by God merely for misunderstanding the Trinity. The warnings in the Bible are all against those who continue sinning (Romans 2:4-13; Hebrews 10:26-31; Revelation 20:12). It matters far more that you fear God and obey his commands rather than peddle the false gospel of Luther and Calvin where one sins every day and swears Christ’s personal obedience will somehow save you on judgment day even though Christ literally says He will judge you by your works (Matthew 16:27; John 5:28-29).
@Bb Dl Ah you're a Roman Catholic apologist. Don't lie, your church dogmatically teaches the ridiculous and novel Augustinian/Nazianzan egalitarian model of the Trinity. Even by the 7th century in the Third Council of Constantinople, they had dogmatically defined the Trinity as the One God. But the actual truth held the Nicene Creed and all ante-nicene Christians remains. The One God is the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6), and Jesus is "God" in that He is divine and was begotten of the Father, not because He is the same living entity or co-equal in rank with the Father, as even He says "the Father is greater than I" (John 14:28) and "the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all." (1 Corinthians 15:28). There is no "triune God," there is just the Trinity of divine beings, with God the Father being supreme over the other two. Jesus possesses the same divine nature in the way a human son possesses his father's nature. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and likewise has the divine nature. But the Roman Catholic church cannot even admit that only the Father has at all times held omniscience when Jesus literally tells us only the Father knows the time and hour and the Son did not (Matthew 24:36).
@Bb Dl Look at yourself, Roman Catholic, and your own false doctrines unknown to the fathers of the church and tradition. Tell me, where did Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Lactantius say Christian saints go when they die? And can dead saints hear your prayers?
@Bb Dl You say: "Saints go to heaven, as is testified by all of Christian tradition. The saints are more alive than you and I are, for they see God face to face" Nope. They don't see God the Father face to face until the final resurrection. LOL @ "all of Christian tradition." How about you just read any ante-Nicene on the topic? Did any of them teach a saint goes straight to heaven? No, and all the earliest Christians of the first two centuries correctly interpreted the Bible as saying saints don't go to heaven until the final resurrection. "But the case was, that for three days He dwelt in the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: And the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and save them. And the Lord Himself says, As Jonas remained three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12:40 Then also the apostle says, But when He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth? Ephesians 4:9 This, too, David says when prophesying of Him, And you have delivered my soul from the nethermost hell; and on His rising again the third day, He said to Mary, who was the first to see and to worship Him, Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to the disciples, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and unto your Father. John 20:17 2. If, then, the Lord observed the law of the dead, that He might become the first-begotten from the dead, and tarried until the third day in the lower parts of the earth; Ephesians 4:9 then afterwards rising in the flesh, so that He even showed the print of the nails to His disciples, He thus ascended to the Father;- [if all these things occurred, I say], *how must these men not be put to confusion, who allege that the lower parts refer to this world of ours, but that their inner man, leaving the body here, ascends into the super-celestial place* ? For as the Lord went away in the midst of the shadow of death, where the souls of the dead were, yet afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up [into heaven], *it is manifest that the souls of His disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising in their entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose, they shall come thus into the presence of God* . For no disciple is above the Master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master. Luke 6:40 *As our Master, therefore, did not at once depart, taking flight [to heaven], but awaited the time of His resurrection prescribed by the Father, which had been also shown forth through Jonas, and rising again after three days was taken up [to heaven]; so ought we also to await the time of our resurrection prescribed by God* and foretold by the prophets, and so, rising, be taken up, as many as the Lord shall account worthy of this [privilege]." - Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V, chapter 31 (circa AD 180) "For I choose to follow not men or men's doctrines, but God and the doctrines [delivered] by Him. For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit this [truth], and venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; *who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians* " - Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho (Circa AD 155) You say: "You have no spiritual authority to interpret the Bible outside of the tradition handed down by the apostles." More question begging that you as a modern Roman Catholic receive the tradition handed down by the apostles. All you have to do is read the ante-nicene Christians themselves to see that is not the case, and what you believe was not believed by any early Christian. So much so your church's theologians/apologists had to change their tune from "the faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3) to "Development of Doctrine" (John Henry Newman). You say: "When we say Jesus Christ is God, that does not imply he is the principle or source of Deity. It merely means Jesus Christ is of divine nature and deserving of worship." Don't be ridiculous, that's not all you mean. You and your church's teachers like Augustine mean that the Trinity is God, that God is "triune" and that Jesus Christ is equal to His Father in basically all respects and creating endless distinctions between divine and human nature contrary to the text and how the early church taught it. Your church teaches Jesus Christ was always omniscient even though He literally tells you He did not know the day or the hour of His Second Coming, but only His Father (Matthew 24:36). Irenaeus says plainly: "But, beyond reason inflated [with your own wisdom], you presumptuously maintain that you are acquainted with the unspeakable mysteries of God; while even the Lord, the very Son of God, allowed that the Father alone knows the very day and hour of judgment, when He plainly declares, But of that day and that hour knows no man, neither the Son, but the Father only. If, then, the Son was not ashamed to ascribe the knowledge of that day to the Father only, but declared what was true regarding the matter, neither let us be ashamed to reserve for God those greater questions which may occur to us. For no man is superior to his master." "For if any one should inquire the reason why the Father, who has fellowship with the Son in all things, has been declared by the Lord alone to know the hour and the day [of judgment], he will find at present no more suitable, or becoming, or safe reason than this (since, indeed, the Lord is the only true Master), that we may learn through Him that the Father is above all things. For the Father, says He, is greater than I. John 14:28 *The Father, therefore, has been declared by our Lord to excel with respect to knowledge; for this reason, that we, too, as long as we are connected with the scheme of things in this world, should leave perfect knowledge, and such questions [as have been mentioned], to God* , and should not by any chance, while we seek to investigate the sublime nature of the Father, fall into the danger of starting the question whether there is another God above God." - Against Heresies, Book 2, Chapter 28
Catholics must be pretty holy to earn their salvation and not to have messed it up after accepting the gospel. Hopefully you can continue to do enough to earn salvation.
Cannot get any better than this
Protestant here, but i can say this is so refreshing to hear.
Suan is one of the reasons I started to believe in Catholicism.
It helps alot when i realized O.S.A.S is false 100%, i told myself this was a huge reason why the Reformation had happened. I know Luther did not teach once saved always saved, but it helped me understand Catholicism better, so once I saw that Sola scriptura is false that's what led me on my journey to Catholicism
God bless u all 💯🙏🏼
Uh, I'm seeing your previous comments and there's a difference. You're previous comments say you're a Former Protestant, but here it's the opposite. I'm a Catholic, but you need to stop misleading people.
@@Unknown86483 yeah that's my mistake my friend, you know growing up a Protestant my whole life, & you know how protestantism interprets the Bible differently , & have such freedom in their churches.
So I agree with Catholicism, but a protestant will agree with a certain Church, and call themselves that Christian from that in particular denomination.
r how that person may just go open a new church, and if you don't like a church you can go to a diff church, and then they say you're a Baptist, Methodist, calvinist etc etc.
So that's my mistake for not realizing I cannot just call myself a Catholic, if I'm not a Catholic yet, and didn't take RCIA classes yet, and I'm sure you understand what I'm saying now.
so I basically had to recant my position, I believe in the Catholic church but since I am not baptized a Catholic, I still have to call myself a Protestant now.
I do believe I'm a former protestant cuz I believe in the Catholic church now, but i jus cant call myself a Catholic Christian jus yet, but I'm sure you understand my position now...
And if I'm not mistaken I believe Steve Ray did this at first when he went to a Catholic church for the 1st time.
He said he walked in a catholic church went to the bishop, or the priest, and said I'm a Catholic now, and he looked at Steve & said that's not how it works lol.
I didn't know exactly how it works either, so im sure u can tell how indoctrinated I'am with protestantism my friend, so that's my mistake.
But I didn't mean to mislead people, are to trick people what my position is.
God bless u and thanks for pointing that out
@@Unknown86483 i do wish i remembered how to find my old comments when i 1st said this. Then i would've been able to edit them, & correct it.
But now that u have left your comment here for me, is the only reason why it popped up on my UA-cam page. So now I'm able to correct that mistake. So thank u I appreciate that.
@@onlylove556 do you plan to go through RCIA?
@@1984SheepDog yes 100%
Awesome video Suan, I hope to see more of Dr. Thomas!
Yep, you gotta read ALL of 1st Clement.
"…Take heed, beloved, lest His many kindnesses lead to the condemnation of us all. [For thus it must be] *unless we walk worthy of Him, and with one mind do those things which are good* and well-pleasing in His sight…."
"… Let us cleave then to His blessing, and consider what are the means of possessing it. Let us think over the things which have taken place from the beginning. For what reason was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he wrought righteousness and truth through faith? (Jam 2:21)…"
"It is *requisite, therefore, that we be prompt in the practice of well-doing;* for of Him are all things. And thus He forewarns us: “Behold, the Lord [comes], and His reward is before His face, to render to every man according to his work.” He exhorts us, therefore, with our whole heart to attend to this, that we be not lazy or slothful in any good work."
"… Let us therefore earnestly *strive to be found in the number of those that wait for Him,* in order that we *may* share in His promised gifts. But how, beloved, shall this be done? *If* our understanding be fixed by faith towards God; *if* we earnestly seek the things which are pleasing and acceptable to Him; *if we do the things* which are in harmony with His blameless will; and if we follow the way of truth, casting away from us all unrighteousness and iniquity...."
Also this:
"Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One, let us do all those things which pertain to holiness, avoiding all evil-speaking, all abominable and impure embraces, together with all drunkenness, seeking after change, all abominable lusts, detestable adultery, and execrable pride. For God, [says the Scripture], resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. *Let us cleave, then, to those to whom grace has been given by God. Let us clothe ourselves with concord and humility, ever exercising self-control, standing far off from all whispering and evil-speaking, being justified by our works, and not our words* ."
- Clement of Rome, 1 Clement, Chapter 30
@@IAmisMaster Wow, how did I miss that?! Seems like a contradiction at first sight, but apparently Clement preserves the teaching of both Paul and James. "being *justified by our works,* and not our words"
vs. "All these, therefore, were highly honoured, and made great, not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they wrought, but through the operation of His will. And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are *not justified by* ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or *works which we have wrought in holiness* of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
Fascinating. Many believe James wrote first, and so Clement gives James' teaching first. But then follows up with Paul's more fundamental teaching that only works grounded in faith/grace can justify. Once again, only the Catholic position can hope to embrace BOTH and reconcile BOTH, by appeal to the process of salvation and the distinction between initial salvation and perseverance/final salvation. Many forms of Protestantism seem to have to reject outright any essential role for works in our ultimate salvation.
@@tonyl3762
Yes, that is the correct theology of grace and works in salvation. I'm not Roman Catholic, and I don't believe Matthew J. Thomas is either. We follow the "New Perspectives on Paul" (ie NT Wright, James Dunn, John MG Barclay) which essentially comes to the same high level conclusions as the Council of Trent on how a person is justified, though with different justifications and Scriptures to support it. Matthew J. Thomas' book proves this is what the ante-nicene church believed, and makes a lot more sense of Romans and Galatians than Luther and Calvin twisted Paul. As Peter said, they twisted Paul's difficult to understand writings to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).
@@IAmisMaster Fair enough. I shouldn't have limited "the correct theology of grace and works in salvation" to Catholicism. Our Orthodox brothers and sisters and even some forms of Protestantism have this same correct view. Thank you again for point out that passage to me! Seems like it should have been brought up in the video discussion too.
So helpful! Thanks!
Thank you Suan for clearing up Dr. Thomas for me 😁😆
Suan hitting that GYM
Is it the camera or Suan is getting buffed!
Yes
Audio is low!!! Help
Fine for me. Technology issue on ru side maybe idk?
Nice to see Luther and Calvin refuted again as well as all their Reformed apologists like Anthony Rogers and Other Paul who have embarrassed themselves again claiming Clement of Rome taught sola fide. Glad Matthew J. Thomas is teaching the the gospel of Christ's kingdom reign and impending return with judgment of every person according to works, just as Christ told us He would (Matthew 13:27; John 5:28-29)!
@Bb Dl
Source? Anyway, even if true, that’s an ad hominem. He was a Protestant and left behind that faith alone trash by reading the Bible Protestants like NT Wright, James Barclay, etc.
@Bb Dl
It’s an ad hominem to not engage Thomas’ argument and just say “he’s a Catholic so he must not know what he’s talking about.” Well you are also slandering me. I never had a problem saying Jesus Christ is God or the Holy Spirit is God. You clearly just don’t understand the monarchical trinitarian and ante-nicene trinitarian view. I believe what all early Christians believed about the Trinity. Watch Beau Branson, or read Irenaeus. Or better yet, just read Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:6. Tell me if he says the Trinity is the One God or the Father is the One God.
No one is damned by God merely for misunderstanding the Trinity. The warnings in the Bible are all against those who continue sinning (Romans 2:4-13; Hebrews 10:26-31; Revelation 20:12). It matters far more that you fear God and obey his commands rather than peddle the false gospel of Luther and Calvin where one sins every day and swears Christ’s personal obedience will somehow save you on judgment day even though Christ literally says He will judge you by your works (Matthew 16:27; John 5:28-29).
@Bb Dl Ah you're a Roman Catholic apologist. Don't lie, your church dogmatically teaches the ridiculous and novel Augustinian/Nazianzan egalitarian model of the Trinity. Even by the 7th century in the Third Council of Constantinople, they had dogmatically defined the Trinity as the One God.
But the actual truth held the Nicene Creed and all ante-nicene Christians remains. The One God is the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6), and Jesus is "God" in that He is divine and was begotten of the Father, not because He is the same living entity or co-equal in rank with the Father, as even He says "the Father is greater than I" (John 14:28) and "the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all." (1 Corinthians 15:28). There is no "triune God," there is just the Trinity of divine beings, with God the Father being supreme over the other two.
Jesus possesses the same divine nature in the way a human son possesses his father's nature. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and likewise has the divine nature. But the Roman Catholic church cannot even admit that only the Father has at all times held omniscience when Jesus literally tells us only the Father knows the time and hour and the Son did not (Matthew 24:36).
@Bb Dl Look at yourself, Roman Catholic, and your own false doctrines unknown to the fathers of the church and tradition. Tell me, where did Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Lactantius say Christian saints go when they die? And can dead saints hear your prayers?
@Bb Dl
You say:
"Saints go to heaven, as is testified by all of Christian tradition. The saints are more alive than you and I are, for they see God face to face"
Nope. They don't see God the Father face to face until the final resurrection. LOL @ "all of Christian tradition." How about you just read any ante-Nicene on the topic? Did any of them teach a saint goes straight to heaven? No, and all the earliest Christians of the first two centuries correctly interpreted the Bible as saying saints don't go to heaven until the final resurrection.
"But the case was, that for three days He dwelt in the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: And the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and save them. And the Lord Himself says, As Jonas remained three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12:40 Then also the apostle says, But when He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth? Ephesians 4:9 This, too, David says when prophesying of Him, And you have delivered my soul from the nethermost hell; and on His rising again the third day, He said to Mary, who was the first to see and to worship Him, Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to the disciples, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and unto your Father. John 20:17
2. If, then, the Lord observed the law of the dead, that He might become the first-begotten from the dead, and tarried until the third day in the lower parts of the earth; Ephesians 4:9 then afterwards rising in the flesh, so that He even showed the print of the nails to His disciples, He thus ascended to the Father;- [if all these things occurred, I say], *how must these men not be put to confusion, who allege that the lower parts refer to this world of ours, but that their inner man, leaving the body here, ascends into the super-celestial place* ? For as the Lord went away in the midst of the shadow of death, where the souls of the dead were, yet afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up [into heaven], *it is manifest that the souls of His disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising in their entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose, they shall come thus into the presence of God* . For no disciple is above the Master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master. Luke 6:40 *As our Master, therefore, did not at once depart, taking flight [to heaven], but awaited the time of His resurrection prescribed by the Father, which had been also shown forth through Jonas, and rising again after three days was taken up [to heaven]; so ought we also to await the time of our resurrection prescribed by God* and foretold by the prophets, and so, rising, be taken up, as many as the Lord shall account worthy of this [privilege]."
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V, chapter 31 (circa AD 180)
"For I choose to follow not men or men's doctrines, but God and the doctrines [delivered] by Him. For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit this [truth], and venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; *who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians* "
- Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho (Circa AD 155)
You say:
"You have no spiritual authority to interpret the Bible outside of the tradition handed down by the apostles."
More question begging that you as a modern Roman Catholic receive the tradition handed down by the apostles. All you have to do is read the ante-nicene Christians themselves to see that is not the case, and what you believe was not believed by any early Christian. So much so your church's theologians/apologists had to change their tune from "the faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3) to "Development of Doctrine" (John Henry Newman).
You say:
"When we say Jesus Christ is God, that does not imply he is the principle or source of Deity. It merely means Jesus Christ is of divine nature and deserving of worship."
Don't be ridiculous, that's not all you mean. You and your church's teachers like Augustine mean that the Trinity is God, that God is "triune" and that Jesus Christ is equal to His Father in basically all respects and creating endless distinctions between divine and human nature contrary to the text and how the early church taught it. Your church teaches Jesus Christ was always omniscient even though He literally tells you He did not know the day or the hour of His Second Coming, but only His Father (Matthew 24:36).
Irenaeus says plainly:
"But, beyond reason inflated [with your own wisdom], you presumptuously maintain that you are acquainted with the unspeakable mysteries of God; while even the Lord, the very Son of God, allowed that the Father alone knows the very day and hour of judgment, when He plainly declares, But of that day and that hour knows no man, neither the Son, but the Father only. If, then, the Son was not ashamed to ascribe the knowledge of that day to the Father only, but declared what was true regarding the matter, neither let us be ashamed to reserve for God those greater questions which may occur to us. For no man is superior to his master."
"For if any one should inquire the reason why the Father, who has fellowship with the Son in all things, has been declared by the Lord alone to know the hour and the day [of judgment], he will find at present no more suitable, or becoming, or safe reason than this (since, indeed, the Lord is the only true Master), that we may learn through Him that the Father is above all things. For the Father, says He, is greater than I. John 14:28 *The Father, therefore, has been declared by our Lord to excel with respect to knowledge; for this reason, that we, too, as long as we are connected with the scheme of things in this world, should leave perfect knowledge, and such questions [as have been mentioned], to God* , and should not by any chance, while we seek to investigate the sublime nature of the Father, fall into the danger of starting the question whether there is another God above God."
- Against Heresies, Book 2, Chapter 28
Catholics must be pretty holy to earn their salvation and not to have messed it up after accepting the gospel. Hopefully you can continue to do enough to earn salvation.
This is not Catholic teaching, I can explain it to you if want over discord or something, but it’s not at all what you said here just an fyi.