A Protestant and a Catholic were talking.
Protestant: “I believe in Jesus and The Bible!”
Catholic: “We believe in Jesus and The Bible, too. Jesus Founded The Catholic Church. The Catholic Church decided which documents would be in The Bible. It winnowed out the counterfeit versions. Then, Catholic Church put them in order.”
Protestant: “The Catholic Church did not provide The Bible. It fell from the sky! Right into Martin Luther’s lap!”
Catholic: “That is silly! The Catholic Church called The Council of Rome, in 382 A.D. Catholic Bishops and scholars decided what Books would be in The Bible. Their choices were confirmed by later Councils of The Catholic Church, all the way up to The Council of Trent in 1546.”
Protestant: “That was a long time ago.”
Catholic: “There were Catholics a long time ago! The Catholic Church began when Jesus said: ‘Verily, verily I say unto you thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.’ One of those ‘keys’ was The Bible.”
Protestant: “I can believe in Jesus and The Bible without being Catholic!”
Catholic: “If you truly believe in Jesus, shouldn’t you believe in The Only Church He Founded?
Protestant: “I can believe in Jesus without believing everything He said!”
Catholic: “But, if you truly believed, wouldn’t you want to obey Him? Was He wrong to say ‘You are My friends if you obey My commands.’“?
Protestant: “I believe in Jesus and The Bible and that’s all there is to it!”
Catholic: “We each have an immortal soul. It will stand before Jesus at Judgment. Will we be better off if we have tried to obey all that Jesus taught about The Only Church He Founded.”
Protestant: “I believe in Jesus and The Bible. That’s all I want to do.”
