OMG, Brother, I am sooooooooo sorry. Please tell me why don't everybody have that gender box next to their name !!
A gender box is a fantastic idea. But come to think of it, I don't even know if unicode has a placeholder for the gender symbols. At any rate, no need to apologize; as long as my wife knows I'm a man, I'm happy!
But please explain in length what other place as you put that God revealed himself ?? 'I agree that we are linked in spirituality, but what do you believe that he book is designed for. And what's specifically is that "sacred tradition" ??
Sure. Up until the 16th century, all Christians recognized three tiers of doctrinal authority: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the teaching office of the Church. All three are exampled in Scripture.
Sacred Scripture is, of course, commended as a rule of faith in 2nd Timothy 3:16: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
Sacred Tradition is put forward in several places as well. For instance, 2nd Chronicles 29:25: "[King Hezekiah] then stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with harps, and with lyres, according the the command of David and of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the
command was from the Lord through his prophets". You can look for record of this command prior to this event, but you will find that it doesn't exist; the command was kept as a Sacred Tradition, and only written down long after in retrospect. In the New Testament, St. Paul calls his teachings "tradition" (in the verse I posted earlier), and bound the Thessalonian to follow them in the same way as the followed the apostle's writings. And if you really want a "New Testament" example of Sacred Tradition, check out your Bible's table of contents. The table of contents (or the list of books that ought to be included in the Bible) is found nowhere in the text of any book of Scripture. The Church knows which books belong there on the basis of Sacred Tradition.
Finally, the entire passage in Acts 15 records the Church's attempt to deal with the question of circumcision. It was unknown to them whether the command to be circumcised was still in force. So great was his teaching authority that St. Peter, without a single word from scripture to back him up, declared that it was
not in force, and that the Gentiles were "saved by grace".
A lot more can be drawn from these passages, but suffice it to say that the apostles delivered unto the Church a general system of Christian Doctrine that, taken as a whole, comprises the "Sacred Tradition" tier of divine revelation. Sacred Tradition is the Church's living memory of the apostle's preaching, still ringing in our ears.
I hope you don't mind my questions but I want to ensure we are indeed on the same page as far as comprehending.
I don't mind at all, except for that I am painfully aware that I am inadequate to the task of answering them. Even this little introduction is far from complete.
Thanks and Please forgive the gender mistake.
Think nothing of it! Pax!