I think you have the right idea, but I’d tweak it some. Jesus calls us not to judge individuals. By this he means judging the intents of their hearts and their eternal destiny. But we can and must judge ideas, including the tenets of other faiths. Islam is simply wrong to assert that the relationship between God and man is master and slave, not father and son. Judaism is wrong to deny that Jesus is the Messiah. Hinduism is wrong to say there are multiple gods. Proclaiming the truth is not intrinsically contradictory to either humility or charity — in fact, it is charity. Jesus’s ministry is evidence of that. But you are right, St. Paul said “Test everything, cling to what is good”. “Whatever is good and noble, think on those things.”

So what do you think about the Traditions that Jesus and the Apostles started that were not explicitly written down in the Bible? Are those unimportant?

We have to be careful not to limit God to what is written in a book – His “Word” is much more than that. Your very belief that “everything outside of the Bible is a mere tradition of man” is actually itself a tradition of man. For nowhere does Jesus teach such a thing and nowhere does the Bible say that. You also can’t find that belief anywhere in history up until about 1500 years AFTER Jesus founded his Church. So to suggest that such an idea is Christian seems a bit far-fetched.

But I certainly understand why somebody may think that when so many Christians have gotten so far away from the roots of Christianity and come up with their own separate denominations according to their own traditions.

If you want to learn more about the Catholic perspective and our absolute belief in everything in the Bible, i wrote more on that here.

I don’t really know all the specifics of Catholicism, but I know that anything outside of the Bible is a mere tradition of man that will not stand in the end….for Jesus Himself said that all things will pass away, but His Word will remain forever.

You must seek the face of the Father, pick up your cross and follow Jesus, who is the only way…..the way the truth and the life.

Here’s something I found really quick that might help that is from a TRULY credible source:

In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking – Lumen Gentium 25.

All – please don’t let anyone ever make you think that Church teaching should be reduced to an isolated conscience or to a few lines of scripture. It is so much more than that and so beautiful when fully embraced. It’s sad that so many Catholics never see it.

You need to understand the infallible teachings of the CHurch better. They do not ONLY include the extraordinary ex cathedra statements made by the pope since the doctrine of infallibility was defined. That shows a total misunderstanding of not only how CHurch doctrine works, but what the magisterium of the Church actually is.

The ordinary magisterium of the Church includes much much more than that. For example – it quite obviously definitively teaches that abortion is always and everywhere intrinsically evil.

I love how when I proclaim a teaching of the Church that has been authentically taught for thousands of years you accuse me of “creating my own teachings.” But when you quote some random priest out of context from some website and use it to twist it into what you want it to mean…we are supposed to then regard this as authentically true and honest and humble?

“Most papal and conciliar teachings pertain to the Church’s ordinary teaching authority (magisterium) and are understood as authentic teachings—but not infallible in the sense of Vatican I’s teaching about infallibility.”

http://www.americancatholic.org/messenger/aug2004/Wiseman.asp

Please note that the only teachings that have been proclaimed ex cathedra (i.e. they fall under the 19th century doctrine of infallibility) are the teachings of the immaculate conception and ascension of Mary.

Matthew 22:

34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
 36″Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

thanks.

People are not evangelized, are not catechized. A lot of people are like I was, they genuinely do not know that they must embrace the whole faith. I am thankful for the man who told me. Maybe your blog post will do it for others.