I was referring to anything of this temporal world

@Broseph oh cool

I never get spiritual guidance

;((((

Can someone tell me where watchmaker theology starts and ends?

A defense of Lutheran Protestantism: Here's an important truth you'll hear us repeat over and over again. "Let Scripture interpret scripture." God's Word is in perfect agreement with itself (it's all God's Word) and will never contradict itself. That helps us whenever people want to use a stand-alone verse to claim something that is false. In order to stand confidently on an interpretation, the reader needs to find elsewhere in the Bible where the statement is confirmed/clarified. Human opinion, tradition, and speculation can be helpful, but they are not a substitute for God's Word. The only things we can know for certain are what God says in his Bible. So...
The Catholic church's assertion that Peter was the first Pope and that Jesus established the church through him and therefore is it is the church with sole and divine authority is not substantiated in Scripture anywhere. They point to a single place in the book of Matthew (16:13–20) to make this claim. 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 “But what about you?” [all the disciples] he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Even though Jesus was clearly addressing all of his disciples, Peter, as he so often did, jumped in to answer for everyone. And Jesus replies, "Peter, you are blessed to believe this truth that I am the Messiah" (vs 17). He's blessed because saving faith in Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven. In fact, Jesus goes on to say that "the only way anyone can even make this confession of faith and believe it is true is because the knowledge that Jesus is the Messiah and the faith to believe it is a God-given gift." The Bible makes these points countless times. (e.g. John 3:16; Mark 16:16; John 20:31; Romans 10:17; Galatians 2:20 and many more)
Then Jesus speaks the key phrase used by the Catholic Church to establish their point. "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church." There's something here in the Greek that is lost on us in the English translation. Jesus uses Peter's name, which in Greek is petros - a masculine noun that means loose rock or stone. But because Peter's name MEANS rock, Jesus uses a play on words to talk about the ROCK-solid confession Peter just made about Jesus being the Messiah. Since God knows what he's saying and Scripture is God's Word, it's always in perfect harmony with itself. That's why Jesus uses a DIFFERENT GREEK WORD to talk about the church so that we wouldn't get confused and think he was talking about Peter. He uses the word petra - a feminine noun that means rocky cliff, shelf or ledge of rock - "on this petra I will build my church." In language, those two words can't be connected or modifying each other in any way. They are different genders. There's simply no possible way to make what Jesus says about building his church also mean Peter.

It's a simple play on words. Maybe an example would be if you were talking to someone named Joe Baker as you were headed to the store to pick up a dessert for a party. With a wink and a smile you could say, "Hey BAKER, I'm off to pick up a cake from the BAKER!" (Sorry, it's lame but hopefully helps make the point!) Joe wouldn't be confused by what you're saying because he understands langauge. In Greek, people really wouldn't have been confused by what Jesus said because Jesus didn't even use the same word - used two DIFFERENT words!
The rock that the gates of Hades can't overcome is the rock-solid confession of faith that Peter just finished making - that Jesus is the Son of God and the one who God promised (Messiah) to rescue the world (vs16). See Jesus' point? He asked the disciples "who do people say I am" (vs 13) because it's the most important question in life. And his disciples all mention what people thought of Jesus, that he was a highly esteemed and respected prophet. But that's not good enough for Jesus because believing that he's good and a prophet, doesn't mean that people believe he is their Savior from sin. Only believing that Jesus is the Savior is what actually saves people. (He even once told the story of a wise man who builds his house upon the rock (petra) and his house doesn't collapse - see Matthew 7:24.)
So, people who believe the same thing that Peter confessed to believe will be saved. That's why Jesus goes on to say, "on this rock I will build my church." His church isn't an institution or building. The Bible says many times that Jesus' church is made up of PEOPLE - all the people who believe that he is the Savior. In fact, he calls all of the people who make up his church "living stones (rocks) built together into a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:4-5).

That's what builds Jesus' church. People sharing, studying, and growing in their faith about Jesus. That's the church that Jesus established on this earth. That's the goal Jesus had is saying "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, whatever you bind on earth...etc (vs 19). Heaven is closed to sinful people - it's locked. The only key that opens the doors of heaven to people is the beautiful message that our sin (the thing that has closed heaven) has been removed. Jesus carried our sins to the cross, received the punishment we deserved for them, and rose again to prove his and our innocence. Everytime we share that "good news" message with someone and they believe it, their sin is gone and heaven swings open for one more person.

There's so much more to be said here about those keys, but I'm out of time. I think the only other verse the Catholic church uses is John 21 where Jesus asks Peter to feed his sheep. Again, nothing about setting Peter up as the Pope or the head of the church, but simply restoring Peter after he had denied even knowing Jesus three times.

--- Pastor from a WELS Lutheran church

This entire wall of text falls apart under the slightest scrutiny

The original spoken language of Matthew 16:13 was Aramaic, not Greek. There was no masculine or feminine, just *Kepha.*

And in the Greek translation, *Petros* and *Petra* had the same meaning. They just used *Petros* for Peter's name because *Petra* was the common word at the time but would have been improper for Peter's name.

Luther was wise in his observation of the error and corruption of the church, but his following actions would fracture it causing what we have to day, a broken liturgical mess that won't be cleaned up without a massive catastrophe or miracle.

So what is the Catholic teaching regarding salvation? How are people saved in Catholicism?

Through the grace of, and subsequent faith in God. As well as repentance for any truly mortal sin.

If you don't go to the Catholic church or confess to a priest, can you still be saved, according to Catholicism?

Yes faith is what saves you

The concept is that dying in a state or mortal sin puts you in jeopardy but I dont think the church says for certain what happens

The biggest problem I find that many outside of the Catholic church have/had (including myself) aside from modern corruptions, is simply the fact that it seems too rigorous.

Now as it pertains tot he history of the church,

it has fought long and hard to reduce rigor,

but it does not go by faith alone.

For many centuries it had to safeguard doctrine from all sorts of heresies.

Of course it's not only faith

But if you lead a good life and have faith you will be saved

Even if you're not in church

Many would-be popes attempted rigorousness only as a means of gate keeping because they did not win the papacy.

According to Wels Lutheran salvation is a gift from God freely given and if we have faith and accept the gift it is ours. Doing good works is our thanks for the gift of salvation, but works won't save us, according to the Lutheran doctrine.

Correct, but again, *not works, nor faith, alone*

the keyword being alone,

it takes both.

And in order to be a decent Christian, you must do both.

As I was about to say, it is a rather large criticism of the church that it does too many earthly works and not enough spiritual, or that it lacks personal connection with God.

A personal connection is entirely up to the person worshipping.

The church is there to act as an authority,

a governing body.

It is no fault of theirs if a man turns away from God, if a man does not pursue him.

It is their duty to bring them to God, but what might they do if they're simply rebuffed?

The majority of rigor, and legalism as well as long held tradition within the church, is to prevent such a thing from happening.

The ceremonies, the sacraments, the traditions,