Jorge Gonzales

Information Security and Data Protection Expert with 21 years of experience servicing the needs of global enterprises

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Recommended Catholic Resource
The Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz:

https://t.co/UZr1Ob7RE4

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Reading the Bible well requires understanding WHAT the Bible is.

The Catholic Bible contains 73 inspired books, written by different human authors:

• Across many centuries
• In Hebrew, Aramaic & Greek
• In different historical and cultural settings
• Using different literary forms and perspectives

The OT alone spans an enormous historical world, from the patriarchal period associated with Abraham to the Maccabean era.
And its books communicate God’s revelation through different literary forms:
** Pentateuch → creation, covenant, law & God’s saving deeds
** Prophets → covenant, judgment, repentance & hope
** Wisdom literature → God, suffering, virtue, creation & human life
** Gospels → Christ’s life, teaching, Passion & Resurrection
** Epistles → apostolic teaching addressed to early Christian communities

Even the Gospel tradition was proclaimed and transmitted ORALLY before and alongside its written form (cf. Luke 1:1–4; Dei Verbum 19).

This matters.

We should NEVER isolate one verse, or even one biblical book, from the unity of Scripture and treat it as though it alone expresses the fullness of the apostolic faith.

Read each passage according to its literary and historical context, within the unity of the whole of Scripture and the unfolding history of salvation.

YES, it is One divine story.
YES, it is Many inspired books.
IMPORTANT: Read each part in light of the whole.

Catholic foundation: Dei Verbum §§7–12, 18–19; CCC §§101–141.

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum my dear brother.
I love your witnessing and I thank you for enriching our lives.
Without you meaning to do it, several statements you made describe the life of the Church Fathers and Desert Fathers (which by the way shape my eastern monastic spirituality).
I am very close to my Christian Orthodox brethren, we actually pray together often. I believe you have already done some research but if not, just do a quick research on them to check out the characteristics of their spirituality. More importantly, the "personal relationship with God" which goes beyond our western hemisphere intellectual tendencies is foundational in my life because of both my eastern monastic spirituality and my close relationship with my Orthodox brethren. We pray Scripture 3 times a day, and the monks 6 or 7 times a day. Psalms, Bible Reading, Church Father writings, and the ancient prayers of the early Church.

Finally, please know in addition to being close to the Orthodox brethren, I also pray with my protestant brethren (real joint prayer - not just lip service). We actually work for Christian unity together because despite theological differences, we are rooted on our Triune God, and live our lives with Christ as the center.
May God continue to bless you abundantly dear brother.

PAX

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum
Keep your hopes up. This may help:
Read and illuminate yourself with Christ’s love for His church (His Body) despite our imperfections throughout history.

Apostolic & Early Church (1st–3rd c.) — Turmoil existed from the beginning: factions at Corinth (1 Cor 1:10–13; later 1 Clement), false teaching, persecution and killing, fiercely disputes over authority, heresies, and schisms. Apostolic Christianity was NEVER conflict-free.

Patristic Era (4th c.) — The Arian crisis divided bishops, hideous emperors intervention, church councils were contested, and saints themselves suffered exile. A super holy man like St. Gregory the Theologian resigned from Constantinople amid and because intense ecclesiastical conflict. YET Nicaea’s faith ultimately prevailed. Please do a simple google search and ask for a comparison between sin and turmoil in the church during this time and ours and you will feel fortunate to live in this era.

Medieval → Reformation (c. 1000–1600) — East–West rupture, papal rivalries and antipopes, political corruption, clerical scandal, and genuine abuses culminated in the Reformation. Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed leaders, and others then fought bitterly among—and sometimes within—their own camps. You think Protestant reformers did better? NOPE. Review the history my brother, check the fiercely and non-Christian fighting between Luther, Zwingly, Calvin, anabaptists.

Is this all lost then? NOPE.

Our hope and faith are not in flawless human leaders but in Jesus Christ: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8). Leaders fail, scandals arise, and crises pass—but Christ remains faithful to His Church; therefore, our faith remains firm.

PAX

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@MJKelleyII

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@MJKelleyII

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@GreatExhalation @realmikolson Pax et Bonum my brother/sister,
Inviting (not forcing) you to check this out:
https://t.co/tIkHHXD8Va

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

1/2
How did Christianity move from Christ and the Apostles to the generations that followed them?

The earliest Christian sources reveal a remarkably clear pattern of authority and teaching being RECEIVED and HANDED ON:

FATHER → CHRIST → APOSTLES → CHURCH LEADERS → SUCCESSORS

Jesus: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21).

Paul: entrust what you heard from me “to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well” (2 Tim 2:2).

Then, around AD 96—while Christianity was still emerging from the apostolic generation—St. Clement of Rome writes:

“Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ.” —1 Clement 42

He then says the Apostles appointed ministers and provided that after their deaths “other approved men should succeed to their ministry.” —1 Clement 44

This is extraordinarily early.

Authority was not something each Christian created for himself. Christ commissioned the Apostles, and the apostolic ministry was handed on.

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@SparkyTreez @RossGSalvatore @FrMatthewLC @farmingandJesus Pax et Bonum my brother. I fully respect your free will and wish you continuous blessings from our savior Jesus Christ.

Regarding the 'man-made' tradition and doctrine, feel free to check this out if you wish.

https://t.co/tIkHHXD8Va

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

1/2
How did Christianity move from Christ and the Apostles to the generations that followed them?

The earliest Christian sources reveal a remarkably clear pattern of authority and teaching being RECEIVED and HANDED ON:

FATHER → CHRIST → APOSTLES → CHURCH LEADERS → SUCCESSORS

Jesus: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21).

Paul: entrust what you heard from me “to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well” (2 Tim 2:2).

Then, around AD 96—while Christianity was still emerging from the apostolic generation—St. Clement of Rome writes:

“Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ.” —1 Clement 42

He then says the Apostles appointed ministers and provided that after their deaths “other approved men should succeed to their ministry.” —1 Clement 44

This is extraordinarily early.

Authority was not something each Christian created for himself. Christ commissioned the Apostles, and the apostolic ministry was handed on.

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum @AWalkWithGod2 - I know you contacted me on a different thread to explain your good intentions thus I am adding you to this response.

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."Gal 5:22-23

The fruit of the teachings of @DrShayPhD are depicted in three pics attached which resulted from my critique of @DrShayPhD

My point being we can disagree, but the goal of discussing the disagreement should NOT be to despise others. If we promote that, how can we call our message "Christian"?

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum Shane,
Adding to your point the following example of the context missed by our brother @AL_J82 :

“if he does not live rightly, his faith will be of no help toward his salvation.”
And concludes:
“we do not claim that faith alone is enough for salvation.”
Homilies on John, Homily 31 by St. John Chrysostom

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum my brother,
Making sure you read the "substance" of my answer:
"using a small sample to condemn the whole is illogical. We must distinguish: Some members are corrupt → corruption is widespread → the institution enables corruption → the institution itself is false.

Those are FOUR different claims. Evidence for one does not automatically prove the next."

I am sorry if the catholics you interacted with did not witness Christ as the Church teaches. We all struggle as sinners but Christ is our hope and his body the Apostolic Church (Catholics and Orthodox) while full of imperfect sinners gets its Holiness from the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding it.

PAX

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum brother,
I am afraid you are offering an inaccurate statement .

Official Catholic docs below:

The Catechism states that non-Catholics who believe in Christ and are validly baptized “have a right to be called Christians” and are accepted by Catholics “as brothers in the Lord.” — CCC 818

Vatican II teaches that through Baptism they are “incorporated into Christ” and that their Churches and ecclesial communities contain genuine elements of “sanctification and truth.” — Unitatis Redintegratio 3; Lumen Gentium

PAX

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum brother,
Thank you for sharing

These criteria were real and important, but they were NOT a self-interpreting checklist existing independently of the Church. (That is the dangerous assumption you make)

Through Apostolic Tradition, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church gradually discerned which writings belonged to the canon (CCC 120; Dei Verbum 8).

The Church did NOT make these books inspired—we all agree on that.

The church authoritatively recognized and received as Scripture those writings God had inspired and entrusted to her.

IMPORTANT: Like a jeweler identifying a diamond, the Church does not create what she recognizes; … BUT … unlike an ordinary jeweler, Christ entrusted His Church with authority to guard and hand on the apostolic deposit of faith.

PAX

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum brother,
Fifty (use any XY number) bad Catholics don’t prove Catholicism (1.42 Billion) false any more than fifty corrupt doctors prove medicine false.

That’s a hasty generalization: using a small sample to condemn the whole. Personal experience matters—but it cannot carry conclusions larger than the evidence.

We must distinguish:
Some members are corrupt
→ corruption is widespread
→ the institution enables corruption
→ the institution itself is false.

Those are FOUR different claims. Evidence for one does not automatically prove the next.

Christianity actually expects sinners inside the Church—even Judas was among the Twelve.

Vatican II calls the Church “holy and always in need of purification” (Lumen Gentium 8).

The real question isn’t “Did Catholics fail me?” but “Are Catholicism’s truth claims true?”

PAX

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

Pax et Bonum,
Re-read your post my brother. You jumped from adoration to veneration very subtly and equaled both. Either a typo or a confused understanding of the meaning of both words.

You can validate the following with any search engine (trying to save you time to look for a dictionary):

Adoration ≠ Veneration

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@pzj1801 @farmingandJesus Pax et Bonum my brother,
Remember what I pointed out about your posts lacking theological or academic ground/foundation:

“What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@SolaDrip Didn't read the whole thing but what I read made me smile. I know we have disagreements in theology but I found your jokes funny my brother.

May God continue to bless you!

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@pzj1801 @Augsburg_Barber @FrMatthewLC Pax et Bonum dear brother,
Perhaps expanding on the foundation/ground of your argument may help.
You know the saying: "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@TheMouthy0ne @DrShayPhD Last post from me to you, my sister

Love > Hate

God created you and me = Fact

It can’t be changed by your emotion-driven post

Praying for you.
PAX

[Jorge Gonzales @Global_InfoSec]

@TheMouthy0ne @DrShayPhD Pax et Bonum dear sister.

Happy to learn from each other in the future whenever you are ready for a meaningful discussion. Emotion-triggering insults don't build you, or our brethren. May God bless you!

PAX