“Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of early Christian history knows the early Church was Catholic and the same sacraments practiced by them, to include the Holy Eucharist, and and REAL PRESENCE of God, is still being practiced by Catholics the world over 2,000 years later.”
Sorry NKP.
Many, many, many PhD Church history scholars believe no such thing - including “the same sacraments practiced by them, to include the Holy Eucharist, and and REAL PRESENCE of God”.
Disregard any PROTESTANT theology PHDs. Do you actually think they would say anything that proved the early Church was Catholic. I think not. Look to Pope Benedict 16, probably the greatest Christian historian in the world, and no one else.
But if you don’t want to get former popes involved, former Prysbyterian minister, and now Catholic apologist, Dr. Scott Hahn is second to none.
Hahn received his B.A. degree magna cum laude in 1979 from Grove City College in Pennsylvania with a triple major of Theology, Philosophy, and Economics.[2] He obtained his M.Div. degree summa cum laude from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1982. In May 1995, he was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Systematic Theology from Marquette University (Phi Beta Kappa). His dissertation, entitled Kinship by Covenant: A Biblical Theological Analysis of Covenant Types and Texts in the Old and New Testaments, is an example of contemporary covenantal theology.
You are supposing that RCs can objectively examine evidence in order to ascertain the veracity of RC doctrine, but which is not the case if they are faithful. Their function is simply to support Rome, thus any evidence, by Prots or Catholics, such as the RC scholars i provided above by God's grace, or secular stats , that impugns their cherished image of Rome is often summarily dismissed as biased and liberal.
And Scripture is treated simply as a servant to wrest support for her traditions of men. As Manning expressed above , history is what Rome says it is. Thus as Keating As Keating states as regards there strictly being zero proof from Scripture for the Assumption, "The mere fact that the Church teaches the doctrine of the Assumption as definitely true is a guarantee that it is true. Karl Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988), p. 275.
Sounds like the liberal elite. In-credible!