“The Church is PEOPLE” Yes it is, but is it all people? Obviously not, Then what people is it? Those who decide on their own authority what is right and wrong? Sounds like original sin does it not, then it has to be those who follow the Teaching given to the Apostles to which the Authority was given to Teach his Sheep. Why did the Lord speak in parables? Because it was not for them to understand, but to You(the Apostles) it is to be revealed, and teach. Why was Judas replaced as an Apostle well after our Lord was Risen, if Authority was not necessary their would be no reason to do so. The Authority is their for one and all to see and track through history, However it is your choice to Reject that Authority and follow Chaos which is obviously evident just as Orestes and so many others have pointed out time and time again, How many Protestant denominations are there now? By logic as pointed out by Orestes there could only be one if it were a reform, however it was not it was a protest from truth and the beginning of an ever growing error which will destroy itself. The Fruits can be seen now well can they not? For there can be Only One Truth.
God Bless
“The Authority is their for one and all to see and track through history, However it is your choice to Reject that Authority and follow Chaos”
Following the Bible is following the apostles. How did early churches fix errors when the apostles were still alive and the New Testament was not yet complete? They wrote letters to the apostles who then wrote letters in reply. These letters make up most of our New Testament.
Today we have the privilege of being able to open the Bible and get the wisdom of the apostles straight from their mouths.
Down through the history of the Church, even while the apostles were still alive, there were those who pretended to be apostles, and tried to take control of local churches through this fraud.
Rome claiming to carry apostolic authority does not make it so. The New Testament tells us to test those claims of apostolic authority. It tells us what is required of an apostle. And, sorry, none of the modern-day popes have this authority no matter how much it is asserted, claimed, or demanded to be so.
The New Testament DOES meet the criteria, and Christians are required to submit to its legitimate authority. Doing so is not following “Chaos”.
Jesus taught the parable where good seed was planted but then the field was harmed by an enemy sowing bad seed. The enemy is the Devil. Whenever the Gospel has brought salvation, Satan has followed by spreading a false Gospel to form a population of false believers. These people are often quite convinced they are true Christians. This happened in the history of the church many times, including what you would consider the legitimate Catholic Church.
The Reformation has led to the Gospel of Salvation being spread to many people. Just because Satan followed his typical pattern and infiltrated these groups and spread false doctrine and false religion does not mean that the initial work of God was phony. It is the same with the Catholic Church. There is a historical connection from generation to generation, but that does not mean Satan has not come along and spread false doctrines and infiltrated the groups of people who meet in particular buildings, in particular places. Just putting a name outside the front of a building does not constitute a continuous line of succession from the early church.
Rather, the Church God promised to preserve has been preserved. It is made up of people, not buildings, and relics, and rituals. And the Reformation served in part to preserve His true Church made up of true followers of Christ. Neither everyone who took part in the Reformation was part of the true Church, nor is everyone today who is part of the various denominations a true follower of Christ.
The author seeks to show the degeneration and splintering of Protestant churches as some sort of evidence that the original Reformation was not from God. But it is just another part of this huge tautology. Catholic congregants have just as many private beliefs as the many Protestants have. The difference is that when a Protestant church begins teaching doctrinal error, congregants are free to leave and gather with other believers who share the same beliefs. For Catholics, the congregants cannot do that and remain “Catholic”. But they can and do just ignore whatever they disagree with. This evidence of Protestant error is really evidence of error in the RCC approach that the author endorses.