[Dutchboy88]

"Further, Christ said he would found a Church. Both the Bible (still taken as merely a historical book, not yet as an inspired one) and other ancient works attest to the fact that Christ established a Church with the rudiments of what we see in the Catholic Church today—papacy, hierarchy, priesthood, sacraments, and teaching authority."

May want to check your Greek and your history. The term "Church" is a word made up in later years from "kirk", a Scottish term. The word in the Scriptures is "assembly" and it is used to describe even the mob gathered in Ephesus. There is no papacy described in the Bible, no sacerdotalism, no sacraments, and none of the other errant traditions held by Rome.

[smvoice]

Please do not sully this thread with truth. :)

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-—The word in the Scriptures is “assembly” and it is used to describe even the mob gathered in Ephesus.-—

Then “the assembly” must be “the pillar and foundation of truth.” That assembly would be worth finding.

Perhaps it is the Church that Christ founded, the one which we ignore at our peril. “If he fails to listen to the Church, treat him as a pagan or tax collector.” For Christ’s command to be meaningful, His Church must be visible and identifiable.

This is where we turn to history.

Regarding the papacy, what key did Jesus give to Peter?