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3 John 1:9-10

"I wrote to the church,
but Diotrephes,
who loves to dominate,
does not acknowledge us.
Therefore, if I come,
I will draw attention to what he is doing,
spreading evil nonsense about us.
And not content with that,
he will not receive the brothers,
hindering those who wish to do so
and expelling them from the church."

So yeah, the Catholics who say there were no other churches before the Reformation, are mistaken in historic point of fact. There have always been other churches. You're welcome to Diophenes.

You're welcome, as well, to the Cathari, the Paulicians, and the Donatists, cited by some (such as J.M. Carroll) as precursors of today's "Bible Christians". Unfortunately, they are not doctrinally coherent enough to give you a real hermeneutic of continuity (e.g. the Paulicians and Cathari said that all of physical reality, including the human body, was created by the God of Evil) --- and not early enough to give you such ancient foundations as you have in Diophenes.

"It's the "magisterium" to whom they [Catholics] appeal not only for what scripture says but additions to scripture as well."

This is in fact true, if by "additions to scripture" you mean "Natural Law." The Catholic Church holds that Scriptural Law and Natural Law both have the same Divine Author, and that, thanks to the authority which Christ has given His Church, the Magisterium is competent to teach authoritatively about both.

As Jesus said to his appointed teachers (the 70 disciples) in Luke 10:16, "He that hears you hears me; and he that despises you despises me; and he that despises me despises Him that sent me."

And that reminds me of the original topic of this thread, which is Bruce Jenner's claim that Jesus is OK with his "sexual reassignment" project, because "sexual reassignment" is not condemned in Scripture. Do you think he's right?

So yeah, the Catholics who say there were no other churches before the Reformation, are mistaken in historic point of fact. There have always been other churches.

Finally...An honest Catholic who will admit that it was NOT the only religion before 1600...

But one thing you forgot to mention is that while these 'heretical' churches had small issues where they disagreed with the Catholic religion, they ALL had one thing in common...They refused to submit to the Church of Rome, to the point of death...

They also refused to call the mother of Jesus the mother of God...They all refused to make Mary their queen of heaven...And most importantly, they rejected the Catholic idea of its Mass and their Eucharist...That's why these and Protestants are considered heretics...

I find it interesting you didn't include the "church" at Philadelphia.

>>And that reminds me of the original topic of this thread, which is Bruce Jenner's claim that Jesus is OK with his "sexual reassignment" project, because "sexual reassignment" is not condemned in Scripture. Do you think he's right?<<

He's using the same line we hear from Catholics all the time!!