Replies

Hows things?

Other than the obvious, pretty good.

As for Mt. 16:18, Jesus promised that he would build his church on the rock (Peter) and the gates of hell would not prevail (to have power over, overpower, prevail against ). From this the Catholics assert that Jesus promised perfect doctrine to his church. I do not see that promise, especially in this verse. I see the promise that God's people will not be overtaken by the gates of hell. I'm not sure how that translates into perfect doctrine or still more, how it only applies to the RCC.

The Kingdom of God is not the RCC, nor is it even the church. It is the rule and reign of God (scroll down to definition III). When you assert that the Kingdom of God is equal to the church, you have a fundamentally lacking view of what the Kingdom of God is. The view that the Kingdom of God is the church just does not fit with the full range (esp. of the Gospels) of statements concerning the Kingdom.

Of course, the Kingdom of God was not the actual CHurch, but all believers in the Kingdom of God belonged to the Church. That is, of course, until Martin Luther declared himself infallible, tried to remove about half the books from the BIble (luckily he did not completely succeed), and today we have Christian Scientists refusing medical treatment, Jehovah's Witnesses refusing blood transfusions because Michael the ARchangel (aka Jesus) wouldn't like it, Seventh Day ADventists telling me I have to be a vegetarian and worship on Saturday, snake handlers, Oneness people rehashing 3rd Century heresy, Armstrogites (until recently) celebrating the Jewish holidays, and Harvey Fierstein look/sound-alikes in the Presbyterian Church USA.

Gee thanks Martin Luther! If you wanna talk about an anti-Christ, ML is your man.

The Kingdom of God is not the RCC, nor is it even the church. Who denies that? We are all Augustinians, and in The City of God, St. Augustine said as much. The Church is a mixture of wheat and tares, as are our lives, till judgement comes and we are purified or consumed entirely.