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To: Frank Sheed

Frank, I've read the Bible....it's not in there. Christ built his Church upon Peter's confession.

Nice try though.

I used to be a Mormon....oh the stories I could tell you about proper authority and keys, ordinances and covenants!

Christ's Church has him at the head. The final priest in the order of Melchizadek. He is all I need, my authority is found in Him and Him in me, and a body of His followers to fellowship with.


81 posted on 06/14/2006 5:10:36 PM PDT by colorcountry (Life isn't fair, it isn't unfair either. It just "is.")
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To: colorcountry; Frank Sheed
Frank, I've read the Bible....it's not in there. Christ built his Church upon Peter's confession.

It's all there, dear friend.

Mark 3:16; John 1:42 – Jesus renames Simon "Kepha" in Aramaic which literally means "rock." This was an extraordinary thing for Jesus to do, because "rock" was not even a name in Jesus' time. Jesus did this, not to give Simon a strange name, but to identify his new status among the apostles. When God changes a person's name, He changes their status.

Matt. 16:18 - Jesus said in Aramaic, you are "Kepha" and on this "Kepha" I will build my Church. In Aramaic, "kepha" means a massive stone, and "evna" means little pebble. Some non-Catholics argue that, because the Greek word for rock is "petra", that "Petros" actually means "a small rock", and therefore Jesus was attempting to diminish Peter right after blessing him by calling him a small rock. Not only is this nonsensical in the context of Jesus' blessing of Peter, Jesus was speaking Aramaic and used "Kepha," not "evna." Using Petros to translate Kepha was done simply to reflect the masculine noun of Peter.

Moreover, if the translator wanted to identify Peter as the "small rock," he would have used "lithos" which means a little pebble in Greek. Also, Petros and petra were synonyms at the time the Gospel was written, so any attempt to distinguish the two words is inconsequential. Thus, Jesus called Peter the massive rock, not the little pebble, on which He would build the Church. (You don’t even need Matt. 16:18 to prove Peter is the rock because Jesus renamed Simon “rock” in Mark 3:16 and John 1:42!).

Matt. 16:17 - to further demonstrate that Jesus was speaking Aramaic, Jesus says Simon "Bar-Jona." The use of "Bar-Jona" proves that Jesus was speaking Aramaic. In Aramaic, "Bar" means son, and "Jonah" means John or dove (Holy Spirit).  See Matt. 27:46 and Mark 15:34 which give another example of Jesus speaking Aramaic as He utters in rabbinical fashion the first verse of Psalm 22 declaring that He is the Christ, the Messiah. This shows that Jesus was indeed speaking Aramaic, as the Jewish people did at that time.

Matt. 16:18 - also, in quoting "on this rock," the Scriptures use the Greek construction "tautee tee" which means on "this" rock; on "this same" rock; or on "this very" rock. "Tautee tee" is a demonstrative construction in Greek, pointing to Peter, the subject of the sentence (and not his confession of faith as some non-Catholics argue) as the very rock on which Jesus builds His Church. The demonstrative (“tautee”) generally refers to its closest antecedent (“Petros”).  Also, there is no place in Scripture where “faith” is equated with “rock.”

Jesus did not leave us orphans. He entrusted His Church to Peter and his successors and promised that "the gates of hell would not prevail against it". In its 2000 year history, there have been some questionable popes yet not one has ever erred in doctrine, further testimony that the Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church established by Christ on earth.

83 posted on 06/14/2006 5:29:48 PM PDT by NYer (Discover the beauty of the Eastern Catholic Churches - freepmail me for more information.)
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