***the end of the apostate, whorish RC system.***
That is an unbelilevably hateful and uncharitable comment, topcat54! Your venom is unwarranted. May I remind you of what St. Paul says, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32
I suppose it has never occured to you that the Protestant “system” might just possibly be heretical - considering that Our Lord prayed 5 times in John 17 “that we all may be one as He and the Father are one.” Ref. John 17: 11, 21(twice), 22, 23. I certainly don’t see that the Protestant “system” is evidence that “all are one.” To the contrary, the Protestant “system” is founded upon division. Your “raison d’etre” is to protest the Roman Catholic Church - not to proclaim Jesus. If it were, you would obey His words and be joined to His Church (see Matthew 16:17-19).
The Protestant “system” is the apostate one, not the Catholic Church. I was brought up Presbyterian, so I know every Protestant argument, and not one of them holds weight against Scripture and the teachings of the Early Church Fathers (which anyone can access). There is no excuse for ignorance.
We must pray for the full reunion of all Christian believers.
Remember the Inquisition.
Gentler words, same venom. You're not in a position to criticize others.
Do you mean like the early church fathers refutations of Rome's misinterpretation of Matthew 16:18 to denote Petrine primacy?
Eusebius of Caesarea says:
‘And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bear, at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of thy nostrils’ (Ps. 18.14)...By ‘the foundations of the world,’ we shall understand the strength of God’s wisdom, by which, first, the order of the universe was established, and then, the world itself was founded—a world which will not be shaken. Yet you will not in any way err from the scope of the truth if you suppose that ‘the world’ is actually the Church of God, and that its ‘foundation’ is in the first place, that unspeakably solid rock on which it is founded, as Scripture says: ‘Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’; and elsewhere: ‘The rock, moreover, was Christ.’ For, as the Apostle indicates with these words: ‘No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.’ Then, too, after the Savior himself, you may rightly judge the foundations of the Church to be the words of the prophets and apostles, in accordance with the statement of the Apostle: ‘Built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.’ These foundations of the world have been laid bare because the enemies of God, who once darkened the eyes of our mind, lest we gaze upon divine things, have been routed and put to flight—scattered by the arrows sent from God and put to flight by the rebuke of the Lord and by the blast from his nostrils. As a result, having been saved from these enemies and having received the use of our eyes, we have seen the channels of the sea and have looked upon the foundations of the world. This has happened in our lifetime in many parts of the world---Commentary on the Psalms, M.P.G., Vol. 23, Col. 173, 176.
Likewise Augustine says:
And I tell you...‘You are Peter, Rocky, and on this rock I shall build my Church, and the gates of the underworld will not conquer her. To you shall I give the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth shall also be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall also be loosed in heaven’ (Mt 16:15-19). In Peter, Rocky, we see our attention drawn to the rock. Now the apostle Paul says about the former people, ‘They drank from the spiritual rock that was following them; but the rock was Christ’ (1 Cor 10:4). So this disciple is called Rocky from the rock, like Christian from Christ...Why have I wanted to make this little introduction? In order to suggest to you that in Peter the Church is to be recognized. Christ, you see, built his Church not on a man but on Peter’s confession. What is Peter’s confession? ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ There’s the rock for you, there’s the foundation, there’s where the Church has been built, which the gates of the underworld cannot conquer---John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1993), Sermons, Vol. 6, Sermon 229P.1, p. 327.
There is no excuse for ignorance.
I agree, the early church fathers held the same interpretation of Matthew 16:18 as Protestants, in opposition to the later Roman interpretation which infers a Petrine primacy that is confided to the bishops of Rome where it does not exist.