This is very sophomoric.
Up until the time of the cursed Reformation and Henry VIII, we had one Church.
We have seen the untold damage done by the heretical offshoots with over 30,000 non-Catholic denominations. The Lutherans along with Anglicans and Episcopalians have now as a matter of doctrine accepted gay and lesbian bishops.
The spread of televangelists who have minted millions of dollars for themselves and their families (aka Joel Osteen and Rev. Schuller) is clear testimony to this gigantic fraud.
Interesting that the Catholic Church alone has the greatest number of converts from atheists, agnostics, Communists, Judaism (The rabbi of Rome converted to Catholicism); Hinduism, Buddhism, and every stripe of other forms of Christianity. This is to say nothing of the greatest thinkers, philosophers, nobel laureates, scientists (Pasteur), astronomers, sculptors, painters, writer, and poets. The work of St. Thomas Aquinas alone is so formidable that at Oxford’s prestigious Bodleian Library, his Summa Theologica is placed alongside the Bible.
It’s the Catholic Church that sorted out what texts must and must not be included in the Bible.
And one final and powerful point. To Peter and his Apostles were given the power to forgive sins in the name of the Christ.
Enough said.
And expressly to none other. And passed to those whom they chose to succeed them. Not to every Tom, Dick and Luther...
I read a book once from a man who had been deeply involved in the occult and became a high level warlock in the Church of Satan. He actually became interested in the occult when.... he was introduced to the idea that Jesus had gone to Egypt and learned magic, and the person who suggested this to him was a Priest. And this Priest was one of his instructors in Seminary to become a Priest for the Roman Catholic Church. He actually went on to get his masters in theology, and apparently he accomplished this without ever once seriously opening up the Bible. And this, again, was in a Roman Catholic university.
Need I go into the Lavander Mafia of Priests in the Catholic Church? The Liberation Theologists who somehow manage to not be excommunicated by the church? The lesbian nuns? The corrupt Bishops? The mass presence of belief in ghosts and other nonsense amongst an uneducated Catholic laity? And a Pope who, despite his flowery speeches on a few of these matters, is utterly impotent to do anything about it? When I, if given the power, could fix it in a day by simply excommunicating and replacing all these corrupt leaders and members in a short speech on a random Sunday? In the olden days, the Catholics used to burn “heretics” at the stake, when they weren’t taking bribes to forgive sins. Nowadays they can barely muster a murmer.
Trust me, the Catholic Church has done more to hurt itself
There are not 30,000 Protestant denominations. And if a denomination subscribes to sola scriptura, then I have a lot in common with them and can easily discuss any disagreement.
Given the Catholic history of indulgences and the selling of high church offices (wanna be a bishop? how much cash do you have?), pointing a finger at televangelists is a bit...awkward. As a general rule of thumb, I don’t care if it is a Catholic saying, “Give the church money and your sister will be released from the fires of Purgatory!” or some guy on television saying, “God wants you to have money, and he’ll give you some if you give yours to me first!” - either way, run.
“It’s the Catholic Church that sorted out what texts must and must not be included in the Bible.”
Not until the Council of Trent in the 1500s, and then they screwed up the list of books and left 3 parts out - hence the name change to deuterocanonical from Apocrypha. The selection before that was bottom up, not top down. And the status of the Apocrypha was debated up to the Council of Trent, and then the CofT punted on the main point - was the Apocrypha authoritative for doctrine.
As a Catholic historian wrote:
The majority agreed with the opinion of the general of the Servites, that controverted theological questions, which had already been the subject of discussion between Augustine and Jerome, should not be decided by the Council but should be allowed to remain open questions. The result of the above-mentioned vote of the general congregation of 15 February committed the Council to the wider canon, but inasmuch as it abstained from a theological discussion, the question of differences between books within the canon was left as it had been.” History of the Council of Trent, pgs 56-57
Luther opened Pandora's box when he nailed his 95 theses to the doors of the church in Wittenberg. Even more disturbing, however, is how christians evangelize other christians. Last week, I received a phone call from a catholic convert to Jehovah's Witnesses. It began with a simple approach, she wanted to send me a "prayer tract" to read during tough times. I explained that I was a practicing catholic. She persisted, indicating this was a small prayer from Psalms. In probing deeper, that is when I learned about her disagreement with the Catholic Church. I invited her to come home to the Eucharist. She responded by proselytizng even more - the fallacy of the Trinity, saying Peter was never in Rome, et al.
I explained that scripture prohibits her from evangelizing christians. Now it was her turn to balk.
Thus I aspire to proclaim the gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another's foundation, but as it is written: "Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand."
Romans 15:20-21
I suggested she try to promote her tracts with local area muslims. I reminded her that once baptized a catholic, she remained catholic and was welcome to return. The call caught me off guard and the conversation burned a hole in my heart. How can anyone walk away from Christ, present in the Eucharist and embrace a cult. I have been praying for her ever since.