I figgered it out!
As the link states, there was NO OTHER RELIGION until Luther decided to do his own thing.
Only Catholicism. Can you figure that out?
The link can provide the opinion of the people on it all it wants. That doesn’t mean it’s a fact.
So Catholicism is a religion now? Well, at least it’s no longer claiming to be Christian.
There were many other churches before Catholicism came into existence and they are listed at various places in the NT.
Other places besides Rome were: Corinth, Ephesus, Colossae, Philippi, Galatia, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
And the RCC ruthlessly eradicated any competition so that any groups of believers would have had to meet in secret. So there would be no record of their existence.
I figgered it out!
***As the link states, there was NO OTHER RELIGION until Luther decided to do his own thing.
Only Catholicism. Can you figure that out?***
A lot of distortion and inaccuracy in that.
I have a link to an evangelical site that discusses the Roman Catholic Church, and its overview of how it came about and its beliefs, while I would maybe not agree with every word, is much closer to the truth.
“Question: “What is Roman Catholicism?”
Answer: The Roman Catholic Church portrays itself as the one legitimate heir to New Testament Christianity, and the Pope as the successor to Peter, the first bishop of Rome. While those details are debatable, there is no question that Roman church history reaches back to ancient times. The apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Romans about AD 55, and addressed a church body that existed prior to his first visit there (but he made no mention of Peter, though he greeted others by name). Despite repeated persecutions by the government, a vibrant Christian community existed in Rome after apostolic times. Those early Roman Christians were just like their brethren in other parts of the world—simple followers of Jesus Christ.
Things changed drastically when the Roman Emperor Constantine professed a conversion to Christianity in AD 312. He began to make changes which ultimately led to the formation of the Roman Catholic Church...”
http://www.gotquestions.org/Roman-Catholicism.html
And, as you know, you didn’t answer my questions - and these are some of the most important questions. How about, at the least, this one question, then: Are there true Christians outside of the Roman Catholic Church?
And as for the word “Catholic,” I was raised Lutheran and we recited the Apostles’ Creed. I do believe in the “universal” Church, and I know that the earthly institution of the Church has taken on different forms since its earthly beginning, when it was exclusively, or almost exclusively, depending on how you see it and answers we might not have (like if there were any Gentiles in it), a Church of Jews who had accepted Jesus.