There are many brands of bread on the market; most are actually bread, otherwise consumers would reject them or complain. The many types may contain a variety of recipes, additives or packaging, and some are closer to “just flour, yeast, a pinch of sugar and some water” than others; but most can be recognized as bread.
Same thing with types of churches. there are many brands and packagings that are still church, even though one may be a “top seller.”
The Church that God intended is not a brand; it is the worldwide communion of believers. Some have different additives, like sesame seeds, potato or egg. That doesn’t make them any less “bread.”
I searched long and studied much to determine which “brand” of Christian church I would embrace as an adult. I’m very blessed that I did not take any institution’s veracity for granted — it made me study the scriptures closely and make an adult decision. I chose a church that is pretty much just flour, yeast, a pinch of sugar and some water; nevertheless, I recognize the “everything” bagels, rosemary garlic whole wheat crackers and sesame loaves of this world as also being Christians. A brand of church is not an occasion for snobbery.
Comparing God’s Word to making selections about “brands of bread” would mean we can all have “our” own interpretation of God’s Word. This would be absurd as it is preposterous. What it entails is that there are many” paths to salvation. If that were the case, the early Church Fathers should not have laboriously spent 300 years sorting out the true Word of Christ and authentically attributing to Him, His written word based on what they collectively (the Church) believed is the true Word of Gd. This authority did not vanish into thin air, The authority was to last until the end of time proclaiming ONE truth.
True, there was dissent prior to the Reformation but this is precisely why we have ONE Church that settles the truth for all time. That authority is not given any more to Luther than it is to Billy Graham, to Joel Osteen or David Koresh, Jim Jones, or Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
The truth is not what some corner street pastor says what “he”/”she” or some gay married pastor thinks what the Bible is all about. Without the Eucharist, Easter is nothing more than a vapid Kumbaya song and dance on the beach with the rising sun in the foreground.
The work of great theologians, Catholic and non-Catholic, the vast constellation of converts, saints, and martyrs and stigmatists, make the Catholic Church the ONE true authentic Church that proclaims a central Credo at every celebration of the Mass, that at some place, somewhere, at some time in the world is recited by millions in just about every three seconds. This is the tree of the mustard seed that has spread its branches across time and space.
Excellent analogy!
Christ instituted the first Church, the Catholic Church, on the apostles, the first Bishops.
Remember, one, holy, Catholic and APOSTOLIC.