Posted on 02/04/2002 12:55:13 PM PST by Sir Gawain
Well said.
Beyond that, while these debates generally do not affect the opinions of the main contenders, I contend that they can and do have an effect on those who pop in to read them. I know I, for one, have learned a great deal from some folks (logos, betty boop, to name just two).
If the Catholic Church is not the Church Jesus Christ founded, it's crap.
And if the Church Jesus Christ founded is nothing but a "mere human organization," then Jesus Christ is nothing but a fraud and a liar.
And the apostasy you see among some branches of Protestantism today is nothing more than following those two irrefutable facts through to their obvious conclusion.
Matthew 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it."The more I read this verse, the more I think that the key to understanding what Jesus meant by "upon this rock" can be found in verse 17:
Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.John 6:44-45 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, "And they shall all be taught by God."
He didn't say "this is the rock". He said "you are rock" (no "the").
Now I am not a religious person .. so it doesn't make any difference to me WHAT you want to believe. I merely point this out.. so that others will see it as more of the anti-Catholic religious propoganda I seem to see a lot of around here.
Seriously, we all agree that Jesus was the Son of God, that he gave his life on the cross for the sins of all men... all of us... and that accepting his gift and believing in him grants us the key to eternal life with God in Heaven.
So what's the big argument?
And it is a false doctrine completely put to rest by many verses, including:
1 Timothy 1:5-6
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Hebrews 7:25 refering to Jesus:
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Where does the doctrine of "intercession" through Mary used by Catholics come from?
IMHO, the church was built upon the foundation of Christ, not Peter.
Then as now, many people in the region are multilingual. Greek was the culture of the region from Alexander until the Romans, and Greek was the common language, the language of diplomacy, the common language, the coine. Okey-dokey. The Galilee was not particularly Hebrew, and that is where Jesus did most of his teaching when he wasn't going up to Jerusalem undercover. Paul was able to travel widely and speak easily [or shyly according to himself] everywhere, and he ministered to many churches that were not Hebrew at all.
So, uh, if it's a "false doctrine," why did Paul ask others to pray for him? Just how many "false doctrines" did Paul preach, anyway?
And you might like to re-read the context of that passage in 1 Timothy ... where it talks about "prayers offered in every place, for rulers and those in authority" (more of that awful false "intercession" junk again).
Papias says very clearly that Matthew wrote in "Hebrew".
However, I'm not sure it really matters. Matthew is relating a conversation. The conversation took place in Aramaic. We can prove that from the Bible. Case closed.
Except there's a little problem of a few centuries in there, from Peter's time-- and then the clerical offices became a formal heirarchy, similar to the succession of posts held by the ambitious Roman aristocrat. Would Christ found a Roman church? Rome is Esau, isn't it?
Then what about the two popes who claimed each was the true one?
Christ founded a worldwide church which happened to locate its earthly headquarters in Rome. I have no idea what you think is compelling about this. Jerusalem wasn't an option, for some rather obvious reasons. (Read Acts ...)
Then what about the two popes who claimed each was the true one?
At one point, there were three. But only one was right.
Don't think so. The church that Christ founded has no earthly headquarters. It has only tabernacles.
On the other hand, to try to deny that Peter is Cephas is absurd.
Here's a good article about where a lot of the anti-Catholic stuff we see over and over and over and over and over here comes from: The Anti-Catholic Bible
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