Our Lord was very clear when he said, “Upon this Rock I will build My Church.”
Protestants can go off on whatever absurd tangent they want to try to prove that Peter isn’t the Rock, but they CANNOT ESCAPE the reality that “My Church” refers to a SINGLE CHURCH.
That single church is composed of the body of believers every where for all time, not members of a specific denomination.
There are other interpretations of Matt 16:18 than the one the Catholic Church uses to justify the papacy.
http://bible.cc/matthew/16-18.htm
And whether or not individual believers choose to recognize that one can be saved and belong to a church besides the Catholic Church, is irrelevant. The Catholic church teaches that salvation is though it alone. Vatican II did not rescind that. All it did was make a few exceptions, the major one being for those who are what they call *invincibly ignorant*.
For others, like myself, they consider that I am going to hell. And they are entitled to that opinion, but it is also irrelevant to me because the Bible teaches that salvation is through Christ alone and that is who I am putting my faith in, who I have given my all to.
Bad thunderstorm coming.
Later.....