That is a terrifying claim to authority on the part of sinful men.
I bet a number of Judaizers responded:
*Were the true church because we say that God told us we are* doesnt cut it with people who can read and think for themselves.
... you expect us to believe that the Roman Catholic Church managed to do so through a series of corrupt churches [or popes] in its darkest period of Church history for hundreds of years?
You expect us to believe that the Holy Spirit went on vacation for 1,400 years, give or take, and then finally found a way to mount a successful rupture in the Church?
It seems to me our story is no more improbable than yours.
And I would be careful about "in its darkest period of Church history". One of the reasons it's dark is that people aren't taught about it. Another is that it's complicated. The political chaos was astonishing.
Take a look at this (which I put together for my chapter to put the life of Dominic and of a man called John of Vercelli in some historical context):
[I just left "our Holy Father Dominic" in there to tweak you. I don't think Dominic was God and I'm pretty sure both he and God know that.]
This is just about the chaos in one small part of the world. Look at historical maps of the British Isles, for an even deeper appreciation of the chaos -- or of the region now called France.
When one imagines that every couple of generations for a very long time some new group was going to come raping and pillaging over the next hill, I think it's pretty darn amazing that Christians did as well as they did.
True.
Though I don’t know that THAT excuses a lot of fleshy sins . . . or any fleshy sins
any more than our ‘modern’ excuses do.
And yet the Catholic Church makes just that kind of claim for itself and its popes.
Throughout Scriptures, His people suffered such things for their own sakes, i.e. a "wake up call."
And the cause in Scripture (e.g. Song of Moses) always comes back to failing to keep the One and Only Great Commandment, i.e. Matt 22 which I paraphrase as loving God surpassingly above all else.
Maranatha, Jesus!!!