[rzman21]

So you are saying that Catholics aren’t Christians?

[rzman21]

St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Peter's successor as bishop in Antioch writes the following around 105 A.D. in his letter to the Church in Smyrna: "See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid." http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm The modern Catholic Church is a direct lineal descendant of this very same Church. Protestant ecclesial communities go only back to the 16th century and no farther. The traditions of men of the Baptist bodies only goes back to the 17th century. If a Baptist preacher were transported back to the 2nd century, he or she would find they had very little in common with the Christians of that era. However, a Catholic or and Eastern/Oriental Orthodox Christian would find a lot of familiarity. I urge my Evangelical friends to give up their reflexive anti-Catholicism and read what the Early Christians believed without the lense of partisanship. What are you afraid of? Finding that the earliest Christians weren't Protestants? The notion that Martin Luther and the reformers rediscovered the early Church is a total myth.

[rzman21]

St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Peter's successor as bishop in Antioch writes the following around 105 A.D. in his letter to the Church in Smyrna: "See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid." http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm The modern Catholic Church is a direct lineal descendant of this very same Church. Protestant ecclesial communities go only back to the 16th century and no farther. The traditions of men of the Baptist bodies only goes back to the 17th century. If a Baptist preacher were transported back to the 2nd century, he or she would find they had very little in common with the Christians of that era. However, a Catholic or and Eastern/Oriental Orthodox Christian would find a lot of familiarity. I urge my Evangelical friends to give up their reflexive anti-Catholicism and read what the Early Christians believed without the lense of partisanship. What are you afraid of? Finding that the earliest Christians weren't Protestants? The notion that Martin Luther and the reformers rediscovered the early Church is a total myth.

[Iscool]

So you are saying that Catholics aren’t Christians?

Of course Catholics are not Christians in the biblical sense of the word...It wasn't that long ago that Catholics would get offended if you called them Christians...