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there are wheat and tares within the Church, just as there are wheat and tares in what the world percieves in the “Christian world”

Which destroys your analogy that places the tares outside the Catholic Church.

there is only One Church in the NT, that Church existed in the 2nd century, 3rd century and every year, month, day, minute and second ever since.

Which you hold to be the RCC, but which presupposes that her definition of herself as uniquely being the One True Church® is true, the assurance of which is based upon the premise of her infallibly declared assured infallibility, under which tradition, Scripture and history can be infallible declared as supporting her. If not, what is the basis for your assurance that Rome is what she claims?

now, the real question is can you be a Christian and not be part of the visible Church?

No, but restricting this to Rome is dependent upon the the above premise, versus the church of the living God being established upon supernaturally established Scriptures as the supreme authority.

And which does not testify to such things as pastors called priests being a separate sacerdotal class, much less required celibacy (with rare exceptions), or praying to the departed, or assured perpetual formulaic infallibility as per Rome, or that regeneration cannot precede baptism, nor to an exalted magistrate in Rome to whom all the churches were directed to look to, etc.*

And that warns against such exaltation, (Jude 1:11; Rv. 2:15) and never mentions any successors to the original apostles (such James: Acts 12:2) besides Judas, he being elected to preserve the foundational twelve apostles, (Acts 1:16-26; cf. Rev. 21:14) and that by lots, preventing political maneuverings and things that resulted in extended absences and men being chosen who were not even qualified to be church members, let alone successors to Peter.

Note that the church began in dissent from the magisterium of the entity that was the instrument and steward of Divine revelation, and possessors of promises of Divine guidance, presence and perpetuity, and valid historical decent, (Lv. 10:11; Dt. 4:31; 17:8-13; Is. 41:10, Ps. 89:33,34; cf. Mt. 23:2 etc.) and thus they opposed the Itinerant Preacher (Mk. 11:28-33) upon whom the church is built, (1Cor. 3:11) and who established His claims upon Scripture and the power of God it testifies to, as did the apostles and early church. ( Mt. 22:23-45; Lk. 24:27,44; Jn. 5:36,39; Acts 2:14-35; 4:33; 5:12; 15:6-21;17:2,11; 18:28; 28:23; Rm. 15:19; 2Cor. 12:12) .

John tells us in 1 John 2:3 that we can be sure we know Him if we keep His commandments.

And which presupposes there is a transcendent, wholly Divinely inspired, verifiable source of these commands on earth, which only the Scriptures assuredly are, (2Tim. 3:16) most of which writings were established as being so, before there was a church in Rome or an assuredly infallible magisterium of men, (Ps. 19:7-11; 119; Heb. 2:3,4) establishment being due to their Divine qualities and attestation, and thus in principle providing for the establishment of a canon.

1Jn. 5:13 also provides for personal assurance that one has eternal life, based upon faith and examination of oneself in the light of the criteria preceding v. 13, which assurance appeals to personal examination of Scripture, as does “knowing” elsewhere, not an assuredly infallible magisterium in Rome (though the magisterium can be indirectly instrumental in that, it is subject to Scripture as the supreme, assuredly infallible authority).

in John 17 , Jesus beautifully prays to the Father that those that believe in Him “ that they all be one”...so that the world may believe that thou has sent me” ”
Which is speaking a spiritual unity, which is basically that of the Father in Christ, and Christ in Him, and Christ in believers, and believers in Christ, (Jn. 17:21-23) which is manifest by the evident supernatural regeneration of the new birth, but which those in Rome evidence little of (as expressed below).

We know The Father heard Jesus and His true followers are one.

The oneness is not comprehensive doctrinal unity, which has ever been a goal not yet realized, but the most essentially it is the wondrous spiritual “unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3) which born again evangelical type believers even spontaneously experience upon meeting another one walking in the Spirit, and transcends race and other divisions, based upon a common Scripture-based conversion and Christ-centered relationship, which is visibly manifest in many ways and forms.

As for Roman Catholics, they are mostly one in basic error, but with many disagreements and internal informal divisions, while being formally divided from other Catholics who interpret Tradition, Scripture and history differently, but who share some church and culture-based unity. As a former Roman Catholic who remained therein for 6 years after i was truly born again and seeking to serve the Lord, i know the vast difference.

And rather than Rome testifying to being sent of Christ, its overall negative legacy has been that of religious syncretism, and of exalting herself and ruling by the sword of men, even papal sanction of torture etc., and hindering free reading of Scripture, while fostering faith in herself to gain her members (even the most nominal in modern times) eternal life, resulting in overall spiritual deadness, Scriptural illiteracy and perfunctory professions, she being the church of the institutionalized god, versus the Living God, and all told, becoming as the gates of Hell for multitudes. For which my heart is grieved (as well as for my own declensions and that of the church universal)

Paul follows up on the prayer of Jesus in 1 Corinthians by appealing to the brethern that they all agree and have no dissension. in Ephesians , he calls for the building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith.

Which is ever a goal in its fullness, but which contextually is set in contrast to thinking of men above that which is written, (1Cor. 4:6) which Rome promotes, even praying to them, while Paul also told the same body that divisions were necessary in the face of spiritual declension, (1Cor. 11:19)

Rome herself is divisive in the way that Diotrephes did, who loved to have the preeminence and ejected from his church those who possessed the spirit of God who did not exalt him.

Yet unity itself is not the goal of the Godly, but unity based upon Scriptural means, in which Scripture is the supreme authority, and the unity which it effects on any degree is superior to the cultic means which is based upon implicit faith in mortals as having assuredly infallibility.

Nor do Roman Catholics have comprehensive doctrinal unity, as not only are few things infallibly defined, but they cannot even be sure how many things have been thus defined and thus require full assent of faith, and what degree of dissent is allowed in other things. And outside the paper unity of Rome, and disagreements and lack of actual unity abound within Rome and Catholicism,, while their greatest degree of distinctive unity is that of being proud to be Catholic.

now given all of the above, can someone be a Christian if they claim to believe in Christ, yet cause dissension among Christians and attempt to draw Christians out of the Church?

No they cannot, if such are drawing souls out of the church, Scripturally defined as the being the born again body of Christ, which is what men such you are doing by restricting “church” to the RCC.

Do you even believe Protestants can be saved if they do not convert to Rome? Or is it alone the Body of Christ? Are the Orthodox also outside the true church seeing as they deny papal infallibility and more?

instead of “being one”, they split into all sort of factions with contradictory doctrines, causing the world not to believe the Father sent Jesus, is such a person a Christian? do these people care or even think about Jesus’s prayer in John 17?

Which is a fanciful vision that fails to see that it has been Rome which gives the atheists the most canon fodder, from ruling over those that are without and torturing and or killing theological dissidents by the sword of men, (contra Jn. 18:36; 1Cor. 5:12,13; Eph. 6:12; 2Cor 6:1-10; 10:3,4) to supporting the church by gambling, and things which those who hold to SS had or has to unlearn, while its overall negative legacy has been bigotry, apathy toward Scripture, and (as it lost the power of the sword) liberal moral and theological views predominating, which statistical studies bear out.

Certainly evangelical faith has had its offenses, and is also in decline, but historically it has resulted in a vast increase in souls who earnestly believe the Father sent Jesus, and which faith America owes much to. I live in an area that has been overwhelming Roman Catholic for about 100 years, and can testify to its spiritual deadness, and to the contrasting positive transformative effect of the evangelical gospel.

And contrary to the typical RCA polemical picture, such churches share a common consent to core truths, and are foremost contenders for them. Catholics under sola ecclesia also share a common consent to core truths, many of which we also defends, while those under both Sola Scriptura and sola ecclesia differ among themselves and between themselves to varying degrees, the difference being a matter of degrees.

As for caring about unity, such persons who are manifest regeneration true Christians — even if they are born again in the desert and never heard of a church — (Acts 8:29-38) do care about both the essential unity of the Spirit, who baptizes every believer into the one body of Christ, (1Cor. 12:13) under one Lord, and the fuller unity of doctrine and ministry, but which is not by the cultic means of implicit assent of faith to decrees of men, but which must be done by Scriptural means, “by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God,” (2Cor. 4:2) however harder and precious that is.

* Note that you and i have exchanged on various doctrinal issues in times past.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2811552/posts?page=1867#1867

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2811552/posts?page=2297#2297

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2811552/posts?page=2373#2373

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2811552/posts?page=2866#2866

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2811552/posts?page=2935#2935