Every denomination can make that claim...it's evident because I'm ______. Just because you claim catholicism means nothing.
Translation: We are the first christians!
Irrelevant to the question if you are a follower of Christ. No proof the roman catholic church of today is the same church we read about in the New Testament. In fact, I'm sure it's not. No mention of the papacy, immaculate conception, assumption, cardinals, priests, confession to a priest for forgiveness, etc.
We came to membership in the Body of Christ through Baptism, oftentimes when we were infants.
Being baptized or becoming a member doesn't make you a Christian. I can join any denomination, get dunked, sprinkled, etc, but unless one believes Jesus is the only Son of God then one is not a Christian. One can go through a lot of processes, but that doesn't get you into the Kingdom of God. We must come to God as Abraham did...through faith..."And Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Since the crucifixion and resurrection, our faith/belief in Christ is what gets us to God and Heaven.
Babies cannot make a decision to believe in Christ. All infant baptism does is make the baby wet and the parent(s) feel good. In addition, we have no examples of babies being baptized in the New Testament so this is an unscriptural practice.
We came to know our christian faith through the weekly readings at Sunday mass and through our liturgical calendar which annually follows ALL the events in the life of Christ.
Again, studying about Christianity doesn't make you a Christian. Lots of athiests have studied Christianity. But they are not saved.
I would ask you, and all who claim catholicism, have you placed your faith in Christ? Have you been born again as Jesus asked Nicodemus?
Knowing Jesus came from being read Scripture every night, learning to pray, most of all from a waiting room in a cancer hospital when they would bring me for my Mom's monthly checkups. There are no atheists, and no ingrates, in a home with someone who survived cancer against all the odds! God gave us a miracle and we knew it! When I was older and had been away, well, again it's on my home page, but at times in my life there has been an intangible love, a joy, that brings me to tears, just when I needed it the most. There have been the dark times when I felt forsaken, but i remember Jesus Crucified, and know He went through worse and i hang on by remembering He will be there to lift me up eventually. I speak with Him now, even as I did when I was a child and afraid. That's the best I can explain it, E. I wish I were more articulate! Trying to explain my life's walk with Jesus is like trying to give people compass points and route numbers directing them to a place you know and go to every day! It's hard to explain... You know it in your heart but can't seem to put it into words... Not always, anyway.