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History, tradition, structure, numbers, a direct connection to the Lord Jesus through the first pope, Peter upon which the Lord built his church.....

Pick one.

Those are all fallible truth claims, and claims do not equal proof.

For example, history as based on primary source material has no single "Bishop of Rome" until late in the Second Century.

The structural evidence doesn't help either, because it suggests the influence of Rome's pagan sacrel hierarchy, goddesses included, which has zip to do with the early Christian community. In fact, structure is one of the best arguments against Rome being the Ecclesia that Christ is building on the Rock of faith in Him.

And numbers? Really? Please. How many Muslims are there? Too many. How many Hillary Clinton supporters are there? Too many. When has the number of people who believe something ever been a measure of truth? Truth is not determined by the number of people who don't get it. What did Paul say about numbers versus truth? Let God be true, but every man a liar. Romans 3:4.

And every believer has a direct connection with the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit. What sort of argument is it that must always treat Jesus as if He were some dead historical figure and you have to belong to the right club to be able to claim His pedigree? Newsflash: Jesus is still alive!!! And more than that, every single Christian is necessarily vitally connected to Jesus, or else they can't be Christian:

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
(Romans 8:9)

It's either/or. If you belong to Christ, you have His Spirit. If you don't have His Spirit, you don't belong to Christ. It never ceases to amaze me how some folks think their so-called organizational pedigree trumps the resurrection power of Jesus Christ working in the dead heart of the lost sinner to bring about the life of a new creation. This is even more confounding when the so-called historical pedigree can't even be demonstrated by the serious historical analysis of primary sources. Fallibility on steroids.

Peace,

SR

History, tradition, structure, numbers, a direct connection to the Lord Jesus through the first pope, Peter upon which the Lord built his church.....

Our Lord didn't build the Church upon Peter. He built it upon that which God the Father provided. Reread Matt

Mat 16:17-19 (17) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (18) And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (19) And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Now compare this to what happens when Peter begins to rebuke Christ. Same event recorded in Mark:

Mar 8:29-33 (29) And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. (30) And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. (31) And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. (32) And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. (33) But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

Note what is happening here. Christ isn't building His Church upon Satan, but upon that which is provided by God the Father. While a believer remains in fellowship, the Church grows through faith in Christ. When distracted from glorifying Christ, we lapse into our knowledge of good and evil, resulting is our volition shifting its focus from Christ to anything but Him and we no longer are performing the Plan of God.