Posted on 05/18/2015 6:05:47 PM PDT by Old Yeller
For years, growing up as a Roman Catholic, we were taught that we were members of the one true church. It was impressed upon us regularly by the parish priest during Mass while giving his homily; by the nuns all throughout my Catholic parochial school years of second through seventh grade.
It was impressed upon us during our preparation to receive for the first time the sacraments of Penance, Communion and Confirmation. And while attending CCD classes all the way through high school. (CCD is the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, an association established at Rome in 1562 for the purpose of giving religious education, normally designed for children.)
It was an established fact that we understood and we never questioned the validity of it. And to be honest, it was a matter of pride, that we were privileged enough to be members of the correct church, while all others had belonged to something else that didn’t quite measure up to the status of the Roman Catholic Church.
After all, how could it be possible that Roman Catholicism is not the one true church?
Look at what Rome has to offer: It has the priests, the nuns; the bishops; the cardinals; and of course, the Pope. They have the Sacraments; the statues; the holy water; the incense; the Stations of the Cross; the Eucharist - in which Chris supposedly physically manifests Himself into the wafer after the consecration by the priest during the Mass; the Marian apparitions—which appear mainly to Roman Catholics.
And they have the Vatican, where the Vicar of Christ (who they believe is Christ’s representative on earth), governs the faithful and makes infallible proclamations and doctrine. How can this not be the one true church? No other organization on the face of the earth comes close to offering to its flock what Rome provides for its faithful.
But, of course, to be true, one must adhere to what has been established as truth and not teach or practice what is contrary to the truth. We read in Scripture a few passages that declare what is truth and what is not. Jesus proclaimed in John 14:6:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.”
Go to the next verse and we read "Then He commanded His Disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ."
So He was talking to His group of Disciples. That's why they stop at vs. 19. They don't want you to figure that one out.
The Bible was Gods word not man’s the council initiated by Constatine was under the influence of the Holy Spirit the Church is spirit lead not man lead. Peter knew the Truth the church was founded on because of the Holy Spirit not because he was the foundation of the church. The only. Liam he has to that is being the first disciple selected.
Note to self: Check FReeper ID before posting.
That should read, the only claim
Yes, Absolutely!
Great post.
Help, paragraphs please.
You must read scripture in the context of how it is understood and was understood by the early disciples. Otherwise, this becomes a sophomoric exercise.
I’ll take the interpretation of the early Church Fathers, some of whom were contemporaries of the Evangelist John than the shallow stuff of the Billy Grahams, the Moonies, and the Joel Osteens of our day.
John 21: 25
“But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.”
Here’s St. Irenaeus:
“It is possible, then, for everyone in every Church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the tradition of the apostles which has been made known to us throughout the whole world. And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the apostles and their successors down to our own times, men who neither knew nor taught anything like what these heretics rave about” (Against Heresies 3:3:1 [A.D. 189]).
In the year 110 A.D., barely fifteen years after the book of Revelation was written, while on his way to execution St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote: “Where the bishop is present, there let the congregation gather, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic church”. The Church believes that when the bishops speak as teachers, Christ speaks; for he said to them: “He who hears you, hears me; and he who rejects you, rejects me” (Lk 10, 16).
This belief by a litany of saints, martyrs, and stigmatists in the ONE Church established by Petrine authority is why we have entire constellations of intellectual non-Catholics from every religious denomination convert to Catholicism.
I tried. It somehow got automatically re-ordered that way.
Nope not even close I’ll take a papal bull now lol
There was no other church until Luther did his thing. Everything was Catholic. Please check your history.
Well actually I know my history well there were Coptic Christians and Eastern Orthodox but I’m not saying they didn’t carry the water for a long time but they slaughtered Jews and made many mistakes. No person is perfect no organization is perfect either. The reformation was a restoration of the truth. I have read the Gospels and have no doubts about what’s coming sorry bout punctuation on a phone... Many Protestant denominations are dead wrong as well
The current majority of the US population is "non-Catholic Christian" including a large number of people who claim to be Catholic but who have adopted Protestantism just like Nancy Pelosi who made that clear several years ago. The current US society is the fruit that "non-Catholic Christian" fable.
The hedonistic state of this country proves the non-Catholic Protestant and Protestant derived heresies have all failed to create anything like a solid Christian foundation among the sheep in the tens thousands of flocks that claim they're Christian in spite of producing nothing but the corrupt fruit that now passes for "Western Culture".
The anti-Catholic crowd peddles the doctrine of Self and Self Alone which without fail leads to nothing except following the path of least resistance as the current state of US society so clearly proves. Rather than walk a better Christian walk and try to recover their own lost sheep, though, these obviously failed interpreters of Christ's message attempt to hide their failure behind their attacks on The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church Jesus Christ Himself founded.
Their attacks are a huge, glowing, neon lit, admission that their doctrines are false.
|
RITE |
CHURCHES THAT USE THIS RITE |
ORIGINAL LITURGICAL LANGUAGE |
PATRIARCH |
POINT OF ORIGIN |
|
1.ROMAN |
All Roman Catholics |
Latin |
Bishop of Rome |
Rome |
|
MOZARABIC |
Archdiocese of Toledo Spain |
Latin |
Bishop of Rome |
Spain |
|
AMBROSIAN |
Archdiocese of Milan, Italy |
Latin |
Bishop of Rome |
Milan |
|
BRAGAN |
Archdiocese of Braga, Portugal |
Latin |
Bishop of Rome |
Braga |
|
DOMINICAN |
Dominican Priests |
Latin |
Bishop of Rome |
St. Dominic |
|
CARMELITE |
Carmelite Priests |
Latin |
Bishop of Rome |
St. Berthold |
|
CARTHUSIANS |
Carthusian Priests |
Latin |
Bishop of Rome |
St. Bruno |
|
2. BYZANTINE |
Belarussian |
Old Slavonic |
|
Belarussia |
|
|
Bulgarian |
Old Slavonic |
Apostolic Exarch for Catholics of the Byzantine-Slav rite in Bulgaria |
Bulgaria |
|
|
Croatian |
Old Slavonic |
Bishop of Kricevci |
Croatia |
|
|
Greek |
Greek |
Apostolic Exarch for Catholics of the Byzantine rite in Greece |
Greece |
|
|
Hungarian |
Greek |
Bishop of Hajdudorog, Apostolic Administrator of Miskolc |
Hungary |
|
|
Italo-Albanian |
Greek |
Local Latin Bishop |
Italy |
|
|
Melkite |
Greek |
Melkite Greek Patriarch of Damascus |
Syria/Lebanon/Israel |
|
|
Romanian |
Romanian |
Archbishop of Fagaras and Alba Julia |
Romania |
|
|
Russian |
Old Slavonic |
Apostolic Exarch in Russia |
Russia |
|
|
Ruthenian |
Old Slavonic |
Bishop of Mukacevo of the Byzantines |
Ukrania |
|
|
Slovakian |
Old Slavonic |
Bishop of Presov of Catholics of the Byzantine rite |
Slovakia |
|
|
Ukrainian |
Old Slavonic |
Major Archbishop of Lviv of the Ukranians |
Ukrania |
|
3.ALEXANDRIAN |
Coptic |
Coptic |
Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts |
Egypt |
|
|
Ethiopian |
Ge'ez |
Archbishop of Addis Ababa of the Ethiopians |
Ethiopia/Somalia |
|
4. SYRIAC |
Syriac |
|
Syriac Patriarch of Antioch |
Syria |
|
|
Malankarese |
West Syriac |
Metropolitan of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankarese |
India |
|
5. ARMENIAN |
Armenian |
Classical Armenian |
Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians |
Armenia |
|
6. MARONITE |
Maronite |
Aramaic |
Maronite Patriarch of Antioch |
Lebanon |
|
7. CHALDEAN |
Chaldean |
Syriac |
Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans |
Iraq |
|
Malabar |
Syriac |
Major Archbishop of the Malabar rite |
India |
Published by The Minnesota St. Thomas More Chapter of Catholics United for the Faith, March/April 2000.
Sorry for the earlier word-wrap in my response to bipolar bob.
Here’s another try
__________________________________________________________________
Well if you don’t believe in Petrine authority then you must question the accuracy of the canonical books assembled in the Synod of Rome in AD 382 under Petrine authority that proclaimed the Written Word of God. You will also have to conclude that the great theologians of over various times: Augustine, Aquinas, Newman, and Benedict were all mistaken.
As Augustine put it, ‘I would not believe in the Gospels were it not for the authority of the Catholic Church’ (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 5:6).
Any Christian accepting the authority of the New Testament does so, whether or not he admits it, because he has implicit trust that the Catholic Church made the right decision in determining the Canon. “The fact is that the Holy Spirit guided the Catholic Church over time to recognize and determine the canon of the New and Old Testaments in the year 382 at the synod of Rome, under Pope Damasus I. This decision was ratified again at the councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397 and 419).
MORE ON PETRINE AUTHORITY
Clement of Alexandria
“[T]he blessed Peter, the chosen, the preeminent, the first among the disciples, for whom alone with himself the Savior paid the tribute [Matt. 17:27], quickly g.asped and understood their meaning. And what does he say? ‘Behold, we have left all and have followed you’ [Matt. 19:27; Mark 10:28]” (Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 21:3–5 [A.D. 200]).
Tertullian
“For though you think that heaven is still shut up, remember that the Lord left the keys of it to Peter here, and through him to the Church, which keys everyone will carry with him if he has been questioned and made a confession [of faith]” (Antidote Against the Scorpion 10 [A.D. 211]).
“[T]he Lord said to Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]. . . . Upon you, he says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the keys, not to the Church” (Modesty 21:9–10 [A.D. 220]).
The Letter of Clement to James
“Be it known to you, my lord, that Simon [Peter], who, for the sake of the true faith, and the most sure foundation of his doctrine, was set apart to be the foundation of the Church, and for this end was by Jesus himself, with his truthful mouth, named Peter, the first fruits of our Lord, the first of the apostles; to whom first the Father revealed the Son; whom the Christ, with good reason, blessed; the called, and elect” (Letter of Clement to James 2 [A.D. 221]).
Origen
“[I]f we were to attend carefully to the Gospels, we should also find, in relation to those things which seem to be common to Peter . . . a great difference and a preeminence in the things [Jesus] said to Peter, compared with the second class [of apostles]. For it is no small difference that Peter received the keys not of one heaven but of more, and in order that whatsoever things he binds on earth may be bound not in one heaven but in them all, as compared with the many who bind on earth and loose on earth, so that these things are bound and loosed not in [all] the heavens, as in the case of Peter, but in one only; for they do not reach so high a stage with power as Peter to bind and loose in all the heavens” (Commentary on Matthew 13:31 [A.D. 248]).
Cyprian of Carthage
“The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.’ . . . On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?” (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
“The Lord is loving toward men, swift to pardon but slow to punish. Let no man despair of his own salvation. Peter, the first and foremost of the apostles, denied the Lord three times before a little servant girl, but he repented and wept bitterly” (Catechetical Lectures 2:19 [A.D. 350]).
“[Simon Magus] so deceived the city of Rome that Claudius erected a statue of him. . . . While the error was extending itself, Peter and Paul arrived, a noble pair and the rulers of the Church, and they set the error aright. . . . [T]hey launched the weapon of their like-mindedness in prayer against the Magus, and struck him down to earth. It was marvelous enough, and yet no marvel at all, for Peter was there—he that carries about the keys of heaven [Matt. 16:19]” (ibid., 6:14).
“In the power of the same Holy Spirit, Peter, both the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, in the name of Christ healed Aeneas the paralytic at Lydda, which is now called Diospolis [Acts 9:32–34]” (ibid., 17:27).
Ephraim the Syrian
“[Jesus said:] Simon, my follower, I have made you the foundation of the holy Church. I betimes called you Peter, because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on Earth a Church for me. If they should wish to build what is false, you, the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head of the fountain from which my teaching flows; you are the chief of my disciples. Through you I will give drink to all peoples. Yours is that life-giving sweetness which I dispense. I have chosen you to be, as it were, the firstborn in my institution so that, as the heir, you may be executor of my treasures. I have given you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, I have given you authority over all my treasures” (Homilies 4:1 [A.D. 351]).
Ambrose of Milan
“[Christ] made answer: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church. . . .’ Could he not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on his own authority, he gave the kingdom, whom he called the rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church [Matt. 16:18]?” (The Faith 4:5 [A.D. 379]).
To the contrary, Jesus himself said Mary was no more special than we are:
Matthew 12:46-50: (46)While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. (47)Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You."(48)But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" (49)And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! (50)"For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."
“If it was good for them, it should be good for us today.”
And it IS! Blows all the cobwebs of dead religion out the door. Brings light and life from God’s manifold wisdom to us simple human beings. Is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword...
...which explains why millions denigrate it or pay lipservice to it. It is authoritative and messes with one’s plans, lol.
I won’t load you with the great theological discourses of Augustine, Aquinas, Newman, or Benedict on the subject. So let’s try a once die-hard Protestant who converted Catholicism and who spoke to the Eucharist, the Sacraments the Veneration of Saints, and Marian dogmas.
A VERY SHORT ABSTRACT OF EVANGELICAL HISTORIAN
DR. A. DAVID ANDERS
From Dr. A. David Anders, who was born, raised and educated, as an Evangelical Protestant and studied Wheaton College. He set out deliberately to show why Catholicism was wrong. He ended up a Catholic convert. He brilliantly essays the belief in the Eucharist in these compelling terms. But first a short summary of his journey,
PROTESTANTISM: A CONFUSED MASS OF INCONSISTENCIES
AND TORTURED LOGIC
“By the time I finished my Ph.D., I had completely revised my understanding of the Catholic Church. I saw that her sacramental doctrine, her view of salvation, her veneration of Mary and the saints, and her claims to authority were all grounded in Scripture, in the oldest traditions, and in the plain teaching of Christ and the apostles.
I also realized that Protestantism was a confused mass of inconsistencies and tortured logic. Not only was Protestant doctrine untrue, it bred contention, and could not even remain unchanged.
The more I studied, the more I realized that my evangelical heritage had moved far not only from ancient Christianity, but even from the teaching of her own Protestant founders.”
THE EUCHARIST
“Scripture teaches that the Church is the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12). Evangelicals tend to dismiss this as mere metaphor, but the ancient Christians thought of it as literally, albeit mystically, true. St. Gregory of Nyssa could say, “He who beholds the Church really beholds Christ.” As I thought about this, I realized that it spoke to a profound truth about the biblical meaning of salvation. St. Paul teaches that the baptized have been united to Christ in His death, so that they might also be united to Him in resurrection (Romans 6:3-6).”
“This union literally makes the Christian a participant in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). St. Athanasius could even say, “For He was made man that we might be made God” (De incarnatione, 54.3). The ancient doctrine of the Church now made sense to me because I saw that salvation itself is nothing other than union with Christ and a continual growth into His nature. The Church is no mere association of like-minded people. It is a supernatural reality because it shares in the life and ministry of Christ.”
CATHOLIC SACRAMENTS
“This realization also made sense of the Church’s sacramental doctrine. When the Church baptizes, absolves sins, or, above all, offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is really Christ who baptizes, absolves, and offers His own Body and Blood. The sacraments do not detract from Christ. They make Him present.”
“The Scriptures are quite plain on the sacraments. It you take them at face value, you must conclude that baptism is the “bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5 NAB). Jesus meant it when he said: “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” (John 6:55 NAB). He was not lying when he promised “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them” (John 20:23 NAB). This is exactly how the ancient Christians understood the sacraments.”
ANCIENT CHRISTIANS & CATHOLIC PRACTICES
“I could no longer accuse the ancient Christians of being unbiblical. On what grounds could I reject them at all? The ancient Christian doctrine of the Church also made sense of the veneration of saints and martyrs. I learned that the Catholic doctrine on the saints is just a development of this biblical doctrine of the body of Christ. Catholics do not worship the saints. They venerate Christ in His members. By invoking their intercession, Catholics merely confess that Christ is present and at work in His Church in Heaven.”
“Protestants often object that the Catholic veneration of saints somehow detracts from the ministry of Christ. I understood now that the reverse is actually true. It is the Protestants who limit the reach of Christ’s saving work by denying its implications for the doctrine of the Church.”
“My studies showed this theology fleshed out in the devotion of the ancient Church. As I continued my investigation of Augustine, I learned that this “Protestant hero” thoroughly embraced the veneration of saints. The Augustine scholar Peter Brown (born 1935) also taught me that the saints were not incidental to ancient Christianity. He argued that you could not separate ancient Christianity from devotion to the saints, and he placed Augustine squarely in this tradition. Brown showed that this was no mere Pagan importation into Christianity, but rather tied intimately to the Christian notion of salvation (See his The Cult of Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity).”
MARIAN DOGMAS
“Once I understood the Catholic position on salvation, the Church, and the saints, the Marian dogmas also seemed to fall into place. If the heart of the Christian faith is God’s union with our human nature, the Mother of that human nature has an incredibly important and unique role in all of history. This is why the Fathers of the Church always celebrated Mary as the second Eve. Her “yes” to God at the annunciation undid the “no” of Eve in the garden. If it is appropriate to venerate the saints and martyrs of the Church, how much more is it appropriate to give honor and veneration to her who made possible our redemption?”
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