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.”
Thank you.
If you want a truly scholarly and well researched and well balanced study may I suggest you read:
Mary Through the Centuries
Her Place in the History of Culture
by
Jaroslav Pelikan
[Author Profile:
Jaroslav Pelikan is Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University. He has received honorary degrees from universities all over the world, as well as medals and awards from many scholarly societies and institutions, including the Jefferson Award of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the highest honor conferred by the U.S. government on a scholar in the humanities. He is currently president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.]
The Virgin Mary has been an inspiration to more people than any other woman who ever lived. For Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims, for artists, musicians, and writers, and for women and men everywhere she has shown many faces and personified a variety of virtues. In this important book, a world-renowned scholar who is the author of numerous books—including the best-selling Jesus Through the Centuries—tells how Mary has been depicted and venerated through the ages.
Jaroslav Pelikan examines the biblical portrait of Mary, analyzing both the New and Old Testaments to see how the bits of information provided about her were expanded into a full-blown doctrine. He explores the view of Mary in late antiquity, where the differences between Mary, the mother of Christ, and Eve, the “mother of all living,” provided positive and negative symbols of women. He discusses how the Eastern church commemorated Mary and how she was portrayed in the Holy Qur’an of Islam.
He explains how the paradox of Mary as Virgin Mother shaped the paradoxical Catholic view of sexuality and how Reformation rejection of the worship of Mary allowed her to be a model of faith for Protestants. He considers also her role in political and social history. He analyzes the place of Mary in literature—from Dante, Spenser, and Milton to Wordsworth, George Eliot, and Goethe—as well as in music and art, and he describes the miraculous apparitions of Mary that have been experienced by the common people.
Was Mary human or divine? Should she be revered for her humility or her strength? What is her place in heaven? Whatever our answers to these questions, Mary remains a symbol of hope and solace, a woman, says Pelikan, for all seasons and all reasons.
My priest said in a homily that “true” had a different interpretation in the ancient church. That “truth” meant “to be faithful to”. That the one true church reflects the consistent faith of the church and it’s members passed down through mass for hundreds and thousands of years.
That the “one true church” is not an indictment of other churches. Only an affirmation of everlasting and united faith of the Holy Catholic Church.
if you consider grace rot, that is all I need to know about you or your doctrine. The curse of the reformation as you put it, is the only thing that save Christianity from the total meltdown of the medieval Catholic church. They were pretty good at sects themselves, at one time there were two popes who were busy excommunicating each other
The one true Church is composed of all believers who are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, cuts across all denominations, and has no earthly equivalent. As a confessional Lutheran, I am part of the Church whether you like it or not.
“All believers”?
Please explain.
I am assuming these “all believers” embrace a single truth since Christ taught only one truth and specifically mandated Peter snd his successors to “Go forth and teach..”. This was BEFORE the canonical texts were established by the Church in AD 382 in the Synod of Rome.
Thus it was left to Peter and the succeeding popes of the Catholic Church to “teach” this ONE truth long before we had the written word of God as affirmed under Petrine authority.
Deny this Petrine authority, and you let loose a cascade of free-for-all heresies all invoking “the grace of God” including David Koresh, Jim Jones, Joel Osteen, the Moonies, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Or, are they all “believers”??
Finally, you speak of”two popes”but this is not accurate. Only one Pope was recognized. There is an unbroken tradition of succession from Peter to the current Pope. To say that Christ did not establish ONE Church would betray the understanding of Peters, his followers, the early Church fathers, and Christ Himself who Matthew 28:20 narrates: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.”
This is ONE teaching for all times. Grace comes from observing this teaching as taught by the Catholic Church. All else under the sun, the stuff from Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, David Koresh, Al Sharpton, Billy Graham, the Moonies, etc is unvarnished rot even if they say they proclaim they are all “believers” and theirs is from “grace.”
If you listen to most evangelicals, their claim seems to be that the church got almost everything wrong from the time the last apostle died up until the anabaptists appeared. So for 1500 years almost everything was wrong until the more radical Reformers took Christ out of the Eucharist and turned baptism into a human work. This strains credibility.
It's all 'rot' to you guys, isn't it???
It’s about ONE truth that Christ taught, a Commission given strictly to Peter and his successors, and was founded on One Church.
You copy and paste the same drivel over and over...Does that make it more believable...
Before you attack Catholicism, perhaps you may like to really ask why a universe of serious intellectuals from every religion, atheists included, and every discipline of science and arts who after careful study and examination have CONVERTED to Catholicism.
Ha...God didn't create Christianity for intellectuals...He knew intellectuals for the most part would reject Christianity...
So called intellectuals rely on their own understanding...Surely, they are educated enough to figure it out for themselves...
And poor God couldn't figure that out for himself...Thank you so much for helping God out...
Now that's a relief...Your Catholic tradition has been made known thru out the entire world...SO WHAT IS IT??? WHERE IS IT???
I’m not referring to the Orthodox Churches; I’m referring to the Eastern Catholic Churches that are loyal to the Pope. Many have Orthodox counterparts. The Maronites, Syro-Malabar, Ukrainian Catholics, Greek Catholics, Chaldean Rite, etc. are Catholic Churches under the Pope (but they aren’t Latin Rite/”Roman Catholic”) - they often have married priests and don’t have statues, but they are Catholic with their own hierarchies leading to the Pope.
Then what does this say about the Cathokic Church?
Really? Is it so hard to believe that Paul was correct in Acts? That false teachers would come in almost immediately?
That by the time John wrote the letters to the churches in Rev. that most were already in various stages of apostasy ... EVEN THOUGH those churches were only 1 generation removed from the apostles and were planted by the apostles?
The RCC's argument is that the apostles passed their teachings to the church fathers and that guarantees its fidelity ... and yet history demonstrates that within 40 years of their founding ... the churches in Revelation were being chastised by Christ for false doctrine of all kinds.
The RCC is the only religion that claims it has everything correct ... from the beginning ...
But the dirty little secret is that the early church fathers present no cogent theology. For every church father passage you select to bolster the RCC position ... there is another that repudiates it. And some of those fathers had heretical views.
Yes, they can be read to understand what people taught back then ... but they cannot be trusted as a source of theological and doctrinal truth.
I have noticed that the vast majority of these 'scholarly Protestants' who convert to Catholicism do so on the weight of the church fathers theology ... rather that solid exegesis of the Biblical text.
Well I was snarky in some of my responses, and should not have been. This much I know I have a personal relationship with God through Jesus, and the Holy Spirit dwells within me. The Bible is infallible every single man is not. The catholic church had the Bible right because God led the council. There is NO man that stands between me and my Savior. This will sound corny but whom would Jesus put through the inquisition, burn at the stake or torture. Who would he sell out to the king of France on Friday the 13th. Whose bones would he put on trial. Oh 1 last thing there is no purgatory not in the Bible I’ve read.
One more thing I see some interesting similarities between the Catholics on here and the Pharisees of old. Pomp and circumstance between the lowly people and God, a bunch of man made rules and rejection of truths. The rapture is coming sooner than later.
That means not taking one ambiguous text and stretching it to mean the Church is built upon Peter. Certainly none of the Apostles took that sentence that way. It is never mentioned again. The Keys and the great commision was given to ALL of the Disciples. Powers to complete the job were given to ALL of the Disciples. None of them was designated "over" the others (as Catholics teach) else why 2 chapters later in Matt. chapter 18 are the Apostles are they asking "who is the greatest"?
/s
The writer asks, ‘How can this not be the one true church?’ after carefully conflating the institutional church and the spiritual Church. This is subtle but typical deception.
Um, it is odd to see such an inaccuracy from your post. It is Southern Baptist who do not recognize each other in the liquor store. Since I am the product of Episcopalian and Southern Baptist, I’m free to do as I please reagrding food and drink, so I always say howdy to my Baptist friends ‘there’.
More than Joan of Arc? She was burned at the stake for her beliefs by Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais.
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