Isn't it true that the early Christians were Catholic?

Question

Ignatius of Antioch (Early Christian Bishop, Martyr, and Catholic Saint)

"Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains [i.e., a presbyter]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church" (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).


The Martyrdom of Polycarp

"And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled" (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16:2 [A.D. 155]).


Tertullian

"Where was [the heretic] Marcion, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago—in the reign of Antonius for the most part—and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherius, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled" (Demurrer Against the Heretics 30 [A.D. 200]).

List of Early Popes of the Holy Catholic Church

1. St. Peter (32-67)
2. St. Linus (67-76)
3. St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
4. St. Clement I (88-97)
5. St. Evaristus (97-105)
6. St. Alexander I (105-115)
7. St. Sixtus I (115-125) -- also called Xystus I
8. St. Telesphorus (125-136)
9. St. Hyginus (136-140)
10. St. Pius I (140-155)
11. St. Anicetus (155-166)
12. St. Soter (166-175)
13. St. Eleutherius (175-189)

What "Catholic" Means
http://www.catholic.com/library/What_Catholic_Means.asp

Answer 1

I didn't have the attention span to read all the details of your question tonight. But yes, the Roman Catholics were the first Christian Church. The Reformed Church came from people who thought Catholicism was too strict, then came other denominations later as churches spread throughout the world.

Answer 2

I used to be raised catholic and went to Protestant and Evangelical church buildings for years. There are many respectable individuals in those areas and in a few methods its well they exist due to the fact that they do deliver a few individuals a style of a dating with God. However the actual religion as practiced by way of the apostles is what the Church (Catholic) does in these days. Spouting a couple of theories that you've got or heard at the Catholic Church simply suggests how dumb and deceive individuals fairly are. I am completely educated approximately Evengelicals and so on, I can argue twenty differing viewpoints utilizing the bible on my own. I have in view that come again to the truly church and wager what Jesus is there!!

Answer 3

Acts 11 is the place where the term "Christian" is first used - which probably included many Jews and even Pharisees among them as Paul identified himself as in Acts 23. Acts 15 makes it clear where the authority of the believers lay at that time - with Jacob (James) in Jerusalem. This without question precludes any presumed Catholic as the head of the "church" at that time. It is highly doubtful Peter was ever anything other than a Jew.

By the time of the church fathers whose writings you cite, great changes were already being made which led to the development of the Catholic church and the rejection of anything Jewish - causing the terms Jew and Christian to become mutually exclusive.

Answer 4

Between the time of Yeshua and Paul, they weren't Christians but a sect of Judaism. As more Gentiles joined the movement, confusion set in and a split happened. The majority kept pagan practices while those still keeping God's way was not only a minoroty but kept getting smaller. Then during the Counci of Nicea in 325CE under Constantine, everything Jewish and of God was thrown out and the Catholic Church was created, keeping the pagan practices of the Gentiles.

So yes, between when the Catholic Church was created and the rise of Protestants and Martin Luther, all Chrsitians were Catholics.

Answer 5

In early Christianity, the predominate group ended up being the Catholic Church, but there were several smaller groups (like the Gnostics)that had different views on several issues, such as books admitted into the bible, whether Jesus was a human prophet, or the living embodiment of God,etc.These sects eventually went the way of the dodo.You can't fight the man, right?The Church didn't split untill the protestant reformation in the early 1500's.

Answer 6

No the first whom were called christian were about four hundred years before catholic church came about sorry but true. When Jesus died on the cross and the cloth was rent in the temple no need for a priest anymore Jesus is the High priest and that was not a catholic priest either but Jewish. show me where pope is even mentioned in the bible good luck.

Answer 7

It depends how far back you're going. Catholicism came before Protestantism, for one thing.

However, the Earliest Christians were people of Judea, modern-day Jews. Once people began to follow the teachings of Jesus, and he passed on, Christianity flourished into somewhat of a tyrranical catholic church, which has since undergone multiple reformations and has been divided into hundreds of sects.

Answer 8

Check out "The history of the decline and fall of the roman empire" by Edward Gibbon. The Catholic church is NOT the first church.http://www.acts1711.com/jesus2a.htm

Answer 9

about 300 AD Catholics came into the picture.

the originals, were called, Christians.

in the bible you will find, that as a group of believers, the disciples/apostles were called "Christians".
Acts 11:26
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

catholics came into the picture to keep alive the traditions of the Pharisees and the Sadduces. to keep the church under old covenant relationship with God.

its sad.

Answer 10

Not hardly. Paul wrote to 7 churches, didn't he? I don't recall seeing the word Catholic anywhere in the bible, especially in his letters to the churches.