Is it true that a Church can not be true Church due to scandals?

Question

If the Bible were ever to become authoritative in the True Church, there would certainly be no priests?

The only priesthood found in the New Testament that applies to Christians is the Royal Priesthood of All Believers.

The term priest is never applied to a church leader. The Law on which it was based was abolished (Hebrews 7:12, 18-22; 8:7-13).

Under the new covenant there was only one priest, the High Priest Jesus Christ.


All members of the body of Christ can approach God through their High Priest, Jesus Christ without any man being in-between (Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18).

Can the True Church reassign priest that abuse children? Why their records of abuse was kept secret?

Similar scandals among the Catholic clergy in Austria, Ireland, France, Australia and Poland.

Answer 1

If a Church is founded by and on the veracity of Jesus then it is true, regardless. If the church is founded by men its veracity is based on that man or men and scandal destroys it.

For instance, Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church therefore the veracity is based on his promises to the Catholic Church. No other churches have such promises from Jesus, therefore their veracity derives from their leaders.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Christ did not found a Church with a foundation based on the righteousness of men but on His own righteousness. Could a Church founded on the promises of man be an enduring church as Christ promised? Certainly not, for all me are sinners but a Church based on the veracity of Christ, the sinless spotless lamb, will endure. How could the Bible speak of the Church being the bulwark and ground of the truth if its veracity derives from any other souce than Christ Jesus. It could not!

Answer 2

I believe that if a church is true there probably going to be scandals. According to the word of GOD, a servant is no better than the master, if they lie and kill me, they will also to the servant. Therefore these accusations, should be proven with out a shadow of doubt, within the church not by mere here say alone, in other word there should be a full investigation, with task force assigned!

Answer 3

Anti-Catholics suffer from the mistaken notion that the Church includes only saints. For them sinners should always be outside its doors. What must be grasped is that the Catholic Church or any Church for that matter contains within itself knaves, and some of them obtain positions of responsibility. Paul and Christ himself warned us that there would be a few ravenous wolves among Church leaders (Acts 20,29; Matthew 1,15).

Jesus didn't choose Judas to betray him. But Judas was always free, and he used his freedom to allow Satan to enter into him, and by his betrayal Jesus was crucified and executed. But God foresaw this evil and used it to accomplish the ultimate good: the redemption of the world.

The point is, sometimes God's chosen ones betray him. That is a fact that we have to confront. If the early Christians had focused only on the scandal caused by Judas, the Church would have been finished before it even started to grow. Instead they recognized that you don't judge a movement by those who don't live it but by those who do. Rather than focusing on the betrayer, they focused on the other eleven on account of whose work, preaching, miracles, and love for Christ we are here today. It is on account of the other eleven that Christianity is alive and well today!

For the same reason, it is on account of the good popes, priests and lay people that the Catholic Church is what it is today. Christ has indeed kept his promise to be with his Church till the end of the age.
May the Lord's peace be with you!

Answer 4

Nobody is without sin, and no Church is without sinners. It goes with the territory.
It is the responsibility of church members, and especially church leaders, to keep sinners from causing damage; but there are always going to be some people who take advantage of the church to prey upon others. This is a sin of the worst kind, because it drives innocent people away from the church.

Answer 5

There is only one Church. The Creeds know only of THE One Holy Catholic (Kath-holikos = "according to the whole" - undivided and indivisible) and Apostolic CHURCH. Not "A" Church... "THE" Church. That one and only Church is the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head and all the Baptized persons are the Members.

There will always be scandals. There will always be the Church.

Answer 6

no church would be a true church based on that reasoning as all churches have scandals. however jesus formed one church that would be guided and protected by the holy spirit and that not even the gates of hell will prevail upon it. this church was and is the holy apostolic roman catholic church.

Answer 7

Indeed. Pure religion arrived undefiled and remained unspotted. Grace neither tempts (laws) nor can be tempted (lawed). Law Law does both. Grace cannot lie (law) nor die (law). Law Law does both, being corruptible and mortal.

Galatians is notably written "unto the churches", which should ring seven bells when reading Revelation 2 & 3: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith "unto the churches".

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 8

No. Scandals are the result of human failings not Church teachings. Christ established His Church and promised that although it would suffer attacks, .."the gates of hell would not prevail against it."

Cheers :-)

Answer 9

To challenge the first answerer that said Jesus only made that promise to the catholic church I was wondering about all the "scandals it has had with priests sexually assaulting young boys? If this is a great sin as it says in the Bible then it is true Evil and satan himself is behind it. So doesn't THAT prove otherwise? (the gates of hell ARE prevailing against it?)

Answer 10

The Church is the people, and some good
Preaching might help fix that.