Was the Pope right when he said Protestant Churches are usless for salvation ?

Question

"Dominus Iesus," which riled Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation."

The commentary repeated church teaching that says the Catholic Church "has the fullness of the means of salvation."

"Christ 'established here on earth' only one church," said the document released as the pope vacations at a villa in Lorenzago di Cadore, in Italy's Dolomite mountains.

The other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession — the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles — and therefore their priest/pastorly ordinations are not valid, it said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/pope_other_christians;_ylt=Ai91b0mA..o3P33gwQ0d0GLkeO0A


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Answer 1

What authority has the Pope when he will not even hear the Apostles?

We are to listen to the Apostles and no one else. They were hand picked by Christ, were personal witnesses and personally taught by Christ for the purpose of founding Christ's church.

Any who come to God through Christ do so on the basis of God's word and none other. God's word was entrusted to the Apostles and none other.

What do they say?
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

No need for the Pope there then!

As to the Pope and others - They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

The we, is the Apostles.


God's church, His people are built on the foundation the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

There is no other authority. The Pope has none.

He is a usurper of God, a deceiving antichrist, heading an antichristian organisation, drunk with the blood of the saints, God's people.

The history of the Roman Catholic Church bears ample testimony and evidence of this. It is a matter of record that cannot be denied. It is even upheld by the ridiculous claim of a continuous line of Popes - that very claim damns them!

... Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Very apt.

There is no such thing as Apostolic succession, neither can there be. That would be to deny the word of the Apostles and Christ's commission of them. It is a simple principle that a delegate cannot delegate. Obvious.

Any "successors" of the Apostles are not witnesses and can therefore have no testimony. Hearsay evidence is not worth anything.

The Pope can be safely ignored. Indeed it may be dangerous to even take any notice of him.

Those who are Christ's, who love God, will fly from him.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Answer 2

The Pope did not say that.

Here is the full text of the new document that states nothing new: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070629_responsa-quaestiones_en.html

Most Christian denominations believe that each of them is the fullest version of the Church of Christ.

While the Catholic Church also believes that she is "the highest exemplar" of the mystery that is the Church of Christ, she does not claim that non-Catholic Churches are not truly Christian. The Catholic Church teaches:

Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.

Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church.

All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 819: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p3.htm#819

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

He was right because he's the pope. If you believe he is infallible or even if you don't but you're a Catholic, then you must believe he's right.

In reality he suffers from a severe case of cranial rectal inversion. The Catholic church cannot trace its history through apostolic succession, and even if it could that's meaningless. It's like me saying they're wrong because the pope wears a pointy hat. The shape of his hat is inconsequential, just as apostolic succession is inconsequential -- or rather, is of consequence only to those who accept it as having any merit. It certainly has none to God, and that's what counts.

This is the great Arrogance of the Catholic Church. They are wrong about their position as the only true church and they are arrogant about the rightness of their wrongness. Pride comes before a fall, as it says in the Bible that they dismiss.

The fact of the matter is that the Protestant churches are no better off, being nothing but dried branches from an already dead tree -- that is, they are but offshoots of Catholicism themselves.

The true church is made up of those who have the faith of Jesus and the apostles -- the faith that is described in the New Testament and is founded in Jesus Christ. There are numerous churches in that category and they're neither Catholic nor protestant.

You asked. :-)

Answer 4

The Pope sort of said the opposite, which got him in trouble with conservative Catholics - Protestant ecclesial organizations (he would not have said 'churches') maintain structures that can aid towards their salvation (baptism, love of Scripture, forms of liturgy, etc)

Answer 5

how funny is that ... protestants are tied to catholicism as they believe in the same trinitarian baptism .... made up at the council of nicea. so if the pope says the protestants don't have salvation, neither do catholics.

salvation has NOTHING to do with the ability to trace their bishops back through history.
the apostle peter was not the first pope. another twisted teaching of the catholic church.

Jesus is the one we look to who told us HOW to be born again (saved).
"Except a man be born of water AND of the Spirit, he CANNOT enter into the kingdom of God." (john 3:5).

the apostle peter agreed in saying, " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Answer 6

When he said "not the means of salvation" was he referring to "saving Pedophile Priests from conviction in courts"? It was odd that he came out with this only a few days after the news that the "Church" had to pay out millions to victims of Priests that had molested children. To me, it looked like a desperate grab to keep what followers he could... as I had noticed a lot of Catholics were leaving the Church all together when they found out that even the Vatican had been trying to keep the Priests from being convicted in Secular courts (as they claimed Secular courts had no right to convict a Priest)... thereby justifying the "Church" (in general) for hiding them to begin with.

And just when are the courts going to convict those churches for hiding them? If I hid a pedophile, I would be convicted for aiding and abedding..... and probably serve as much time as the pedophile would get.

Answer 7

Actually, the Pope is right about there only being one church. I mean, we Protestants believe the same thing. We believe in one church composed of all believers. That says nothing about denominations or things like that. The church is composed of all true believers, all true Christians, regardless of what their denomination name is. There are true believers who are Baptist, true believers who are Pentecostal, true believers who are Congregational, true believers who are Lutheran, maybe even true believers who are Roman Catholic. Just one church -- Christ's body. Don't know if the Pope made it though. Let's hope so.

Answer 8

Baptize and the name of Jesus Christ- apostle. It is written to
believe on his name.He will hear you.
name of the father,son, and holy spirit is Jesus
father, word, holy spirit are one.
Don't baptize a baby because a baby can't repent.
He don't hear the priest. Baptism SAVES you. THEY bow
down to the pope. It is written bow down to no man.
They say the pope is the head of the church. It is written Jesus Christ is the head of the church. I CAN GO ON.

Answer 9

Do not be decieved by the pope, nor the catholic church, for I tell you the prophecy of Jesus Christ concerning the catholic church is at hand, the next pope will be the 8th pope (8th king) in Revelation 17:10-11

For salvation is of the Jews, I will make them a church of Satan them that say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie.

Answer 10

the Pope didn't exactly say it like that.


Protestant churches can't be called "churches" because they don't have apostolic sucession and don't practice sacraments that the Catholic church views as important. This isn't an insult. Any Protestant church would freely say that.

he never said they are useless for salvation.