Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from him. His Church will survive until his return. Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.) Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history:
2007-09-28 12:46:16 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy. The Catholic Church has existed for nearly 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church’s divine origin: Any merely human organization would have collapsed long ago. The Catholic Church is today the most vigorous church in the world (and the largest, with a billion members: one sixth of the human race), and that is testimony not to the cleverness of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20). For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28).
2007-09-28 12:46:59 · update #1
Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, "the Catholic Church," at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title apparently was old in Ignatius’s time, which means it went all the way back to the time of the apostles.
Comments? Questions?
2007-09-28 12:47:37 · update #2
GREAT STORY LINK:
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2002/0202fea4.asp
2007-09-28 12:49:06 · update #3
FREE CATHOLIC MP3s :
http://www.biblechristiansociety.com/download
2007-09-28 12:49:52 · update #4
To kent_mur:
If that is true, then why do they ordain bishops, priests, and deacons in the book of Acts?
2007-09-28 13:00:31 · update #5
AMEN!!
2007-09-28 13:29:57 · answer #1 · answered by tebone0315 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
My only comment is to again draw to the attention of atheists and agnostics that they err in assuming that the very vocal fundamentalists represent the main body of Christianity - most Christians are Catholic - and to remark also that fundamentalists themselves should hesitate in reviling a Church that is the sole point of origin for all Christian denominations,including fundamentalist sects,which are splinters of the Anglican Church which itself split off from the R.C.C. at the time of the reformation.
2007-09-28 12:54:44 · answer #2 · answered by Galahad 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Ok, so, I just have to go there...
I have done a lot of study on the middle ages...the time frame you are talking about in your post...mostly secular studies, but when you are talking about studying a culture, the religion is hard to avoid.
Do you know why the protestant groups broke off of the Catholic Church? Because it was CORRUPT. If you were wealthy, you could pay the church to forgive your sins. Are you kidding me? There is also the problem of all the bibles and such only being in Latin, a language which no one but the clergy could read. Go read up on Martin Luther and his grievances with the Catholic Church of his time. I'm not necesarily saying this is how it is in the modern day church, but you have to accept the indescretions of your religious organization.
Even the oldest government is new, huh? Then what would you say about some of the Eastern countries such as China or Japan who have societies dating back to the BCE years? Any ideas on that? They certainly had a very well established government system since before Christianity existed.
2007-09-28 13:13:02 · answer #3 · answered by princess_dnb 6 · 1⤊ 5⤋
The Catholic church is man made. The first group of followers called it "the way" and practiced the faith in houses long before the Catholic church was ever created. The true church is not a building or an organization. It is the group of individual believers. The bible says do not say that I am of Apollos or I am of Paul. You are one. This states not to have denominations. The first century church was non-denominational with no set preachers No leaders like the Catholic church. The duties were shared by the congregation. It is the Church of Christ and nothing else This is not a denomination it is a discription.
2007-09-28 12:56:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 5⤋
huzzah!
just goes to show that followers of Jesus Christ are the biggest strongest group in the world.
luckily for the rest of the world, us Christians are also the most benevolent. (maybe with the exception of buddhists)
2007-09-28 12:51:54 · answer #5 · answered by Trid 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I wish to know how Peter could be a Pope since he was married and he was anointed to minister to the Jews
Gal 2:7-19
Mark 1:29-31
Matt 8:14
Peter was Petros=stone
Jesus was Rock
2007-09-28 13:02:32 · answer #6 · answered by sego lily 7 · 2⤊ 5⤋
Your mistake lies in your misinterpretation of what a church is. It is revealed to us in the Scriptures that Jesus was not referring to the physical temple, or worldly institution at the time, when He said, "tear down this temple and I will build it up again in three days." As it is written, "He was referring to His body." - the spiritual temple and church to which all believers belong, and in which we are even considered to be priests!
St Peter also wrote about this when he said, "…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
If he is really your first pope, why don't you listen to him? Instead you follow after the way of the Pharisees who assumed Jesus was referring to a different "church" when he made this statement, perhaps testifying that you are indeed a descendant of the first church in Rome.
2007-09-28 12:53:40 · answer #7 · answered by whitehorse456 5 · 3⤊ 5⤋
Then why is it approiximately 3.5 (big picture)deviations from God's word??? (The 'Protestant sect' i was 'raised in' is about 7 deviations from God's word (personal checking) recently). Also I have outstanding to the local diocese bishop challenging 'stuff' about 1 and another 0.5 of those 3.5 deviations.
2007-09-28 13:11:46 · answer #8 · answered by jefferyspringer57@sbcglobal.net 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Great web resource but their are many more which are better mostly the apologists sites
2007-09-28 12:52:22 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yeah Brother! Preach it!
2007-09-28 12:49:21 · answer #10 · answered by Makemeaspark 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Nice post. Where is that Jehovah's Witness troll when you need her?
2007-09-28 13:01:07 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋