17 Points of the True Church of Christ

[datamonkey]

I am a practicing Catholic with a son who is currently serving a mission for the LDS Church. As painful as this situaton is, he continues to try and convince me of the truth of the Mormon faith. He recently sent me a copy of the 17 points of the True Church of Christ (see below) and the Twelve signs that the LDS Church is Christ’s true church (see next post). I am going to respond to his e-mail point by point and would appreciate some help in putting together an intelligent, thoughtful and respectful response. There are a lot of knowledgeable people using this forum that can help me cover alll of the bases. Thank you in advance for your help and support. I pray that one day my son will see the light and come back to me.

17 Points of the True Church of Christ

1. Christ organized the Church (Eph 4:11-14)
2. The true church must bear the name of Jesus Christ (Eph 5:23)
3. The true church must have a foundation of Apostles and Prophets (Eph 2:19-20)
4. The true church must have the same organization as Christ’s Church (Eph 4:11-14)
5. The true church must claim divine authority (Heb 5:4-10)
6. The true church must have no paid ministry (1 Cor 9:16-18; Acts 20:33-34; John 10:11-13)
7. The true church must baptize by immersion (Matt 3:13-16)
8. The true church must bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands (Acts 8:14-17)
9. The true church must practice divine healing (Mark 3:14-15)
   10 The true church must teach that God and Jesus are seperate and distinct individuals (John 17:11; 20:17)
   11.The true church must teach that God and Jesus have bodies of flesh and bone (Luke 23:36-39; Acts 1:9-11; Heb 1:1-3)
   12.The officers must be called by God (Heb 4:4; Ex 28:1; 40:13-16)
   13.The true church must claim revelation from God (Amos 3:7)
   14.The true church must be a missionary church (Matt 28:19-20)
   15.The true church must be a restored church (Acts 3:19-20)
   16.The true church must practice baptism for the dead (1Cor 15:16&29)
   17.“By their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matt 7:20)

 

[ralphinal]

The Catholic.com portion of this site has information about these claims. Most of them are truly present in the Catholic Church, the others are not needed. All of them are incorrectly applied to the LDS faith.

1 through 5 are true of the Catholic Church (Catholic Church is just what we call it, official documents call it the Church of Jesus Christ).

6 1 Cor 9:16-19 has nothing to do with paid clergy. IT has to do with paying to learn. Acts 20:33-34 just says that Paul did not accept payment. It is not an order not to. In another of his letters, he said that he always works so that no one can call it into question. John 10 has more to do with Jesus’s role as savior than anything about clergy

7 All it says is that he came up from the water. When I was at the beach last week, I came up from the water even though only my feet were in it. I had to walk up hill, hence the word usage. It never says that he was completely under water or that he was soaking wet.

8 & 9 are true of the Catholic Church (confirmation and Annointing of the Sick)

10 Neither of those passages refutes the Catholic View of the Trinity. No issue there.

11 Luke 23:36-39 is about the crucifixion. I am missing the connection. Acts 1:9-11 is Jesus ascending into heaven. This is Catholic Dogma. I do not see how this has anything to do with the Father. Hebrews 1:1-3 says nothing about God being of Flesh and Bone, either. Please help me out.

12-14 are all true of the Catholic Church, so long as you understand what revelation means.

15 I have no idea what this verse has to do with what you are talking about.

16 Misunderstanding of what Paul is saying. Catholic.com explains it better.

1. There you go! No other group has done more good on this earth then the Roman Catholic Church.

 

[FCEGM]

I am a practicing Catholic with a son who is currently serving a mission for the LDS Church. As painful as this situaton is, he continues to try and convince me of the truth of the Mormon faith. He recently sent me a copy of the 17 points of the True Church of Christ (see below) and the Twelve signs that the LDS Church is Christ’s true church (see next post). I am going to respond to his e-mail point by point and would appreciate some help in putting together an intelligent, thoughtful and respectful response. There are a lot of knowledgeable people using this forum that can help me cover alll of the bases. Thank you in advance for your help and support. I pray that one day my son will see the light and come back to me.

I will pray for that, too, data. :hug1: Here are some articles you might like to send along to your son:

The form of baptism:

catholic.com/library/Baptism_Immersion_Only.asp

Latter-Day Saints and the “Great Apostacy”:

catholic.com/thisrock/2008/0801btb.asp

catholic.com/thisrock/1992/9203fea.asp

catholic.com/thisrock/1994/9406vbv.asp

Mormon plurality of gods:

catholic.com/library/Gods_of_the_Mormon_Church.asp

catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9712fea2.asp

catholic.com/thisrock/1992/9207fea2.asp

catholic.com/library/Mormon_Stumpers.asp

Baptism of the dead:

catholic.com/library/Mormonism_Baptism_for_the_Dead.asp

 

[Catholic1954]

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the true Church is: One, Holy, and Apostolic. While some other churches can claim 2 out of 3, only the Catholic Chuch is all three.