Anti-Catholicism: What's the Basis?

[Jon_S]

True
I like to ask them “And why did the devil convert the Mexicans from pagan to Catholic 1500 years after the crucifixion?”

Read Romans 2: 14-16

 

[julebenn]

It’s an opinion derived from the confluence of historical, biblical, and theological realities; Jesus really did found a Church; the only one He could have founded is the Catholic Church, based on the fact that it’s the only one that both exists now, and existed then (one of the qualifications of Christ’s Church is that it is eternal, meaning that it can’t have ever stopped existing at any point in time) - if you trace back the history of your denomination, leader by leader, you will eventually come to a disgruntled ex-Catholic who left the Church to establish his own religion - Catholicism alone goes back in a straight line to Jesus Christ, with no crossing of denominational boundaries at any point along the way.

Did Christ die for Catholics only? NO! New Testament every local congregation is called a church.Juat Because your older only means there was more time and opportunity for the introduction of human traditions.Judaism is older yet it is false they twisted the message of the Scriptures by their traditions.

The Church is for all people for whom He shed His blood not an institution.

 

[vern_humphrey]

The flat earth theory was invented by Washington Irving and never a defined doctrine in the Church.

Very appropriate for this thread – the canard that the Church taught the world is flat is a classic example of anti-Catholicism.

In fact educated people knew the world was round long before the time of Christ. Eratosthenes, the Librarian of Alexandria, not only knew the earth was round, he had actually measured the circumfrence – and got a pretty accurate figure, too.

The old anti-Catholic story also includes the claim that Spanish officials opposed Columbus, because they thought he’d sail off the edge of the world. In fact, the argument they had with Columbus was not the shape, but the size of the earth.

Columbus rejected Eratosthenes’ measurement in favor of Ptolmy’s horseback guess – Ptolmy thought the earth’s circumference was only about 3/4 of the actual figure. Then Columbus took the longest estimate of the distance to China, added the longest estimate for the distance from China to Japan – and put Tokyo about where Nashville, Tennessee is.

If he hadn’t run into the Caribbean islands off the coast of America (which he ever suspected existed), he’d have run out of food and water and never been heard from again.

 

[jmcrae]

Did Christ die for Catholics only? NO! New Testament every local congregation is called a church.

Today, the local church is called a “Diocese” - now, just like then, the leaders of the local churches are selected by the Successors of the Apostles.

There were no “unaffiliated” churches back then - all of them had a living relationship with the Apostles, and were under their authority - otherwise, St. Paul would never have had any right to write to them and tell them how to behave themselves.

The Church is for all people for whom He shed His blood not an institution.

The Church is the institution for which Christ shed His blood. If we are in the Church, then we are members of His people - if not, then we are not - no matter how much we “heart” Jesus.

Evangelicals are right that in order to be saved, we need to be in a relationship with Jesus - but they mistake a storm of nice feelings for a relationship.

One can have nice feelings for someone to whom one is not related at all; one can even pretend that one is related in some way to a good friend; people do this all the time - but, in order to become related to Jesus, we must actually become members of His family, the Church (not just “name it and claim it” or declare ourselves members, without any return acknowledgement from the Church itself).

Being a family member of Christ’s Church is a lot more than just having nice feelings: it entails responsibilities, not only to Jesus Himself, but also to the other members of the family.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Did Christ die for Catholics only? NO! New Testament every local congregation is called a church.Juat Because your older only means there was more time and opportunity for the introduction of human traditions.Judaism is older yet it is false they twisted the message of the Scriptures by their traditions.

The Church is for all people for whom He shed His blood not an institution.

Did Christ die for Christians only? Are Jews, Muslims, Hindus and so on covered by His sacrifice?

What about those who were offered His message and turned away? Are the Gnostics (who taught we worship the wrong God), and the Aryans (who taught Jesus was not God), and taught that in definace of the Apostles’ appointed successors as saved as those who faithfully followed Christ’s message?