P
PJM
Guest
*Objectively [with [evidence] or subjectively [w/o evidence] can you accept this? Why or why not?
How does the One Church affect the Many churches?
If anyone claims that Christ did not Himself, intend to Found only One Church which today we know as the Catholic Church, the position they hold is not biblically founded.
And yet one sees today a multitude of sects, denominations and church communities calling themselves Christian, and correctly so. How can this be?
Indisputably the key’s to “the Kingdom of heaven” [Mt. 16:19] reside in the Catholic Church. This however does not mean that other truly Christian churches cannot and do not have access to them, while at the same time having the keys remain in the sole possession of Christ Catholic Church.
The Pope is “The Bishop of Rome” and as such is the “First amongst Equals.” However he is also the “Supreme Pontiff of the World Wide Catholic Church”, and in that role he has no equal.
Similarly in a sense the Catholic Church is also the First amongst equals by virtue of being the Oldest and only Church actually founded by Christ himself. There is a sense of equality in a “Common Baptism,” a common belief in One Triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and by virtue of the Bible, although this last reference is in the realm of Theology, is less perfect than the other two given the changes made in its contents and message.
The Catholic Church holds as a Doctrine of Faith that one “need not be a Catholic in order to be saved.” Yet all Salvation is “mysteriously” channeled through the Catholic Church, [as holder “of the key’s“] which acknowledges the direct intervention of God himself in the process.
Christ has seen fit to bestow on the Catholic Church the burden of TRUTH on all matters of Faith and or Morals, and thus She “has no “First amongst Equals status regards salvation of souls.” In the sense that personal salvation is possible through both, Catholic and non Catholic Christian churches, the closer one is to the position of the Catholic Church on the “key” issues the more likely one is to the Single truth, and therefore to ones personal salvation.
The opposite is also true: the further one deviates from Catholic doctrine and dogma, the less likely is ones personal salvation. I must quickly add that this presumes the opportunity to know His Truths. God will judge us on not what only we know, but also on what He made possible for us to know. What we can, and therefore should know. Such are the ways of Divine Justice.
That friends is the “bad news” for non-Catholic Christians. But we Catholics also need to be ever mindful of* **Luke Chapter Twelve. ** 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.
1Tim. 3: 15 if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the [SINGULAR] household of God, which is the church [SINGULAR] of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth [SINGULAR]
John.17 Verses 15 to 19: I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I [JESUS] consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.
Mt. 16: RE: PETER “15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, * and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Eph. 4: 1-7 “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body [WHICH MEANS ONE CHURCH] and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Mt. 28: 19-20 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."
Mt. 7: 21 "Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. “
Eph. 2:19 “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; [singular] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
How does the One Church affect the Many churches?
If anyone claims that Christ did not Himself, intend to Found only One Church which today we know as the Catholic Church, the position they hold is not biblically founded.
And yet one sees today a multitude of sects, denominations and church communities calling themselves Christian, and correctly so. How can this be?
Indisputably the key’s to “the Kingdom of heaven” [Mt. 16:19] reside in the Catholic Church. This however does not mean that other truly Christian churches cannot and do not have access to them, while at the same time having the keys remain in the sole possession of Christ Catholic Church.
The Pope is “The Bishop of Rome” and as such is the “First amongst Equals.” However he is also the “Supreme Pontiff of the World Wide Catholic Church”, and in that role he has no equal.
Similarly in a sense the Catholic Church is also the First amongst equals by virtue of being the Oldest and only Church actually founded by Christ himself. There is a sense of equality in a “Common Baptism,” a common belief in One Triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and by virtue of the Bible, although this last reference is in the realm of Theology, is less perfect than the other two given the changes made in its contents and message.
The Catholic Church holds as a Doctrine of Faith that one “need not be a Catholic in order to be saved.” Yet all Salvation is “mysteriously” channeled through the Catholic Church, [as holder “of the key’s“] which acknowledges the direct intervention of God himself in the process.
Christ has seen fit to bestow on the Catholic Church the burden of TRUTH on all matters of Faith and or Morals, and thus She “has no “First amongst Equals status regards salvation of souls.” In the sense that personal salvation is possible through both, Catholic and non Catholic Christian churches, the closer one is to the position of the Catholic Church on the “key
The opposite is also true: the further one deviates from Catholic doctrine and dogma, the less likely is ones personal salvation. I must quickly add that this presumes the opportunity to know His Truths. God will judge us on not what only we know, but also on what He made possible for us to know. What we can, and therefore should know. Such are the ways of Divine Justice.
That friends is the “bad news” for non-Catholic Christians. But we Catholics also need to be ever mindful of* **Luke Chapter Twelve. ** 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.
1Tim. 3: 15 if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the [SINGULAR] household of God, which is the church [SINGULAR] of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth [SINGULAR]
John.17 Verses 15 to 19: I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I [JESUS] consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.
Mt. 16: RE: PETER “15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, * and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Eph. 4: 1-7 “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body [WHICH MEANS ONE CHURCH] and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Mt. 28: 19-20 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."
Mt. 7: 21 "Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. “
Eph. 2:19 “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; [singular] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
