Do members of non-Cathoic denominations believe their church is the One True Church of Jesus Christ?

[ConvertHereYay]

Do they? Do Lutherans believe their church was founded by Jesus Christ and to be infallible in matters of doctinre (sacremnts, etc). The same goes for Baptist, Anglicans, etc? I was baptized Lutheran in high school by converted to Catholicism towards the end. I don’t mean to be rude, I just want to know what other Christians really think about their denominations.

If it is not official doctrine that your denomination is the One True Church, how do you justify remaining in it?

Thanks

 

[Nine_Two]

The Orthodox, to which I belong, who are not Protestant hold this belief, however answering as a former Anglican who did not hold my church to be the one true Church, it is because these churches generally believe there is no one true church, but that the church is just the fellowship of Christians with each other.

 

[Contarini]

Do they? Do Lutherans believe their church was founded by Jesus Christ and to be infallible in matters of doctinre (sacremnts, etc). The same goes for Baptist, Anglicans, etc? I was baptized Lutheran in high school by converted to Catholicism towards the end. I don’t mean to be rude, I just want to know what other Christians really think about their denominations.

Generally no.

If it is not official doctrine that your denomination is the One True Church, how do you justify remaining in it?

How do you justify remaining in the Roman Catholic Church, or the Byzantine Catholic Church, or the Maronite Church, or whichever sui juris Catholic church you happen to belong to? How do members of religious orders justify belonging to their religious orders? How, if you lived in my town, would you justify going to St. Mary’s rather than St. Peter and Paul, or vice versa? (The two churches are about a block apart, and St. Mary’s was founded because the Germans at St. P & P didn’t want those dirty Irish going to church with them.) How do you justify going to the 8 AM Mass rather than the 10 AM, or whatever the choices are at your parish?

Christians are organized in all sorts of ways that are not based on whether a given group is the “true Church” or not. I wish it was different. I think that we all ought to have one parish that is clearly the right one for us to go to. All baptized Christians living in a certain geographical area ought to worship together on Sunday morning. But no church is organized that way–the Orthodox and my own Anglican tradition probably come closest, but the Orthodox in the U.S. violate this principle by their ethnic divisions, and Anglicans are of course increasingly divided, with the conservative faction generally treating geographical boundaries with little respect.

Edwin

 

[Nicea325]

The Orthodox, to which I belong, who are not Protestant hold this belief, however answering as a former Anglican who did not hold my church to be the one true Church, it is because these churches generally believe there is no one true church, but that the church is just the fellowship of Christians with each other.

I do not buy of the whole notion that there is no true church and there is only a fellowship of Christians? How does that justify Jesus’s words: May they ALL be one, as the Father and I are one.

Fellowship only by name,but divided by doctrine?

 

[Nicea325]

How do you justify remaining in the Roman Catholic Church, or the Byzantine Catholic Church, or the Maronite Church, or whichever sui juris Catholic church you happen to belong to?

Okay but the above are rites all in communion with Rome. Different rites…ALL one universal church.

How do members of religious orders justify belonging to their religious orders?

All in communion with Rome.Different orders all under same universal church.

How, if you lived in my town, would you justify going to St. Mary’s rather than St. Peter and Paul, or vice versa? (The two churches are about a block apart, and St. Mary’s was founded because the Germans at St. P & P didn’t want those dirty Irish going to church with them.) How do you justify going to the 8 AM Mass rather than the 10 AM, or whatever the choices are at your parish?

If they are from the Latin Rite,what difference does it make? Same church different ethnic groups,etc.

 

[Nine_Two]

I do not buy of the whole notion that there is no true church and there is only a fellowship of Christians? How does that justify Jesus’s words: May they ALL be one, as the Father and I are one.

Fellowship only by name,but divided by doctrine?

I quite agree with you. As I said, that was my former belief. The Orthodox believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

 

[Sherry_G]

The only church that has been in existence since the days when Jesus walked the earth is, of course the one true Church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church as is well documented in history.

Most non-Catholic Christians affiliate with a church based on anything but doctrine. Usually it’s something akin to seeking out a social network, or liking the pastors sermons or having family ties. Actually, they really don’t think it is necessary to go to church as in “house of worship” at all. When they can’t go or decide not to go to church, it makes no difference whatsoever. They worship how they want to, with no regard for how God set it up. My sis-in-law went to Mass with me last Christmas and had no idea about why priests wear vestments, about what the tabernacle and altar were for, etc. I referred her to Exodus, Ch 25 to 30 in the Old testament and explained that God so ordered our worship and has never changed it as far as can be determined by scripture. The sacrifice is diferent since Jesus died once and for all, but the worship theme and reverence of the liturgy are there for a reason. She was astounded and speechless.

 

[Soldier_X]

Nope…the Denominations don’t think they’re the One True Church. In practice, however, they think that all non-Catholics or non-sacramentalists are the One True Church. This is an extremely uncharitable and disturbing position.

 

[diggerdomer]

Do they? Do Lutherans believe their church was founded by Jesus Christ and to be infallible in matters of doctinre (sacremnts, etc). The same goes for Baptist, Anglicans, etc? I was baptized Lutheran in high school by converted to Catholicism towards the end. I don’t mean to be rude, I just want to know what other Christians really think about their denominations.

If it is not official doctrine that your denomination is the One True Church, how do you justify remaining in it?

Thanks

In general, I would say yes. Meaning…if you ask any Christian “are you following the Church established by Jesus” what other possible answer could they give? I can’t believe any Christian would say “I don’t believe in the Church that Jesus established.”

If anyone has contradictory evidence or experience, please share.

 

[Jon_Hus]

Conservative Protestants, Evangelical and Bible Churches basically define the church (it’s mission, purpose and so forth) differently than Roman Catholics.

So with the exception of the cults, most if not all of the above named camps do not make the claim that theirs is the one true church, at least the way Roman Catholics define the church.

 

[pinay]

What does that really mean? Being the ONE true church? Does that mean that you have to be a member of that church to be “saved”? Does that mean that Jesus is not present in any other church but the ONE true church?

I am LDS and the LDS church do believe that it is the one true church. The claim is for two things: the LDS believes that true priesthood authority resides with the LDS church and that it is the church where all truth that has been revealed and are still to be revealed are found.

The Roman Catholic church believes the same thing - authority and the complete gospel lies in the Roman Catholic church.

So, in the paragraph below, you can change all reference of Roman Catholic to LDS and it still holds true. I will use Roman Catholic because this is a Catholic forum.

Does this mean that the Roman Catholic church believes it is the ONLY church that has truth? Nope. A measure of truth lies in all churches - Jesus Christ is the Son of God and through His atonement lies our salvation. That’s a basic truth. All christian churches hold to that. Does this mean that unless you are a member of the Roman Catholic church you will not attain heaven? Of course not. God cannot be a just God if you put human limits on his mercy.

So then, if that’s the case, why bother to be Roman Catholic at all? And that’s pretty much the sentiment of a lot of protestant churches.

A quote from Mahatma Ghandi best describes this point:
“To be a good Hindu also meant that I would be a good Christian. There was no need for me to join your creed to be a believer in the beauty of the teachings of Jesus or try to follow His example”

I have no doubt in my mind that Ghandi holds God’s favor.

And this is the reason that even if I am LDS and that I believe that the LDS church is the one true church, I commend anybody who is valiant in the search for truth and their desire to follow God the best way they know how, regardless of the way they go about doing so.

I would much rather see an agnostic trying his best to live a life of charity and love for his fellowman and encourages others to do so as this is the best way he knows how to lead a good life than a devout LDS who engages in religious bashing to stir up contention against the way someone else chose in all honesty to follow God.

I know the last paragraph is borderline contentious and I apologize for that. It is the only way I can express my opinion on what I feel is a common hypocricy among religious people.

With love to all.

 

[Nine_Two]

Nope…the Denominations don’t think they’re the One True Church. In practice, however, they think that all non-Catholics or non-sacramentalists are the One True Church. This is an extremely uncharitable and disturbing position.

How is it any more uncharitable to think everyone but Catholics is part of the True Church than to think that only Catholics are part of the True Church?

 

[Contarini]

Okay but the above are rites all in communion with Rome. Different rites…ALL one universal church.

No, they aren’t just different rites. They are sui juris churches, with their own organizations. The Byzantine Catholic church in Cary, NC is not under the bishop of Raleigh but under the Eparch of Passaic, in faraway New Jersey! And the people of that parish were (at least in the 90s) very happy about this, because they thought the Roman Catholic diocese of Raleigh was way too liberal. Many of the people in the parish were Roman-Rite Catholics who attended this parish out of preference, and/or Western converts.

All in communion with Rome.Different orders all under same universal church.

Fine. You wave a wand and say “all one church.” Protestants wave a wand and say “all one church.” Admittedly, you wave different wands. Your wand is called “all in communion with/under Rome.” The Protestant wand is called “invisible unity.” But both wands allow Christians supposedly in union with each other to attend rival parishes in the same place and to criticize each other for not getting Christianity quite right (at least, the Byzantines criticized the Latins in North Carolina.)

The question really is: how do you define denomination? You seem to assume that a denomination is something like the Roman Communion (in your terms, the Catholic Church) as a whole rather than something like the Roman or Byzantine church in particular, or (somewhat less accurately) like a religious order. Why do you assume this? When confronted with the fact that most Protestants don’t think of their denominations in this why, you then ask how they “justify” belonging to them, which makes no sense except on the prior assumption that Protestant denominations are “supposed” to be “things like the Catholic Church.”

If they are from the Latin Rite,what difference does it make? Same church different ethnic groups,etc.

Well, what difference does belonging to two different denominations make? Most Protestants think that different denominations belong to the same Church.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

Nope…the Denominations don’t think they’re the One True Church. In practice, however, they think that all non-Catholics or non-sacramentalists are the One True Church. This is an extremely uncharitable and disturbing position.

Which denominations believe this? I think you will be hard-pressed to find many large denominations that believe this either in theory or in practice. The hardline minority (many of them in independent churches or small denominations, for what difference that makes) which sees Catholicism as not being part of the true Church typically regards many other Protestants in as negative a light.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

The only church that has been in existence since the days when Jesus walked the earth is, of course the one true Church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church as is well documented in history.

But there are at least two rival bodies existing today (popularly known as the “Catholic Church” and the “Orthodox Church” respectively) which can both legitimately claim unbroken continuity with the historic Church. I would say that in many ways the claims of the Orthodox are superior, but it depends on your criteria–if you see union with Rome as essential to continuity and have a generous doctrine of doctrinal development, then the reverse will appear to be the case.

And that’s without mentioning the other two Eastern Churches, which can also claim unbroken continuity with the early Church!

Edwin

 

[Soldier_X]

How is it any more uncharitable to think everyone but Catholics is part of the True Church than to think that only Catholics are part of the True Church?

Note that I never said anything like that. But if you really want to know, it’s because they usually apply it to Orthodox, Coptic, often Anglican, and sometimes Lutheran Christians also.

Source: extensive personal experience.

 

[Contarini]

Note that I never said anything like that. But if you really want to know, it’s because they usually apply it to Orthodox, Coptic, often Anglican, and sometimes Lutheran Christians also.

Source: extensive personal experience.

How extensive is your experience geographically and denominationally?

Have you found United Methodists thinking this way, for instance, or Northern Baptists?

Edwin

 

[Solus]

INC (Iglesia ni Cristo) believes that they are the restoration of the apostasized church of Christ. In line with this, they claim salvation is exclusively available to them and cannot be found elsewhere.

 

[Sherry_G]

But there are at least two rival bodies existing today (popularly known as the “Catholic Church” and the “Orthodox Church” respectively) which can both legitimately claim unbroken continuity with the historic Church. I would say that in many ways the claims of the Orthodox are superior, but it depends on your criteria–if you see union with Rome as essential to continuity and have a generous doctrine of doctrinal development, then the reverse will appear to be the case.

And that’s without mentioning the other two Eastern Churches, which can also claim unbroken continuity with the early Church!

Edwin

Unbroken continuity would mean in the line of apostolic succession of Peter appointed by Jesus as the head of the Church. If not in communion with Rome - the chair of Peter- then cannot claim any such thing. sorry! But back to the main point of this thread, how can other churches such as your own justify not belonging to the Chuch that Jesus started?

 

[Soldier_X]

How extensive is your experience geographically and denominationally?

Have you found United Methodists thinking this way, for instance, or Northern Baptists?

Edwin

How extensive is yours? I’m not going to get into an “I know more people than you do” debate, because that is utterly juvenile. I’ve traveled quite a bit, I’ve been in full-time ministry myself (Presbyterian and later Anglican), and I have friends who are pastors/priests all over this country in quite a few Christian bodies. The question was “Do denominations think they’re the one true church?” Obviously, they do not and never have (except for a few cults which are hardly recognizable denominations). When I say that there are many Protestants out there who think that only Protestants “get it right” and that Protestantism is the “real” Christianity, I’m rather surprised that you would even question that. Of course they’re out there. And of course it’s not an official or a universally-held position. It’s an attitude of suspicion of non-Protestants. Not all Protestants are ecumenically-minded. Some just believe they’re right and don’t give it a second though. Yes, I’ve seen it among Methodists. Not yet among Northern Baptists.