Do you believe there is one true church?

[believers]

believers, you really do not present as a person who is here to learn. You have a hostile tone to your posts. Of course the church Fathers did not “override God”. They preserved carefully the traditions that were handed down to them from the Apostles, both in writing and by word of mouth. One of the things they taught us is not to take one phrase of scripture in isolation from all the others. If Jesus did not want us to be baptized, why did He set us His own example? Why did He have His apostles baptizing? Why did He command it to be done?

"Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you"1 Peter 3:21

You are the ones who have no intention of learning. You are so proud to think you are the one true church when Jesus Himself said to believe and repent. You guys completely ignore John 3:16 as if it doesn’t exist.

Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In regards to baptism, it’s not water baptism that saves you. Only baptism of the Holy Spirit which one receives when they believe and repent. That is the only way. You cannot receive the Holy Spirit with water.

Don’t you want everlasting life? You just have to place all your faith in Jesus Christ. You MUST believe that He is the Son of God. He paid for our sins in full on the cross with His blood. He was resurrected by the power of God. Now place all your faith in what He has done for you and repent. That’s the promise God made. It is a free gift but you MUST take it by faith.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:

Hbr 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

 

[guanophore]

You are the ones who have no intention of learning. You are so proud to think you are the one true church when Jesus Himself said to believe and repent. You guys completely ignore John 3:16 as if it doesn’t exist.

What does the founding of the Church have to do with John 3:16?

Why do you think that Catholics ignore this?

J hn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Yes? I receive Him anew each morning in Holy Eucharist.

In regards to baptism, it’s not water baptism that saves you. Only baptism of the Holy Spirit which one receives when they believe and repent. That is the only way. You cannot receive the Holy Spirit with water.

Perhaps you cannot, believers, because you are unable to recognize the sacrament? You did not answer any of my questions about baptism:

If Jesus did not want us to be baptized, why did He set us His own example?  Why did He have His apostles baptizing?  Why did He command it to be done?

Don’t you want everlasting life? You just have to place all your faith in Jesus Christ. You MUST believe that He is the Son of God. He paid for our sins in full on the cross with His blood. He was resurrected by the power of God. Now place all your faith in what He has done for you and repent. That’s the promise God made. It is a free gift but you MUST take it by faith.

ARe you trying to convert the CAtholics here, becuase you believe we are not saved?

"Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you"1 Peter 3:21

 

[teachccd]

Believe and follow? Where did you get that from?

Believe on Him and repent. That is condition for being baptized by the Holy Spirit. THE baptism that saves.

Oh, I don’t know. Let’s try these for starters:

Matthew 8:22

Matthew 16:24

Luke 9:23

John 10:4

John 10:27

John 12:26 " Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I
am, there also will my servant be. The Father will
honor whoeveer serves me."

John 21:19 " He said this signifying by what kind of death he
would glorify God.And when he had said this, he
said to him,“Follow me.”

Revelation14:4

You really need to better acquaint yourself with Sacred Scripture…God Bless…teachccd

 

[mommyof4]

Catholic Church = One true church.

 

[teachccd]

In regards to baptism, it’s not water baptism that saves you. Only baptism of the Holy Spirit which one receives when they believe and repent. That is the only way. You cannot receive the Holy Spirit with water.

You are correct: Jesus answered,“Amen,amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.” John 3:5

…not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit… Titus 3:5

Sacred Scripture is very clear in the distiction of water and spirit, requiring both for salvation…God Bless…teachccd

 

[jmcrae]

Yes, it is about the Holy Spirit. But you must believe and repent to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. Your infant baptism is wrong. Babies cannot believe or repent.

Babies certainly can believe (See Luke 1:44), and they have no sins for which to repent - it is adults who must repent of their sins before being baptized, which is part of why the Catechumenate takes such a long time.

 

[jmcrae]

You are the ones who have no intention of learning.

This is a Catholic web site, for learning about Catholic teachings.

It’s not for promulgating Protestantism. There are Protestant web sites for that.

You are so proud to think you are the one true church when Jesus Himself said to believe and repent. You guys completely ignore John 3:16 as if it doesn’t exist.

What do these two things have to do with each other?

Yes, we are the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, founded by Jesus Christ. And yes, Jesus commanded us all to repent - that’s why we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And how does one believe? By wishing? Or by doing the actions of obedience? This is not the only verse in the Bible, you know. Every other verse of the Bible is also equally essential to our salvation. We must obey and do every single word of it - not just one or two verses picked out here or there.

In regards to baptism, it’s not water baptism that saves you. Only baptism of the Holy Spirit which one receives when they believe and repent. That is the only way. You cannot receive the Holy Spirit with water.

Actually, that’s the way Christ set it up, when He instituted Baptism. He Himself was being immersed in water when the Holy Spirit affirmed His ministry by saying “this is my beloved Son; hear Him.”

Don’t you want everlasting life? You just have to place all your faith in Jesus Christ. You MUST believe that He is the Son of God. He paid for our sins in full on the cross with His blood. He was resurrected by the power of God. Now place all your faith in what He has done for you and repent. That’s the promise God made. It is a free gift but you MUST take it by faith.

Catholics do this every time they participate mindfully in the Sacraments. The Sacraments are not works of Man; they are gifts from God.

 

[WyomingBob]

Hello everyone,
I have read all the way through this thread and I both amazed and sickened. But also pleased by some of the posts by fellow Catholics.
I do not wish to run afoul of the mediators but a few of the posters are simply put delusional.
Traveller1534 claims to have been a cradle Catholic. But his venomous posts generally centering on the sex abuse scandle appear to do nothing but allow him to ‘vent his spleen’ as grandma would say. Several posters have attempted to enlighten him with facts.He does not listen.But the one thing he said that indicates to me that he is disingenuious is that the Church has infallibly(sp) taught abusing children or to cover such acts up.
I do not care how much money the church has paid out my faith is not based on dollars. Besides I think some of that money went to people that saw this as a chance to get free money, basing alligations only on supposed 40 yr old memories.
Believers is just plain wrong. He simply refuses to understand what it means to “believe” on Christ. And basis eveything on only a very narrow selection of verses.
Contramundum7 says that protestent churches are more ‘socialable’ than the Catholic. What does that mean and how does one go about discovering this? He also asked if ‘we’ believed any good has come from protestant Churches?
If there has been any good it has been severly outweighed by the damage done to the Body of Christ by the Reformation. I do believe that ‘re-formation’ is a self-serving word used by thr protestant to cover up what grave damage their ‘protest’ has done and continues to do. The squablling that they do amongst themselves and accusations against the Church they propogate is shameful!
There is but one Church which Jesus Christ founded- Catholic - Roman Rite - all others were founded by egotistical men who thought they knew better than Christ.

 

[RNRobert]

Hello everyone,
I have read all the way through this thread and I both amazed and sickened. But also pleased by some of the posts by fellow Catholics.
I do not wish to run afoul of the mediators but a few of the posters are simply put delusional.
Traveller1534 claims to have been a cradle Catholic. But his venomous posts generally centering on the sex abuse scandle appear to do nothing but allow him to ‘vent his spleen’ as grandma would say. Several posters have attempted to enlighten him with facts.He does not listen.But the one thing he said that indicates to me that he is disingenuious is that the Church has infallibly(sp) taught abusing children or to cover such acts up.
I do not care how much money the church has paid out my faith is not based on dollars. Besides I think some of that money went to people that saw this as a chance to get free money, basing alligations only on supposed 40 yr old memories.
Believers is just plain wrong. He simply refuses to understand what it means to “believe” on Christ. And basis eveything on only a very narrow selection of verses.
Contramundum7 says that protestent churches are more ‘socialable’ than the Catholic. What does that mean and how does one go about discovering this? He also asked if ‘we’ believed any good has come from protestant Churches?
If there has been any good it has been severly outweighed by the damage done to the Body of Christ by the Reformation. I do believe that ‘re-formation’ is a self-serving word used by thr protestant to cover up what grave damage their ‘protest’ has done and continues to do. The squablling that they do amongst themselves and accusations against the Church they propogate is shameful!
** There is but one Church which Jesus Christ founded- Catholic - Roman Rite - all others were founded by egotistical men who thought they knew better than Christ**.

I agree with your entire post except for the last part that I bolded. There are other rites: Byzantine, Melkite (and a bunch of others I can’t remember) that are in full communion with Rome. The Latin Rite is the largest Rite in the Church, but not the only one.

 

[jack_hawkins]

Is there only one true Christian church?

I would like your answer to this question.

In other words: Did Jesus intend for there to be so many different churches? Why / why not??

The two questions aren’t exactly the same at all. I’m sure that probably most people will agree that it’s not God’s perfect will that there are so many splits in the Body, but this cannot be then taken to mean that there is only one true Christian Church.
Saying that the Catholic Church is therefore the one true Christian Church because of the historical continuity is, in my opinion, like saying determining the source of the Nile/length of the Nile is easy.
As has been expressed countless times, it all depends on what you believe the one holy and apostolic catholic church is. I don’t believe that God makes a distinction based on what building you’re in on a Sunday personally - he looks at the spirit of the person.

 

[Kristine1957]

Amen to that. I would say the when Jesus said do not hinder the little children he wasn’t conveying the idea of sexually abusing them to keep from hindering them. How sad can it be that the person in the place of Christ (the priest) would pray on children in such a way. I would never subject my 3 year old son to this atrocity nor should anyone with any good sense regardless of the ridiculous infallible claims of the church! This is trully an abomination of God in the purest and most potent form!

Sir, with all due respect if “anyone” hurts a child they are guilty of grave sin and its God’s place to judge them.
However, my concern is that you seem to be angry and pointing fingers at the Catholic church and sad to say there are abuses everywhere in this world. Schools, family members, friends, and also other dominations. I believe parents should be “in tune” with thier children and know what their children are doing no matter “who” the person is. Futhermore, you seem to be very upset and Im truly sorry but my question to you is what are you doing (if anything) to help with the many abuse situations Gods children are put into?

 

[guanophore]

As has been expressed countless times, it all depends on what you believe the one holy and apostolic catholic church is. I don’t believe that God makes a distinction based on what building you’re in on a Sunday personally - he looks at the spirit of the person.

If one defined that (one church) body of Christ, the membership of all the believers, would you not find that acceptable?

What you state here about God looking upon the spirit I think is the essential definition of the one Body of Christ. He cannot have more than one body, and He perceives all the members as part of Himself.

The OP did not distinguish between “visible” and “invisible” church in the question. what you describe as the “invisible” comes from the heart. what building we are in on Sunday would more be considered the “visible” church, or the ecclesial communities which contain the Body.

 

[contramundum7]

You are the ones who have no intention of learning. You are so proud to think you are the one true church when Jesus Himself said to believe and repent. You guys completely ignore John 3:16 as if it doesn’t exist.

Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In regards to baptism, it’s not water baptism that saves you. Only baptism of the Holy Spirit which one receives when they believe and repent. That is the only way. You cannot receive the Holy Spirit with water.

Don’t you want everlasting life? You just have to place all your faith in Jesus Christ. You MUST believe that He is the Son of God. He paid for our sins in full on the cross with His blood. He was resurrected by the power of God. Now place all your faith in what He has done for you and repent. That’s the promise God made. It is a free gift but you MUST take it by faith.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:

Hbr 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

The necessity of water baptism is in John 3:3.
Also, believing in Christ means doing everything that he commands… Everything, not just some mental “assent” that Jesus is Lord. After all, even the demons do that (James 2:12-)
God bless…

 

[believers]

The necessity of water baptism is in John 3:3.
Also, believing in Christ means doing everything that he commands… Everything, not just some mental “assent” that Jesus is Lord. After all, even the demons do that (James 2:12-)
God bless…

Do you actually think it’s just a mental “ascent” that Jesus is Lord? If you think that then you don’t understand what faith is. Yes, demons believe but they don’t have faith in Jesus either. They don’t love God with all their hearts.

I heard the Word and I believe God.

Rom 10:17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

My faith is now in the hope (the earnest expectation) of eternal life in Jesus Christ. I have complete faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done on the cross. I believe there’s nothing I can do to add to His work.

Hbr 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hbr 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

I accept this free gift by faith.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:

Hbr 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

As a faithful and obedient follower, I love, I preach the Gospel, I help the needy, I study the Word of God, this is not exhaustive but you get the picture.

 

[teachccd]

Yes, there is one Jesus and He founded one Church. He said," Upon this rock I build my church.", not churches. Come on all of you biblical scholars out there. Isn’t that pretty much a slam dunk answer???

 

[ASimpleSinner]

You are the ones who have no intention of learning. You are so proud to think you are the one true church when Jesus Himself said to believe and repent. You guys completely ignore John 3:16 as if it doesn’t exist.

Whoa-hoa, cowboy! Back the horse up!

That is a serious and damning allegation not to be made lightly.

That you have genuine differences with the Catholic Church, want to talk about them, or want to inquire about what we believe is welcome.

That you would presume to come in and tell us what we do or do not believe is not only insulting, but just bad form.

Every believing Catholic who knows his or her faith believes the message of John 3:16 with every fiber of their body mind and soul. Our expression of our faith is in recognition of it.

You may very well disagree with how we express it or live it, and you make it clear you do on some matters.

But telling us we ignore it because we have not drawn the same conclusions or use the same exegesis of Sola Scriptura that you have adopted is not only rude and insulting but underlies what could easily be construed as duplicitous and ingenuous motives. It is implcitly and explicitly stated in the rules of membership that you went through to register - and had to agree to in order to belong - what this place is for and how things are to be discussed.

Are you here to discuss and debate these intepretations with us in a friendly charitable way, or here to tell us how wrong we are. The former is ever welcome. The latter is a rules violation and certainly most unwelcome.

-Simple

 

[PauloFreire2]

I believe Catholicism is the true faith.

 

[contramundum7]

Do you actually think it’s just a mental “ascent” that Jesus is Lord? If you think that then you don’t understand what faith is. Yes, demons believe but they don’t have faith in Jesus either. They don’t love God with all their hearts.

I heard the Word and I believe God.

Rom 10:17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

My faith is now in the hope (the earnest expectation) of eternal life in Jesus Christ. I have complete faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done on the cross. I believe there’s nothing I can do to add to His work.

Hbr 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hbr 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

I accept this free gift by faith.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:

Hbr 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

As a faithful and obedient follower, I love, I preach the Gospel, I help the needy, I study the Word of God, this is not exhaustive but you get the picture.

Jesus said “Do this in memory of Me”. Do what? Eat his flesh and drink his Blood (John 6:27-55). Do you do that? Only the Catholics believe that Jesus, through the priest, consecrates the bread/wine @ Mass and it actually changes to his Body and Blood…

 

[contramundum7]

You are the ones who have no intention of learning. You are so proud to think you are the one true church when Jesus Himself said to believe and repent. You guys completely ignore John 3:16 as if it doesn’t exist.

Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In regards to baptism, it’s not water baptism that saves you. Only baptism of the Holy Spirit which one receives when they believe and repent. That is the only way. You cannot receive the Holy Spirit with water.

Don’t you want everlasting life? You just have to place all your faith in Jesus Christ. You MUST believe that He is the Son of God. He paid for our sins in full on the cross with His blood. He was resurrected by the power of God. Now place all your faith in what He has done for you and repent. That’s the promise God made. It is a free gift but you MUST take it by faith.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:

Hbr 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

To say that we claim 2 believe (know) we are in the True Church established by Christ is one thing but to accuse us of having pride… (??) Only God knows a person’s heart and a person’s true motives - whether or not there is sinful pride there…

U talk about faith. I have faith. I have been belieiving in and serving Jesus and/or trying to for years now. I’ve been “born-again”, etc… Yet, when i sin, there is more to my relationship with Christ (and the FAther) than just saying “God, i’m sorry” (though i do that whenver i sin…). As stated in another Post, i will re-tell the story of the boys and their father:
A loving father tells his 3 boys to go out and play but “don’t get dirty”. They go out 2 play. One falls, accidentally, into a mud puddle. The 2nd one is pushed in by a play-mate. The 3rd deliberately throws himself into the mud puddle, in defiance of his father’s wishes.
The father, of course, still loves them all equally. But who do you think the father will be the most angry with?
And more importantly, which one of them needs a bath??
This is a story to illustrate how forgiveness goes hand in hand with sanctification… God is perfectly holy and wants us to be holy also… In other words, we have to take a real good bath before we go visit him… :angel1: :harp:

 

[teachccd]

You are the ones who have no intention of learning. You are so proud to think you are the one true church when Jesus Himself said to believe and repent. You guys completely ignore John 3:16 as if it doesn’t exist.

Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

You are very righteous and downright rude to come to a Catholic forum and display this type of behavior. We have a 2000 year old faith and we provided John 3:16 to you when the Early Church Fathers acknowledged the New Testament as inspired writings. We knew what it meant then and we know what it means now. I once asked a “born again” Christian where he got his bible and he answered, " Barnes and Noble". There’s the extent of Church history.

Please don’t educate us on what it is that we need to learn when everything you have came from us. Thank you very much.