Please see 2Tim.3:16 I trust the word of God, not what man has added to the Bible. You have the magisterium to thank for your errors.
The Apostlic church was Christ’s church in 30A.D.
The first 280 years of Christian history, christianity was banned by the Roman Empire, but that’s another subject.
God bless,
jean8
Jean, you missed what Paul wrote to Timothy in the preceding two verses.
If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD, THE PILLAR AND FOUNDATION OF THE TRUTH."
{1 Timothy 3, 14-15}
The Church is the final authority in the mediation of Divine revelation. Sacred Scripture must be interpreted in light of Sacred Tradition by the Apostolic teaching authority of the Church. Without infallible Tradition there would be no infallible Scripture to begin with. It is the Church which has infallibly declared the ontological deity of the Son and the Spirit in a Triune of Persons together with the Father. The written Word makes no such definitive pronouncement. If the Church has erred in her Marian doctrines, then how can we be sure that she hasn’t erred in her Christological and Trinitarian teachings as well by adding human notions to Scripture? The best we could do in this situation would be to pick and choose what we personally wish to believe after examining the Scriptures. In this way Protestantism is limited in arriving at the absolute and immutable divine truth. The fragmentation of this religious movement is the result of this grave limitation.
Fortunately, Jesus founded his One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on Peter and the Apostles, through whom divine authority to preach the Gospel has been conferred on the College of Bishops in union with the Pope: Apostolic Succession. Only the Sacred and Universal Magisterium of the Catholic Church has the authority and charismatic ability to infallibly formulate essential doctrines and promulgate dogmas in light of Scripture and Tradition: the Deposit of Faith. The promised Paraclete guides the Church in all truth (John 16-12-13).
It is true that the universal Church was denied the permanent status of an official state religion among many pagan religions in the Roman empire during the first four centuries. But this historical fact is rather a blessing in disguise. Christianity eventually became the empire’s ‘only’ official state religion by decree of the Emperor Constantine. However, the one visible Church had still existed all that time before then notwithstanding the constraints imposed on her by the preceding Roman emperors. Extant early Christian writings show that the Church, founded by Jesus through the apostles and their valid successors, was alive during the time of the great persecutions and was conscious of her own true identity.
“THOSE, THEREFORE, WHO DESERT THE PREACHING OF THE CHURCH, CALL IN QUESTION THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY PRESBYTERS, NOT TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION OF HOW MUCH GREATER CONSEQUENCE IS A RELIGIOUS MAN, EVEN IN A PRIVATE STATION, THAN A BLASPHEMOUS AND IMPUDENT SOPHIST (the so-called Protestant reformers
). NOW, SUCH ARE ALL THE HERETICS, AND THOSE WHO IMAGINE THAT THEY HAVE HIT UPON SOMETHING MORE BEYOND THE TRUTH, SO THAT BY FOLLOWING THOSE THINGS ALREADY MENTIONED (the question of the ontological deity of the Son and Spirit
), PROCEEDING ON THEIR WAY VARIOUSLY, INHARMONIOUSLY, AND FOOLISHLY, NOT ALWAYS KEEPING TO THE SAME OPINIONS WITH REGARD TO THE SAME THINGS (Luther vs Calvin vs Zwingli vs Wesley vs Knox …), AS BLIND MEN ARE LED BY THE BLIND, THEY SHALL DESERVEDLY FALL INTO THE DITCH OF IGNORANCE LYING IN THEIR PATH, EVER SEEKING AND NEVER FINDING THE TRUTH. IT BEHOOVES US, THEREFORE, TO AVOID THEIR DOCTRINES, AND TO TAKE CAREFUL HEED LEST WE SUFFER ANY INJURY FROM THEM; BUT TO FLEE TO THE CHURCH, AND BE BROUGHT UP IN HER BOSOM, AND BE NOURISHED WITH THE LORD’S SCRIPTURES (The Deposit of Faith).”
Irenaeus, ‘Against Heresies, 5, 20:2’ (A.D. 180)
" THIS VIRGIN MOTHER, OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN OF GOD, IS CALLED MARY, WORTHY OF GOD, IMMACULATE OF THE IMMACULATE, ONE OF THE ONE."
Origen, ‘Homily 1’ (A.D. 244)
Pax vobiscum
Good Fella
