How did you know your church is the one?

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Bob_Crowley said:
The question is just as valid for Catholics. I didn’t become Catholic for something to do on a rainy day, or because there was a total vacuum of competing ideologies.
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Although there are Catholics (I know because I’ve met a bunch of them) who do regard non-Catholic Christianity – not only Protestantism but Eastern Orthodoxy (and Oriental Orthodoxy) as well – as a “total vacuum”.
 
SAVINGRACE said:
How do you know your church teachings are infallible, possesses the fullness of Truth and is historically/theologically supported?
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Hi SG’

First, it is a personal decision for everyone, a decision and a willing to believe something about the church they decide is “it”. We all have to decide.

As in all good things, it is God who puts understanding in the heart of a person, including this matter.

We all look at the same evidences about a church: historical, biblical, traditional, fruits, etc…

Most churches think they are OK. Some more than others will tell you they are “it”, the church. We must be wary then when the dialogue enters enters into “politics” or salemanship. Just because one church says it is OK, or even the church does not mean it is so.

And we are right back to God putting the understanding of the matter in our hearts.

Not only must the decision be made with absolutism of Truth in mind, but also of Wisdom in the matter, which is less “legalistic”, boxy, and more flexible, and graciously astounding.

Blessings
 
estesbob said:
The problem is trying to distillbChurch teaching on Torture from a single paragraph written by a Pope 900 years ago. Here’s what he said:
*
The Podestà or Rector has the authority to oblige all heretics that he may have in his power, without breaking limbs or endangering their lives, to confess their errors and to accuse other heretics whom they may know, as true assassins of souls and thieves of the Sacraments of God and of the Christian faith, and their worldly goods, and believers in their doctrines, those who receive them and defend them, just as robbers and thieves of temporal goods are obliged to accuse their accomplices and confess the evil that they have done.1*

Innocent was in fact trying to lessen the brutal torture prevalent in his day. His Bull also proclaimed an Ecclesiastical judge be at any torture.

Here is what Nicolhas l had written nearly 400 years earlier:
*If a thief or robber is apprehended and denies that he is involved, you say that in your country the judge would beat his head with lashes and prick his sides with iron goads until he came up with the truth. Neither divine nor human law allows this practice in any way, since a confession should be spontaneous, not compelled, and should not be elicited with violence but rather proffered voluntarily. But it just so happens that you find nothing at all which casts the crime upon the one who has suffered, aren’t you ashamed and don’t you realize how impiously you judge? Likewise, if the accused man, after suffering, says that he committed what he did not commit because he is unable to bear such [torture], upon whom, I ask you, will the magnitude of so great an impiety fall if not upon the person who compelled this man to confess these things falsely? Indeed, the person who utters from his mouth what he does not hold in his heart is known not to confess but to speak [cf. Mt. 12:34]. Therefore leave such practices behind and heartily curse the things which you have hitherto done foolishly. Indeed, what fruit shall you have in those practices, of which you are now ashamed. Finally, when a free man is caught in a crime, unless he is first found guilty of some wicked deed, he either falls victim to the punishment after being convicted by three witnesses or, if he cannot be convicted, he is absolved after swearing on the holy Gospel that he did not commit [the crime] which is laid against him, and from that moment on the matter is at an end, just as the oft-mentioned Apostle, the teacher of the nations, attests, when he says: an oath for confirmation is an end of all their strife[Heb. 6:16).7**Didn’t the Inquisition allow torture to extract confessions based on the papal bull ad extirpandam?
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Tomdstone said:
Didn’t the Inquisition allow torture to extract confessions based on the papal bull ad extirpandam?
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Yes, part of the fruit evidences we have to deal with. All churches are glass houses. (or should be, and definitely will be on that Great Day). All churches have their good, bad, and ugly. Part of some 's ugliness is saying they are “ugly” at times but always “good/pure”.?

May we all apply this to our church , “Let all be liars only God is true”. Humility is usually in short supply when we defend our church, for it is a reflection on our personal choice, at least today (when we can freely decide).

A good humility test is whether we are willing to admit none of our denominational names will last into eternity. Just the Bride of Christ.

Blessings Tom
 
Tomdstone said:
Didn’t the Inquisition allow torture to extract confessions based on the papal bull ad extirpandam?
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I quoted you the sum total of what the Popes said about torture during the period of the inquisition. One does not develop theology from one random paragraph written in a Bull 900 years ago.
 
benhur said:
A good humility test is whether we are willing to admit none of our denominational names will last into eternity. Just the Bride of Christ.
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False humility is not a good test of humility. The fact is that Christ promised his Church that it would last into eternity. He promised that Hell would not prevail against it, he promised his guidance to it. While it’s true that, whichever Church is true, it’s physical representation in our world will pass away with the second coming, the Church teaches Truth which will never pass away, even after the Resurrection. The one True Church will be her for the rest of eternity, all who die and enter into the Beatific Vision (Heaven) will become one with it for all of eternity.

As for me, It’s taken a good deal of study, both theological and historical, along with some not-so-gentle prodding from God. I rejected Buddhism / Confucianism because they are philosophies, not faiths; Philosophies are great, but neither of these has any solid foundation outside of the beliefs of their progenitors. I rejected Islam because it is a logically incoherent faith that rejects the truths of the natural world (God’s gift of science). I’ve studied the realities of Protestantism in history as opposed to the realities of Catholicism in history and have arrived at the conclusion that Protestantism cannot be the proper expression of Christ’s teaching, especially when we look to the Church Fathers. I reject the Orthodoxies because I see Peter’s primacy clearly outlined in the NT and writings of the Church Fathers.

At the end of the day, I am Catholic because it is the only Church which is rational.
 
benhur said:
Yes, part of the fruit evidences we have to deal with. All churches are glass houses. (or should be, and definitely will be on that Great Day). All churches have their good, bad, and ugly. Part of some 's ugliness is saying they are “ugly” at times but always “good/pure”.?

May we all apply this to our church , “Let all be liars only God is true”. Humility is usually in short supply when we defend our church, for it is a reflection on our personal choice, at least today (when we can freely decide).

A good humility test is whether we are willing to admit none of our denominational names will last into eternity. Just the Bride of Christ.

Blessings Tom
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The truth is people preferred to be tried in inquisitional courts because they were fairer and the “torture” was far less egregious than in civil courts. During the four hundred year run of the inquisition aprox 4,000 'heretics" were killed-none by the Church
 
estesbob said:
I quoted you the sum total of what the Popes said about torture during the period of the inquisition. One does not develop theology from one random paragraph written in a Bull 900 years ago.
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Wasn’t burning at the stake allowed by the Church by a different document?
 
How do I know? Because of Christ own words. And because what He revealed to me in a vision!!. That’s all I will say.
 
Just my observation here, but it seems to me that it is central to Catholicism to believe that your particular ecclesial community cannot teach error, while Episcopalians recognize that our leaders are fallible sinners who have made mistakes and will probably make more in the future. I like the humility of the latter position.
 
masuwerte said:
Just my observation here, but it seems to me that it is central to Catholicism to believe that your particular ecclesial community cannot teach error, while Episcopalians recognize that our leaders are fallible sinners who have made mistakes and will probably make more in the future. I like the humility of the latter position.
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The thing is, if one is teaching by the Holy Spirit, you’d think God would like for what it is propagating to be fact, not fiction.

And it only applies to the Pope, on matters of faith (i.e. doctrinal issues). IIRC, they are generally offered with a disclaimer, although any of the Pope’s Biblical teachings may be infallible, although I thought it didn’t work quite like that.

The other thing to remember is the Church teaches all of these people in our Church are fallen, and do sin. They admit to that, as does the Pope.
 
CuriousMike said:
Completely agree, 100%
I know the RCC is the one, because I have witnessed some great things during my short time here! My prayer life is stronger, Mass means something to me as does prayer. Prayer actually seems to be doing something in my life, whereas it was just hopeless, IMO, before.

Having a structure of readings, and not some “random” picking bits and pieces from a Bible to preach on is also very reassuring. At least we hear the full book over the full liturgical cycle./QUOTE

Hi, Mike! I’ve been a member of the LCMS for many years and because of my job as a teacher I a several “calls” to different churches to teach the children. I say this because over all that time I have seem some miraculous things happen, too, within my church,

My family members are not Lutheran but attend some different Protestant churches and wonderful things happen there.

Question for everyone: Isn’t the Holy Spirit able to work within the lives and in the parishes where non-Catholics attend?

Just a thought,

God bless, all!!

Rita
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SAVINGRACE said:
Okay this is not going how I intended. I thought only non-Catholics would respond. Mea culpa.😛 should’ve been more specific in title and op.

Thank you for the responses everyone.
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Hi, SG,

I didn’t want to respond to the question because it seemed more like a “baiting” question. I also have posted before why I believe what I do and why I attend this church. I feel like I would have received the same feedback as I’ve gotten before. I love to post in here and to share about my Christian walk and the experiences I’ve had or will have so I waited to see how the thread turned out before I said anything.

Thanks and God bless!
Rita
 
👍
Bob_Crowley said:
The question is just as valid for Catholics. I didn’t become Catholic for something to do on a rainy day, or because there was a total vacuum of competing ideologies.

I actually resisted it for a while. The final straw was an argument with a Protestant pastor, but that was just the final nail in the coffin of resistance.
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estesbob said:
I am having a hard time following your logic. You find an offensive paragraph in a 900 year old document and therefore the Church does not have the Fullness of Truth?
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Exsurge Domine was issued 500 years ago.
 
ProdglArchitect said:
False humility is not a good test of humility. The fact is that Christ promised his Church that it would last into eternity. He promised that Hell would not prevail against it, he promised his guidance to it. While it’s true that, whichever Church is true, it’s physical representation in our world will pass away with the second coming, the Church teaches Truth which will never pass away, even after the Resurrection. The one True Church will be her for the rest of eternity, all who die and enter into the Beatific Vision (Heaven) will become one with it for all of eternity.

As for me, It’s taken a good deal of study, both theological and historical, along with some not-so-gentle prodding from God. I rejected Buddhism / Confucianism because they are philosophies, not faiths; Philosophies are great, but neither of these has any solid foundation outside of the beliefs of their progenitors. I rejected Islam because it is a logically incoherent faith that rejects the truths of the natural world (God’s gift of science). I’ve studied the realities of Protestantism in history as opposed to the realities of Catholicism in history and have arrived at the conclusion that Protestantism cannot be the proper expression of Christ’s teaching, especially when we look to the Church Fathers. I reject the Orthodoxies because I see Peter’s primacy clearly outlined in the NT and writings of the Church Fathers.

At the end of the day, I am Catholic because it is the only Church which is rational.
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I’m thinking that you will find most Protestants say that they are part of the Church because we take the words that Christ says to Peter that the Keys were left to all of the church. My understanding is that we (as Christians) are included in His statement that whatever is loosed on Earth is loosed in heave, and what ever is bound on earth is also bound in Heaven. That distinct passage is - to my way of thinking , that God began to establish . There were 11 others there that heard it as well, so anything that they knew had to be passed down as well.

I’m very happy you have found a spiritual place to worship, learn from the texts, and an excitement for getting info thru the Early Fathers.

God bless you , Mike!!

Rita
 
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