OK.
But the Orthodox claim the same for themselves.
For that matter, the invisible church (is that the buzzword) claims the church has a Divine Nature. It’s not an organization like Boy Scouts. The only difference being is that “The Church” is not confined to one ecclesiastical organization of “The Church”.
Actually it has occurred to me that the whole direction this thread is going is a little removed from the original proposition. But that is fine by me. Because another thing that I just don’t get is why God would create a church that today resides exclusively in one denomination and then make it really difficult to figure out what that denomination is.
It’s difficult for you, not for me.
Doesn’t matter whether all 3x,xxx Protestant Churches also claim to be the Church Christ built. What matters is what Christ did, what He established and built.
In this thread, like many others, false underlying suppositions disturb the conversation and make it almost impossible to answer the original post until fixed. I could add my perspective on the Church’s (including Vatican II’s) teaching regarding salvation outside the Church. A good farmer will prepare the soil before planting the crop.
If you are starting with what exists today, and going backward, you are not starting with Christ. You will also find it difficult to get to Christ by this method, especially when you limit to less than all revealed truth, then make your own fallible twist on that which you use. One must start with what Christ did, when He did it, and come forward to today. It starts with Christ, and ends with Christ.
You love Scripture, right, to get the warm and fuzzy (hopefully heartfelt and not otherwise). Take a look at what was done, and what it means. Look at how it all fits together, as this is the only way to really do it properly. Scriptures are not formally sufficient, but are materially sufficient and will do you well. It is always referred to as “the Church” and not multiple Churches. Jesus asked for unity, how do you get that? Jesus built His Church upon the rock of St. Peter… unless one screws up the Greek and or Aramaic, then they’ll understand this properly. You also have to look at the backdrop that Jesus did this at… Cesarea Philippi… it’s a long and seemingly difficult walk up there from Galilee, so it wasn’t for no good reason. The false god that had been worshiped there had been called “pan,” and he was the false god of shepherds. The big rock there had a temple to the current false god. The symbolism was there, and Jesus used this for this scene to show that He is the true God, not these false gods. Simon answered Jesus’ question correctly of Who Jesus was, but not of Simon’s own intelligence, but because of the Father had taught through Simon. Jesus then changed Simon’s name to Kepha (which means rock). Jesus said He would build His Church on the rock of Peter, who would be the true Shepherd of Christ’s people. Christ also gave Peter the keys, which symbolize authority, as a King did to His Prime Minister to take care of things when He was going away (note that Christ gave the keys to none of the others, but Peter). Later, Christ asked Peter to feed His lambs, feed His Sheep. Looks like Christ established His true Shepherd for His flock as Peter, and gave Peter authority (symbolized by the keys) in the Kingdom of Heaven. Ultimately, Christ the King has all the authority, but has delegated authority to Peter as His “Prime Minister”. It’s not that Peter can just do what he wants with this authority, but the Holy Spirit will protect Peter so that Jesus’ Church is protected.
I think you would have to at least admit that what I wrote above is certainly a possibility of correct interpretation of Scriptures. It is supported by Scripture, as what I described above is in Matthew 16 and John 21. It is not disproved by Scriptures (when they remain undistorted). Also, it is in line with the other Scriptures (when they are not distorted). I will go further, and say that this is what happened back then. This is what Christ did as He was establishing His Church. There is more, but this certainly gets one started. I would think that from this alone, one would find it fairly easy to take it from there and identify the true Church today.
Like I said, when you start with what Christ did, it’s pretty easy to end up at the right location. It’s those who refuse to do this, that find things more difficult.