Invisible Church: Why?

[Katholikos]

QED: You have no credibility.

The historical record of the Protestant doctrine of the “invisible church” begins with Martin Luther in the 16th century. You will not find it in the history of Christianity before Luther. We have to give credit where credit is due: sola scriptura, sola fide, the invisible church, the seeds of once saved, always saved, and other novel doctrines sprang full blown from the mind of Martin Luther.

The Catholic Faith comes to us from Christ and the Apostles.

Praise and exalt Him forever in His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Peace to all, Katholikos
former member of the invisible church

P.S. What does QED mean?

 

[Contarini]

The historical record of the Protestant doctrine of the “invisible church” begins with Martin Luther in the 16th century. You will not find it in the history of Christianity before Luther.

Obviously the Protestant doctrine began then, because Protestantism began then. But the roots of the idea are in the Augustinian understanding of the body of the elect as the Church in the fullest and ultimate sense. Late medieval dissenters such as Hus pushed this to unorthodox degrees a century before Luther.

We have to give credit where credit is due: sola scriptura, sola fide, the invisible church, the seeds of once saved, always saved, and other novel doctrines sprang full blown from the mind of Martin Luther.

The only one of these where you have any case is sola fide, and even then it didn’t spring “full blown.” The “seeds,” to use your own metaphor, are in the NT and the Fathers.

And BTW how can “seeds” “spring full blown”? Your metaphors are clashing here in a rather glaring way! Furthermore, your use of the term “seeds” is a rather sneaky attempt to evade the fact that Luther explicitly contradicts OSAS. Apparently you believe that someone can teach the “seeds” of an idea even though he believes the exact opposite. By that standard, it’s easy for Protestants to demonstrate the “seeds” of all sorts of ideas throughout Christian tradition!

The Catholic Faith comes to us from Christ and the Apostles.

Praise and exalt Him forever in His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Of course. When your arguments won’t bear looking into, indulge in a burst of pious rhetoric!

Edwin

 

[Steadfast]

The historical record of the Protestant doctrine of the “invisible church” begins with Martin Luther in the 16th century. You will not find it in the history of Christianity before Luther. We have to give credit where credit is due: sola scriptura, sola fide, the invisible church, the seeds of once saved, always saved, and other novel doctrines sprang full blown from the mind of Martin Luther.

The Catholic Faith comes to us from Christ and the Apostles.

Praise and exalt Him forever in His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Peace to all, Katholikos
former member of the invisible church

P.S. What does QED mean?

Q.E.D. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase “quod erat demonstrandum” (literally, “which was to be demonstrated”). In simple terms, its use is to indicate that something has been definitively proven.

By which I meant that the post you made demonstrates your lack of credibility at least on the issue of the visible/invisible church distinction.

I gave my own working of it here if you care to look at it.