But I’d ask you the same question I asked above, how do you know you chose right with Rome?
Long post:
Again, it all comes back to unity. God is One. If God made a Church, would He be so shortsighted to allow theological disagreements completely fragment His Church? In the first few centuries of Christianity, they certainly didn’t seem to think so. As I mentioned in previous posts, Ignatius and Clement put heavy emphasis on maintaining loyalty to the bishop. Irenaeus, in Chapter 4 of Book 3 in “Against Heresies” further elaborates upon this, stating that if there is indeed a dispute that arises, how else would it be resolved but by going to the Church? He declares that this is the only recourse. He also decries the distorted use of Scripture by the Gnostics throughout the work, as this was their sole authority. In Chapter 20 of Book 5, he states that the bishops are of an older origin than the heretics. In Chapter 10 of Book 1, he speaks of the unity of the Church regardless of the language or location throughout the world. The Church of the ancient Christians seemed quite resolute in keeping heresy out of its midst, and they used apostolic Tradition to give their interpretations weight over the heretics. The heretics also fractured and splintered into many, many different sects of Gnosticism, without any sure leadership.
Now, in Scripture, I looked at how the Apostles resolved disputes. They did the same thing the Church did to determine the Canon of Scripture and the Creeds: they held counsel and debated, and came out with a solution. They did not split and go their own ways. They spoke as one voice. Just as the angels in heaven acclaim in one voice “Holy Holy Holy!”, so, too, does the Church on earth acclaim the same. “Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” It strikes me as odd that the will of God should be perfect unity in Heaven, but complete and utter division on Earth would be just fine with Him. Further, again going to the seeming shortsightedness of God in keeping His Church alive, why would He give authority to the Apostles, and then end any and all authority among men?
If Irenaeus and Clement and Ignatius are wrong about obedience and unity, then how could God possibly expect His Church to continue onward in any meaningful sense? He is, after all, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. How could Christians live the Way, know the Truth, and have Life, if they were told a thousand and one things about which the various intricacies of the Way, Truth, and Life, and that those intricacies didn’t matter? If God intended this, then why did He give us so many specific commandments and tell His apostles to preach with authority? Why did Paul write to Timothy and Titus and tell them to appoint other trusted men to teach? Why couldn’t we just trust Scripture, even if the vast majority of people couldn’t read?
Looking at current Protestantism, I see all these questions made manifest yet again. I see so many different interpretations that lead to factions and splintering, just as with the Gnostics. I see so many claiming that authority doesn’t matter, just like the Gnostics. I see so many using only Scripture to assert anything and everything one could imagine as doctrine, just as the Gnostics. Yet, among it all, I see one Church that not only claims to be One in a superficial way. She claim to be one in the way Irenaeus claimed the Church was one: that She teaches with the voice of the Apostles and that the faithful must acclaim their faith with one voice. This Church is the Catholic Church under the Roman Vicar.
As familiar as the Church looks compared to the bishop-lead, council-holding, authority-claiming Church of the early Christians, I still sought to reconcile Orthodoxy with Catholicism. Using both history, Scripture, and reason, I came to the conclusion that, if Christ’s Church is His Body, and He is the Head, and He is in Heaven and is glorified, then there must necessarily be some way we can truly hear Him today. He said He wouldn’t leave us orphans, and said He is the Truth. Thus, there must be ONE Truth, and He must guide us to it. Besides the utmost respect that the world gave the Roman Church, and even Irenaeus’ claim that all Apostolic Churches must be in communion with Rome (Chapter 3, Book 3), and that Christ gave Peter the Keys and authority, it made logical sense that the Body of Christ on Earth must be unified (for no kingdom divided will stand, the kingdom of Heaven is unified, and God’s will is the same on Earth as in Heaven), and must also have a Mouth to instruct us.
Scripture obviously hasn’t done the job alone, as there are so incredibly many Protestant denominations, and they are ever fracturing further away from the original faith (Oneness Pentecostals, Universalists, easy-believism, Jesus Seminar style people, and even New Age and Buddhist style Christians). This completely ruled out Protestantism for me, forever. Excuses abound from Protestants, but you will know them by their fruits. God’s fruit is not that His faithful be divided. It is that His faithful stand unified against the evils of the world.
(continued…)
