Not sure that everyone is meant to be catholic

[brockmac]

Brosam,

Just to clarify, what I meant is the people who are Roman Catholics are guilty of sin, pride, and greed. The Church itself, being the Body of Christ is incapable of sin. Members of the Church, including popes, bishops, priests, religious and laypeople are all capable of sin, and sadly utilize that capability far too often.

Pax et Bonem.

 

[brosam]

The Church itself, being the Body of Christ is incapable of sin.

Was the church correct when it murdered men it considered “heretics”?

Is the church correct when it covers up it’s pedophile priests?

Is the church correct when it teaches false doctrine?

Members of the Church, including popes, bishops, priests, religious and laypeople are all capable of sin, and sadly utilize that capability far too often.

Pax et Bonem.

I see. So then, why are you following them?

 

[brosam]

Scripture shows everybody is meant to be a Christian.

Acts 2:38-39
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and **let every one of you **be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

And what part of this verse is it that you believe says this?

Christians of trinitarian baptism are saved through that baptism, in that at that moment they enter into the family of God through Jesus Christ, His Son, and now, our brother.

Then why does the Bible say otherwise?

Jesus established One church

I agree. I am a member in full standing in that church.

It is by the grace of God that any of us are saved but that doesn’t dismiss us from our mission to proclaim the Truth about Jesus Christ to all people.

Really? When was the last time you shared the Gospel with an unsaved person?

He intimately gives himself completely to us through that sacrament and it is such a joyous moment we Catholics want all our Christian brothers and sisters to experience the true joy of receiving Him in that manner.

OK. So then, if I go to my local Roman Catholic church, they’ll let me take the Eucharist?

As for all Christian churches being ‘just fine’, well, why settle for ‘fine’ when you can have ‘excellent’?

Oh, that’s good. I hadn’t thought of that.

Please, do I really have to explain what I mean by “fine”? It was qualitative, not quantitative.

But, since you don’t seem to have gotten that, let me rephrase: what can I hope to get in a Roman Catholic church that I don’t already have now? Yes, I know you’re going to say the “fullness of Christ” or somesuch, but feel free to go ahead, anyway.

Christians of other denominations seem focused on Christ’s final return, as if He ascended into heaven on that one day and has been in heaven ever since.

Oh, you mean like the Bible says?

Catholics know without a doubt, through our experience of receiving the sacraments (particularly the Eucharist) that Jesus is here, now, in ever Catholic Church, in every tabernacle. We can sit with him, physically, at any hour of any day through eucharistic adoration.

I see. So then, Jesus’ physical body is not only omnipresent, but is also able to be eaten and never diminish.

I know that this is going to upset a lot of people but I promise you I am 100o/o sincere and am not trying to offend you. When you eat Jesus’ body, does it taste like flesh, or does it taste like a wafer?

We hear Christians ask, “What if Jesus was here today?”. The Catholic response is, “He is here.”

First of all, how interesting. I was just blasted in another thread for making that distinction, Christian and Catholic.

Does the Bible say that Jesus is here, or that He ascended to Heaven bodily and now sits at the right hand of the Father?

 

[brockmac]

Brosam,

Sadly, Catholics do not have a monpoly on executing heretics or sexual abuse of minors. (See Henry the 8th for the former and any number of Protestant pastors and youth directors for the latter.)

But my purpose is not to bash Protestants or anyone else. It is to point out that as I am sure you are aware, leaders in every community, be it an ecclesial, political, or social one, will commit sins, sometimes, very serious ones (not sure if you believe all sins to be equally grave or not, but that is another discussion for another day.) This does not mean that we don’t need leaders. The bible clearly demonstrates a hierchical Church from the beginning, with Apostles, Bishops, Presbyters (Elders or Priests), and Deacons. It is clear from St. Paul’s directions on how these men should be chosen, that they were given responsibility over and within the Christian communities (Local Churches). So I follow the Bishops and the Pope, because scripture and tradition clearly dictate that this is the order Christ and the Holy Spirit established for the Church. I will humbly submit myself to the rightful authority under whose charge I have been placed.

As I stated earlier, yes Popes sin and Bishops sin, but then again, so did St. Peter, and St. Paul, and I suspect Sts. John, Luke, Mark, and Matthew. Yet you do not doubt that their teachings are inspired by the Holy Spirit. You trust that God protected their writings so that His Church would have a sure guidline. Unfortunately, I have not found anywhere in the canon of scripture a list of the books that should be included as divinely inspired. Who exactly made this determination, and by whose authority? The answer is THE CHURCH, the pillar and foundation of truth made this determination by the authority she was given when the Lord told St. Peter “And upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. Whatsoever you hold bound on earth will be bound in Heaven…” So if God entrusted the Church with defining the canon, would he not have entrusted the Church to interpret it? (Think of the Ethiopian Eunich who could not understand the scriptures unless someone were to explain them.) And just incase you were curious, there were no surviving apostles when the Canon was defined so you can’t resort to apostolic authority, other than the apostolic authority handed down to the Church through the apostles.

As Always, Pax et Bonem.