St. Peter's primacy

[ziapueblo]

It’s funny. I’ve been in a discussion with some folks on a forum such as this, but mainly protestant. We’ve been talking about the Pope, Peter’s primacy and such. They throw all this crazy rhetoric at you but they cannot answer some simple questions. Why did Jesus change Simon’s name to Cephas? Why is he always listed first among the apostles? Why did Jesus give him the keys to the kingdom of heaven (they don’t even touch this one)? Why did the early Church Fathers understand all this? Finally I figured it out…THEY HAVE NO LOGICAL ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS!!!

 

[Cajetan]

Heresy has holes.

 

[Newbie2]

Well, there ya go. A common tactic is to then change the argument to "Yeah, well what about (fill in the blank about how the RCC is “wrong”).

 

[EB4304]

It’s hard to stare such hard evidence in the face if it undermines a core belief. Honesty demands it, but we’re often unwilling.

Just the other day I was reading an article by a faithful Protestant who made the false claim that Saint Augustine did not believe in the Real Presence. He quoted two passages from Augustine where he emphasizes the spiritual and symbolic nature of the Eucharist and then concluded that Augustine thought it was only a symbol. But there are over a dozen passages where Augustine explicitly states that the Eucharist is the real body and blood of Christ. It’s easy to support any position if you’re clever about the sources you pick.