No, I don’t agree with that. They broke away from the Catholic Church because among other things they thought it had become corrupt. They may have broke away from many of the Church’s teachings, but not Jesus Christ himself.
Not even remotely close to the truth. Read the confessions of the reformers yourself and see otherwise.
By your own post: “non-Catholic Christans…are joined in an imperfect manner to the Church.”
So true. The Roman Catholic Church as you call it (which is called the Catholic Church by its members), which we’ll assume is the Church headed by the Bishop of Rome, one of the Apostolic churches founded by Christ’s most glorious apostles Peter & Paul, is the epitome of the Christian Church. It is the president of the Church. Other churches, such as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches are also part of that same Universal Church whose founders were other apostles besides Peter & Paul, but choose to remain in Unity with the Apostolic See because Christ gave Peter the Keys to the Kingdom and the authority to bind and loose. There is one magisterium for east & west, the bishops of each being equal to the other. Peter was the first, and the rock of the Church which guaranteed the Roman Pontiff the charism of infallibility to protect his flock as Christ told Peter to “Feed His Sheep”. Thus, the Pope is the visible sign of unity of the Universal Church to which every Christian must assent the due respect and render proper authority. Denying this rightful authority makes one a schismatic; denying doctrines central to the Christian Faith makes one a heretic.
No! That just is not true. The catholic church is the body of Christ. It includes all Christians. It is not the exclusive pervue of a few (or the many millions) that take their marching orders from Rome. All who claim Jesus as both Lord and Savior are catholic.
Grace Seeker, there is no “invisible Church” on Earth there is one visible church headed by the Pope in Rome with Christ as its Eternal Head.
It became “Roman Catholic” when Peter arrived in Rome.
If they throw out Christ’s Sacraments, Christ’s commandments, Christ’s Body, and Christ’s Bishops, then what remains of Christ have they kept?
First of all you know as a former Protestant that your contention here is not accepted as true by Protestants. You say it is true, we say it’s not. No agreement there. In addition, and as acknowledged by your Church, we are Christians. We believe in Christ, we follow Him as we understand him (as do you) and the Holy Spirt works in and among us. As Christ himself affirmed: where two or three are gathered in His name, there He is also. Did you not know Jesus when you were Protestant?
If you can find the word “chief” anyplace in John 21, let alone in Jesus’ conversation with Peter, I’ll buy your plane ticket so you can visit the Vatican.
True enough.
I expect that Peter would cringe at that understanding. I suspect that is the result of reading back into history. Just like in the US there are people who think that the Civil War was about free the slaves, or WW2 was about the Holocaust of the Jews. Neither of those was true at the time, they have become true only in our subsequet redacting of history. The same thing has happened with this belief you espouse.
I knew something of Him, yes. (I was under the impression that He was a kind of majick faery - I didn’t realize that He had an actual body.) But as soon as I found out about the history of my Church, I knew enough to leave it and become a member of the Church that my Jesus founded.
There can only be one head. Either the Church is headed by Christ, or it is headed by the Pope. I submit it is headed by Christ and thus includes all who belong to Christ.
Cool. Then it is so good that you have become a Roman Catholic. Because if you understood Jesus as only some sort of magic fairy while a member of a protestant church, then you did not understand Jesus at all. So it is good that you have found the truth about Jesus in Roman Catholicism. However, the fact that you were in error while a Protestant does not mean the Protestantism itself is in error. One does not follow from the other.I knew something of Him, yes. (I was under the impression that He was a kind of majick faery - I didn’t realize that He had an actual body.) But as soon as I found out about the history of my Church, I knew enough to leave it and become a member of the Church that my Jesus founded.
My ardent desire to follow Jesus when I was Protestant is what caused me to become a Catholic, because I recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. (Luke24:13-35)
Where is the physically living body of Christ in Protestantism?
This is a false dichotomy. Jesus Christ appoints the Pope to be the earthly leader of the Church. The Pope follows Jesus. The Pope is to Jesus as Eliakim the son of Hilkiah was to Solomon. (See Isaiah 22:20-22)
This is not what God ordained. This is what humans designed from what God ordained. Protestant churches can have just as much order to them (the Anglican Communion or the United Methodist Church for example) as the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church can have just as much anarchy as any protestant church (the Anglican Communion or the United Methodist Church for example).
This is just an error (saying all Christians are not part of the Body). All believers are members of the Body of Christ, and this is what Catholicism teaches. It cannot be considered heresy. Heresy is when one has been properly taught matters of faith then willfully rejects them.
This is what Jesus Christ ordained. Read your New Testament. The Apostles were in charge of the Church. Peter was the lead Apostle. Jesus founded the Catholic Church, and set Peter and the other Apostles in charge of it. They in turn appointed successors - the Pope and his Bishops.
* Jn 15:16 - Jesus chose special men to be his Apostles.
* Jn 20:21 - Jesus gave the Apostles his own mission.
* Lk 22:29-30 - Jesus gave them a kingdom.
* Mt 16:18 - Jesus built His Church on Peter, the rock.
* Jn 10:16 - one shepherd to shepherd Christ's sheep.
* Lk 22:32, Jn 21:17 - Peter appointed to be chief shepherd.
* Eph 4:11 - church leaders are hierarchical.
* 1 Tim 3:1, 8; 5:17 - identifies role of bishops, priests and deacons.
* Tit 1:5 - commission for bishops to ordain priests.Actually, Peter and Paul founded the Eastern Churches first, and went to Rome last, and died there.
I think you are lacking some study of Christian History, Grace Seeker. Also, a distinction needs to be made between Catholic with a big “C” and catholic with a small “c”.