The Church, of course, is the body of Christ, Mick. Therefore, you are mistaken in assuming that it cannot be both. Remember also what Christ said to his Apostles:"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Either Jesus is right (I am the way) or the CC is right (the CC is the way). There is no possibility that both can be right.
You know what I have always thought would be an interesting attempt at focusing a thread? Have two commentators - one from the Catholic perspective, one from the opposing perspective - like a debate. We pick two thread specific moderators who do all the posting. We could choose, for example - Paulc in one corner, and Mickey in the other. Any catholic who wishes to comment must simply PM their comments to Paulc who reviews them and includes all, part or none of those PMs into his actual posting on the thread. Mickey would be responsible for reading, editing and posting for the opposing viewpoint. Very simple. Very focused. Anybody interested?Aside from the intrinsic problem (pages and pages of replies and rarely seeing one that is addressing the topic - or in this case subtopic) the moderators here have been known to shut down threads that don’t stay on topic.
My experience with certain (not all) detractors of the Faith is they tend to switch topics when confronted. Seems to me having a needlessly broad topic only invites this sort of behavior.
True, but I don’t think that helps your side!The Church, of course, is the body of Christ, Mick.
The way I see it, if you are wrong in your assumption that the church founded by Jesus is the CC, then what happens to your argument?Therefore, you are mistaken in assuming that it cannot be both.
True, “whoever listens to you listens to me” but as I’ve already pointed out, the Catholics are completely unable to demonstrate that their view of history is any more accurate than those who disagree with them. The CC ultimately must be accepted only by faith. But faith in a mere religion is useless. As for me, I will trust in Jesus. My focus will be on who Jesus is, (the famous confession of Peter) and not who the CC claims the apostle Peter is. The bride of Christ is focused on Christ.Remember also what Christ said to his Apostles:
“Whoever listens to you listens to me” The apostles, the beginning of the Church, continued to this day is a manifestation of Christ in our midst. Whoever hears you, hears me. Wherever two of you gather, there I am. Etc Etc…
that injects a filtering of thought into the thread by the two principles you have chosen. I’m not sure that is really beneficial. What I think is not important might actually be the catylist for conversion for someone else. i don’t think the defocusing of a thread is really that big of a problem. Any reader can bring it back to topic if they choose.You know what I have always thought would be an interesting attempt at focusing a thread? Have two commentators - one from the Catholic perspective, one from the opposing perspective - like a debate. We pick two thread specific moderators who do all the posting. We could choose, for example - Paulc in one corner, and Mickey in the other. Any catholic who wishes to comment must simply PM their comments to Paulc who reviews them and includes all, part or none of those PMs into his actual posting on the thread. Mickey would be responsible for reading, editing and posting for the opposing viewpoint. Very simple. Very focused. Anybody interested?
Blessings!