Given that the two lists seem to be presented as contradictory, or at least oppositional, I thought that it might be interesting to consider the differences:
Membership by Spirit baptism / water baptism
As humans are not equipped with a sensory apparatus capable of detecting “Spirit baptism”, who is to say that it does or does not occur simultaneously with water baptism? I do not think that we are able to discriminate between these. I am not, anyway.
There is / is not salvation outside this church.
If we are talking about the True Church, with the definite article applied, does that not mean the entire collection of all who are saved? In that case, there is no salvation outside, because salvation equates with immediate entry. It seems statistically unlikely that all of the members of the True Church would be members of only one human organisation. Nevertheless, this would in no way invalidate the role of that organisation as an integral part of the True Church (not all citizens of the United Kingdom are citizens of England, but all citizens of England are citizens of the United Kingdom).
Members enter by God’s will upon believing His Gospel / by man’s will or by parents’ desire.
See “justification”, below.
Members can never be excommunicated / can be excommunicated and condemned to hell.
Jesus described God
alone as being able to condemn to Hell. How could one mortal forcibly separate another from God? This also goes back to the idea of ‘salvation outside’, above: if the church can excommunicate members from itself, this is entirely coherent with an understanding that it is not the entire True Church. Thus, the church excommunicates a mortal from the community of believers, but does not erect a barrier between that mortal and God.
Of course, I would also suggest that we are well able to separate ourselves…
One authority: the infallible Word of God /
Three authorities: the Bible, Tradition and the infallible Magesterium.
One authority: the Lord God Almighty. References to and/or indicators of the desires of that authority: potentially infinite, when one is dealing with a God who can do anything.
One Head and One Mediator /
Two Heads, many mediators.
I am not sure what, or who, the "Two Heads"are supposed to be, but I would have to go back to the One authority/One head, i.e., God. Regarding mediators, I would guess that the number ought to potentially include every conscious being, inasmuch as any of us could intercede with God on behalf of any other, via prayer. As for whether believers who have died are included in this, I might posit that it depends only upon whether or not they are conscious, and more than a few stories in the
Bible suggest that the authors of those texts believed that they remained so, post mortem.
Foundation is Jesus and the Apostles / Peter alone.
If it is the True Church, then it would not, I think, be the Church of Peter: Peter is not God. The foundation would be God, I presume, and the basis of its doctrines would descend in part from the words of Jesus, in part from the teachings of many philosophers and theologians over the years (including the original Apostles), and in part from the brains that God gave to mortals, apparently with the intention that those mortals should use those brains. (I shall start any day now.)
Proclaims the true Gospel / another.
This goes back to “is the True Church”: the True Church proclaims the True Gospel. If it does not proclaim the True Gospel, then it is not the True Church. However, a mere mortal, being imperfect, might well be unable to establish what exactly is the True Gospel, rendering this useless as a tool of discrimination.
Justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ / by faith plus works.
Neither of these seems right. Mortals sin, and are, consequently, unjust. I doubt very much that they can render themselves righteous, being flawed by their imperfection. As such, I might opt for “Justified by the sovereign choice of a loving God, not on any basis that a human might be able to engineer or demand as his/her due.”
Promise of future glory with Jesus Christ / of a purging or punishing fire for sins.
These probably represent separate categories to be applied to separate individuals, and, as such, do not conflict.
In summary, I think that many points in the list may be valid, all are interesting, and none demonstrates the incorrectness of any given body of Christians.
And well I wouldnt use RCC since we still have Eastern Brethren.