What is the Purpose of the Church?

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A Protestant has said that we believe the Church is our Savior (even though Jesus clearly is). My question is what do we view the Church as?
 
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The vehicle by which we come to know about God, the Trinity, Christ, and His will for our lives.
A guide for good living and the roadmap for eternal life.
 
Just as God’s will is creation and is called “the world,” so his intention is the salvation of men, and it is called “the Church.”
-St. Clement of Alexandria

From CCC 760
 
I can’t decide how to frame what I want to say. Maybe someone can help.

The Church is a community. Or. The Church provides a framework for our community(s). Maybe it’s both.
 
The Church is the modern day Ark, built by Christ through a man named Peter, captained by the Holy Spirit, by which we navigate the treacherous waters of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and arrive safely at a kingdom of light, love, and joy illuminated by the rainbow oi the Creator’s love.

(Dorry, I just got out of a college creative writing/poetry class!😉
 
In the Bible, Jesus founded the Church to continue his saving work as shepherd of the faithful. This would include explaining the faith to them, guiding them on their faith journey, and guarding them against the false prophets of the world. Could Jesus shepherd us all directly through our prayers? Yeah because nothing is impossible for God, but instead he decided to shepherd us through the Church. Why that is, we do not know. We can all ask why when we meet him in heaven.
 
The church IS the body of Christ and Christ lives both spiritually and physically even now. For us to think His body was only visible the first 33 years of His life to His disciples is wrong. His body can be seen and felt by all of us till the end of time. Why would God become incarnate only for 33 years. We we need him as much or more than the Apostles.

Peace!!!
 
You might find this answer from another website helpful:
Do Catholics believe that the Roman Catholic Church saves them?
Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior. The Church is His Body, and He saves us precisely by incorporating us into His Body through the Sacrament of Baptism. So the Catholic Church is not our “savior” per se, yet one must be united to the Church in order to be saved.

Non-Catholics see the Church as a mere human institution. So when Protestants hear Catholics say “Outside the Church there is no salvation”, they think that we believe the institutional Church is our savior, rather than Christ. This is inaccurate; the Church is Ark of Salvation precisely because she is the Body of Christ. Jesus, the one Savior, established one Church as the locus for that salvation. The Church does not save apart from Christ; rather Christ saves through the Church.

The following quote from Vatican II might clarify things here:

“This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved” (Lumen Gentium, 14) (source)
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The Church on Earth is not a Hall of Fame for Saints, but rather a field hospital for sinners, run by sinners, with the common goal being to heal the wounds of sin in each of us so that we may have a relationship with God.

We are on one day a beggar showing another beggar where the bread is, and on another day we are the ones being shown where it is.
 
adf417 said:
The church IS the body of Christ and Christ lives both spiritually and physically even now. For us to think His body was only visible the first 33 years of His life to His disciples is wrong. His body can be seen and felt by all of us till the end of time. Why would God become incarnate only for 33 years. We we need him as much or more than the Apostles.

Peace!!!
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This. The OP presents a false dichotomy.
Adhering to Christ means to be part of his Mystical Body the Church. We are not individualists. Individualism is counter to Christianity. You cannot be a disciple of Christ without being part of the Church. And this is said in the inclusive sense, not the exclusive. That’s how the Church speaks about it.
The call to unity is unavoidable. And that unity goes beyond general agreement on ethics and scripture interpretations. Unity is real and visible. Unity is incarnate because Christ is incarnate.
 
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FROM FATHER JOHN A HARDON’S CATHOLIC DICTIONARY

"CHURCH. The faithful of the whole world. This broad definition can be understood in various senses all derived from the Scriptures, notably as the community of believers, the kingdom of God, and the Mystical Body of Christ.

As the community of believers, the Church is the assembly (ekklesia) of all who believe in Jesus Christ; or the fellowship (koinonia) of all who are bound together by their common love for the Savior. As the kingdom (basileia), it is the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies about the reign of the Messiah. And as the Mystical Body it is the communion of all those made holy by the grace of Christ. He is their invisible head and they are his visible members. These include the faithful on earth, those in purgatory who are not yet fully purified, and the saints in heaven.

Since the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church has been defined as a union of human beings who are united by the profession of the same Christian faith, and by participation of and in the same sacraments under the direction of their lawful pastors, especially of the one representative of Christ on earth, the Bishop of Rome. Each element in this definition is meant to exclude all others from actual and vital membership in the Catholic Church, namely apostates and heretics who do not profess the same Christian faith, non-Christians who do not receive the same sacraments, and schismatics who are not submissive to the Church’s lawful pastors under the Bishop of Rome.

At the Second Vatican Council this concept of the Church was recognized as the objective reality that identifies the fullness of the Roman Catholic Church. But it was qualified subjectively so as to somehow include all who are baptized and profess their faith in Jesus Christ. They are the People of God, whom he has chosen to be his own and on whom he bestows the special graces of his providence. (Etym. Greek kyriakon, church; from kyriakos, belonging to the Lord.)"

The “Church” cannot be the Savior BUT only God;s most effective and willed path to salvation though its example and teachings. [The “Church” CANNOT sin, only those in it can and DO.

God Bless you,
Patrick
 
The Church is, as pianistclare said, “the vehicle by which we come to know about God, the Trinity, Christ, and His will for our lives.”

In addition, it is the “provider” of the sacraments, which it has the power to bring to us by the authority given to it by Christ. I would call it “God’s hands on earth” in this sense.
 
CapitalistCatholic said:
Nice, but one error: *of
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Actually, I’m from the Pittsburgh area and oi and yoi are actual terms in the local lexicon. Though you are correct that oi should be of. Thanks for the heads up.

Oh and you missed Dorry - should be Sorry
 
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