What Makes Catholicism the Only Church?

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dosdog said:
Many Catholics have heard that “kepha” is used in both places in this verse ("You are Peter [kepha] and on this rock [kepha] I will build my Church . . . "), but few have seen it with their own eyes.

So I he it and here 'tis:

jimmyakin.org/2005/04/while_were_at_i.html
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That’s not what the Holy Spirit used. He used “petros” not kepha. If you have a problem with it… take it up with God.
 
Mannyfit75 said:
Any Catholic acknowledge the Word of God in its Fullness because we believed that Jesus built a Church upon Peter, and that Peter and Apostles handed their authority to the bishops. We see this in the Catholic Church as well as the Orthodox Church.

Two of these Churches are ancient and are deep with in worship to the Word of God in their Liturgy.
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Yes, and many are deceived.
 
believers said:
Then why does the RCC insist on giving the title of “father” to the priests? Jesus said to His true followers not to give that title to anyone.
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The bishop, acting as a successor of the apostles, is truly a representative of Christ and a sign of unity both within the diocesan Church and with the Church universal. Each bishop must fulfill the three-fold office of priest, prophet, and king with its duties of sanctifying, teaching and ruling. The bishop as “the steward of the grace of the supreme priesthood”
catholicherald.com/saunders/02ws/ws020718.htm
 
believers said:
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
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The Bible tells us we must have faith in order to be saved (Hebrews 11:6). Yet is faith nothing more than believing and trusting? Searching the Scriptures, we see faith also involves assent to God’s truth (1 Thessalonians 2:13), obedience to Him (Romans 1:5, 16:26), and it must be working in love (Galatians 5:6). These points appeared to be missed by the reformers, yet they are just as crucial as believing and trusting. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) should be heeded by all it’s certainly an attention grabber.

Paul speaks of faith as a life-long process, never as a one-time experience (Philippians 2:12). He never assumes he has nothing to worry about. If he did, his words in (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) would be nonsensical. He reiterates the same point again in his second letter to Corinth (2 Corinthians 13:5). He takes nothing for granted, yet all would agree if anyone was “born again” it certainly was Paul. Our Lord and Savior spoke of the same thing by “remaining in Him” (John 15:1-11).

Paul tells us our faith is living and can go through many stages. It never stays permanently fixed after a single conversion experience no matter how genuine or sincere. Our faith can be shipwrecked (1 Timothy 1:19), departed from (1 Timothy 4:1), disowned (1 Timothy 5:8) wandered from (1 Timothy 6:10), and missed (1 Timothy 6:21). Christians do not have a “waiver” that exempts them from these verses.

Do our works mean anything? According to Jesus they do (Matthew 25:31-46). The people rewarded and punished are done so by their actions. And our thoughts (Matthew 15:18-20) and words (James 3:6-12) are accountable as well. These verses are just as much part of the Bible as Romans 10:8-13 and John 3:3-5.

The Catholic Church has never taught we “earn” our salvation. It is an inheritance (Galatians 5:21), freely given to anyone who becomes a child of God (1 John 3:1), so long as they remain that way (John 15:1-11). You can’t earn it but you can lose the free gift given from the Father (James 1:17).

The reformer’s position cannot be reconciled with the Bible. That is why the Catholic Church has taught otherwise for over 1,960 years.

ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/FAWORKS.HTM
 
dosdog said:
The bishop, acting as a successor of the apostles, is truly a representative of Christ and a sign of unity both within the diocesan Church and with the Church universal. Each bishop must fulfill the three-fold office of priest, prophet, and king with its duties of sanctifying, teaching and ruling. The bishop as “the steward of the grace of the supreme priesthood”
catholicherald.com/saunders/02ws/ws020718.htm
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True believers in Christ are all ambassadors. The RCC is very fond of giving the title “father” to it’s priest. If it were a true NT church… the title of “father” would be reserved for God the Father.

2Cr 5:20
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [you] by us: we pray [you] in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
 
believers said:
Then why does the RCC insist on giving the title of “father” to the priests? Jesus said to His true followers not to give that title to anyone.
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Philemon 1:10
I appeal to you for my child, Ones’imus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment.

Uh oh, St Paul may be in trouble here! 😃
 
Believers,
I am not decieved you are. I am telling you the Truth!

Mathew 16:16-18.
16 Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. 20 Then he commanded his disciples, that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ
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In this passage Jesus rename Simon as Peter, which means Rock. This derives from the Word Petros, musculine in Greek. In the original language at the time, Jesus would be speaking Aramaic. The word Rock for Aramaic is Kepha which makes no difference between small and big rock.

Jesus in Aramaic would be saying,
And I say to thee: That thou art Kepha; and upon this Kepha I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
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The Gospel of Matthew is maybe written in Greek but it contains Aramaici linguistic terms.

Jimmy Akin put this best when he writes:
I also had not devoted sufficient attention to the fact that Jesus and Peter did not speak Greek in everyday language, but Aramaic. (Greek was the language of commerce in first century Palestine; Aramaic was the language of everyday life.) Behind the Greek text of Matthew 16:17–19 there was an Aramaic conversation, and in the conversation there would have been no distinction between the terms representing petros and petra. In both cases, the same word—kepha (from which we get “Cephas”)—would have been used. Hermeneutically, one should read a translation text in harmony with the language that underlies it since the translation is simply a means to understanding what originally was said. Consequently, Jesus’ statement in Aramaic—“You are kepha and on this kepha I will build my Church”—should be decisive for our interpretation
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((continue from))

Furthermore, he explains;
Jimmy Akin:
I knew enough back in 1991 to know that the interpretation of the rock as the revelation of Jesus’ identity was not entirely secure. It was a general deduction based on the themes being talked about in the passage, not a specific deduction based on the structure and grammar of the passage. Then, as my eyes went over the text once again, I suddenly noticed a structural feature of the passage that tipped the balance in favor Peter being the rock. Instantly, I knew I had to do a major theological re-evaluation.

For some time, I had recognized that if Peter was the rock then he would be the head apostle and thus, when Jesus returned to heaven, the earthly head of the Church. That would make him, in essence, a pope. If Catholics could be right about Peter being a pope, they might be right about other things—about everything. And so I would have to do a thorough re-investigation. When I did, I was forced to conclude the Catholic Church was right, and I became a Catholic.

After the initial flash of insight into Matthew 16:17–19, I did further study on it and noticed several structural features of the passage that required Peter to be the rock. Basically, Jesus’ speech to Peter consists of three statements. The first of the three statements is a clear blessing on Peter. Jesus says, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona!” The third is also a blessing: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” But if the first and third statements are blessings then the middle statement—“And I tell you, you are Peter”— taken in its immediate context, must be a blessing as well. Jesus thus is not contrasting and belittling Peter as a small, insignificant stone with the second statement. It, like the ones before and after it, is a blessing that builds him up.

I noticed that the structure of the three statements required Peter to be the rock. Each statement consisted of two parts: first a basic declaration and then a longer explanation which unpacked the meaning of the declaration. (The explanations also had two parts, an assertion followed by a contrast, but this need not detain us since it does not affect the fact that Peter is the rock.) Jesus’ first statement, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona!” is explained by “for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” This is a reason why Simon is blessed. The third statement, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” is explained by Jesus’ remarks on binding and loosing. The power to bind and loose is part of what it means to have the keys to the kingdom. That being the case, the second statement, “And I tell you, you are Peter” is explained by “and on this rock I will build my Church.”
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catholic.com/thisrock/1998/9811chap.asp
 
believers said:
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
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Yeah…so? :confused:

The man is not separated from his heart. And the man is not separated from his confession. 👍
 
Mickey said:
Yeah…so? :confused:

The man is not separated from his heart. And the man is not separated from his confession. 👍
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So?! It’s what you BELIEVE in your heart to be true that brings you into righteousness with God. That is why repentance is so important. You must turn away from sin. Turn to Jesus in Faith and repent of your sins. Get out of the confession to the priest and penance routine. It does nothing for you. You must turn away from your sins altogether.
 
believers said:
So?! It’s what you BELIEVE in your heart to be true that brings you into righteousness with God. That is why repentance is so important. You must turn away from sin. Turn to Jesus in Faith and repent of your sins. Get out of the confession to the priest and penance routine. It does nothing for you. You must turn away from your sins altogether.
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James 1 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass.23 For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass.
 
believers said:
So?! It’s what you BELIEVE in your heart to be true that brings you into righteousness with God. That is why repentance is so important. You must turn away from sin. Turn to Jesus in Faith and repent of your sins. Get out of the confession to the priest and penance routine. It does nothing for you. You must turn away from your sins altogether.
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Priest can forgive sins because the Apostles was given this ability by Jesus Christ himself, and the Apostle handed it down to their sucessors, the bishops and priest.

John 20:21-23 said:
21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23** Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.**
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This verse shows that priest can forgive sins but in their name but in Jesus Name.
 
believers said:
Your pope exists whether want to believe it or not. He’s your “holy father”. And, I’m not ignoring your questions…you just don’t like my answers.
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LOL you haven’t given any answers, except for logical fallacies.
 
believers said:
You questioned the Word of God being true.
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NOOO… I questioned how you “know” that every single book in the Bible was inspired by God. It’s scary that you can’t see the difference.
So I cited verses as I would an atheist doubting the Word of God. Only God would have known the true shape of the earth.
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Besides the fact that you completely fabricated me “doubting the word of God”…

You haven’t even cited a single verse yet!! :banghead:
 
Geez, is there really such a thing as being willfully ignorant?! :banghead: :hypno:

I think I need a break.
 
hey,

I was brought up that Faith has alot to do with it. However, the RCC can be traced back to Jesus Christ Himself. And it can be seen in history, both relgious and secular, where the other religions began and who founded them and why.

The RCC has had its troubles over the centuries with heresies, moral behavior, apostates, you name it and it still exists, never fails to bounce back; all this because Christ told us that…“gates of hell will not prevail” against His Church.He sent us the Spirit
to watch over It.

This is my first posting so I’ll make it short.

May the Spirit bless you always. Open your heart and He will guide you.

griz
 
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