About 100 AD. St Ignatius wrote a letter to the smymaeans and he mentioned the Catholic Church directly.
believed in Infant Baptism. He had to have been made a Christian as an infant to have been a Christian for 81 years! Baptists don’t believe in Infant Baptism. Catholics (and Anglicans,Lutherans, and Methodists do). Also Presbyterians- but it doesn’t really make you a child of God. It’s only a symbol for them).
John the Apostle taught Polycarp everything he knew about the faith. And - the Connection - Ignatius of Antioch - The Bishop of Antioch - who was Consecrated by his teacher, Polycarp. And of course Ignatius mentions in his letters (while on his way to the Circus on a Roman Ship that made 7 stops along the way) that there was a way to tell the True Religion "Where Christ is, There is the Catholic Church. That only a Bishop or designated elder (presbyter-priest) - could consecrate communion. That is your complete connection to the Apostles - and later- the Bible because the Catholic Church put it together. This was around the year 107 AD. It was to be another 300 plus years yet before the Bible was put together by the Catholic Church - All 73 Books authorized by Pope Demises around 390 AD. The Aerian heresy and others had forced the church to Canonize the First Bible of Christianity. To many False Scriptures we running around and confusing the Christian world. Some of the local Churches had maybe a Copy of John. Another Matthew and another The Shepard of Hermes of the Gospel of Mary, or the Gospel of Thomas. The later three Clearly were written to late to be Holy Scripture. They shouldn’t be read at Mass. As Scripture is read today. Unfortunately:
Protestants are discouraged from learning the history of the Early Church Fathers and the beginning of the Catholic Church whose head is Christ. The pope serving as Christs Ambassador and “Keeper of the Keys” until He returns. History does proves it with the Early Church Fathers such as Polycarp, Ignatius of Antioch,etc and historians such as Pliny the Younger, servant of the Emperor who’s job was to check out the crazy Christians - Who Pliny reported back “Eat their God - and Drown their Children.” Meaning belief in the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of Communion, and Baptizing of Babies. The Bible can’t tell your friend of this because it wasn’t around in 107 AD. What scroll copies were around were being swept up by the Roman Emperors to be burned. Hopefully, to stop the spread of the Catholic Religion. It wasn’t called the Christian Church. It was a small group of rapidly growing Christians who very early called themselves “the church throughout the land” The Universal Church -Greek “Katholicus”
Catholic- meaning universal. “The Church throughout the land” Eclesia Catholica" in butchered Greek - as it says in the New Testament.
Constantine did not start the Catholic Church as some careless preachers will tell their congregations. Constantine was long gone when the Church put the Bible together as a Book. If the Catholic Church was pagan because of Constantine started it as some preachers would have their people believe - than the Holy Bible was Canonized by Inspired Pagans.
Constantine made the Catholic Church legal as well as the pagan religions. Theodosius made Catholic religion the state religion ruling out all pagan religions. around 400. Constantine died in AD330. Before the Bible was Canonized by the Catholic Church. Protestants kept the New Testament constructed by the Catholic Church. What does that mean for them?
Thats why you don’t find the Catholic Church mentioned in the Bible. However, as you will see in Acts. The Christians acted like Catholics.
And Paul talks about the Eucharist- though he doesn’t use that word. He feels that it is so important that one should not partake under possible pain of death if one was not worthy [under great sin]. Only the Catholics think it is a Mortal (Deadly) sin to do so unworthily. Paul sounds Catholic to me.
In the original Bible put together in AD390, there were 73 books. There still is.
The Jews around 90 AD blaming their problems (destruction of Jerusalem) on those nasty Christians - who would soon become well known as Catholics) and decided that certain books should not be in scripture. Scripture in use then was the Septuagint (OT)as were to call it when we constructed the Bible in 390 AD) was the Greek Septuagint. The language of the intellectuals, scholars, commerce, except in the Temple was Greek. Christ spoke a dialect of Hebrew called Aramaic). “Aba” Father is “Daddy” in Aramaic. Yes, Jesus did not just say Father when He spoke to God. He said “Daddy”. Much as the young Hasidim Jew in New York still addresses his father “Aba”. “Daddy”. Matthew, was probably written in Aramaic. The rest of the New Testament books were written in Greek. Why?
Because Alexander the Great Was Greek - and like the Romans later, had conquered the Holy Land and changed the language of commerce etc. So, to make a long story short, The Jews (the Jamnian Council) threw away all the Christian scriptures they could get their hands on PLUS 7 book that were part of Their Septuagint Greek Bible (Which we call the Old Testament) Because the Christians used these 7 books to bolster their beliefs ( Catholic Beliefs such as Purgatory, Prayer to the Dead, etc.)
The protestants picked up on these same books from a group of people who outright rejected Christ.Presumably, for the same reasons - too Catholic.The Catholics went through 30 “Gospels” before you got the 4 in the finished bible. Rejected the Shepard of Hermes, and several other books that were helpful but not written by original followers of Christ. Apostles and Others. The Catholic Church is not mentioned in the “Bible” because there was no “Bible” for the first 400 years of the Catholic Church. Only a few copies hand written of a Gospel here in this Church and a Gospel there in another church. And maybe a piece of writing that clearly wasn’t scripture in another. As usual, the Catholic Church was slow to act. Finally, they had to decide what was truly scripture - and what wasn’t. It took nearly 200 years. I bet you thought the angel Gabriel dropped it (King James Version -of course) in some Baptists lap and they hid it away for 1500 years - until a Catholic invented the printing press so it could be gotten into the hands of common man-in the KJV English. In truth, the first English Bible attempt was the Gospel of John in around 700 by an English King. There were also translations in German and Latin of course way before Wycliffe put out his Bible that the English Church burnt because King James saw it as trash. It was soon after that he commissioned Erasmus (a Catholic) to work on he English King James version of 1611 using the Catholic Edition of the Dewey/Rheims Bible that was published in 1598 The New Testament in Dewey England-The Old Testament in Rheims France - after being run out by King James who ripped the Catholic Church of England from the “Roman Pontiff” renaming his enemy the Roman Catholic Church. Which stuck. (Sigh…).
As you can see, there is no short version or quick explanation. But what there is is a real history of the Early Church (Obviously the Catholic Church from the start when Christ said “You are Rock-And upon this rock (here protestants have Christ pointing’s to himself -
) I will build my Church - and the gates of hell will not stand against it.” Notice He did not say “Churches”.
We know Christ spoke Aramaic. There is no Big rock, or Little rock in Aramaic.
Just “rock”. Then he went on to say," Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Who’s sins you retain, they are retained." When have you seen something like that in a protestant church since Luther or Calvin - who still
done this very thing in their time. The ruins of Italy are replete with “Birdbaths” complete with the sign of the Cross. Where Catholics baptized their Infants. Remember whole “families” and “households” were baptized in the Bible. Of course they had no babies in these families or households probably because of the wide spread usage of the pill in those days. Even though Christ said “do not keep the little children away from me”, he must have meant otherwise. Why would you baptize the sinless innocents?
Even though they obviously loved Jesus,they couldn’t have faith- according to Fundamentalists. Lutherans and Methodists and Catholics, and Anglicans, and Orthodox would disagree. Probably most of the Christian world.
So. Your girlfriend has learned her Christianity from an expurgated Bible. She’s been told that the Catholics Added 7 books. They did. In DA along with the Old Testament.
She doesn’t want to hear this. You will find getting the truth that there is only one Church - That Christ Started it - That it actually still exists in the 21 Century, the real thing; won’t be easy. Christianity can be a heavy cross to bear. Most people like it “lite” now-a-days. Aren’t you amazed that you are a part of that Church?
Robin
