Why is the Catholic Religion the truth?

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Dear Steven,

I have never had anyone spend so much time explaining Catholic doctrine to me as you have, and with such a gentle spirit. It is very refreshing. As Christians one of our most important virtues is supposed to be love. And I haven’t seen much of it shown toward me until now.
It seems that the more I read the Bible (NKJV) the more confused I become as to why it is necessary to become a Catholic. Romans 8:29-30, John 10:28-29, Eph 1:14 and Eph1:4-5 indicate that God’s elect were chosen by Him before the foundation of the world. Our inheritance is guaranteed according to these passages. God predestined, He called, He justified and He also glorified those who are called according to His purpose.
To a Catholic, the church consist of The Pope and Jesus as the head and the believers are the body. Some Catholic theologans say that Mary is the neck of the body, and also co-redemptress.
The Bible is very clear that Jesus is the head, and the body is comprised of the true (God’s elect) believers. Nothing more, nothing less.
Catholics consider the Catholic church as the source of their truth. But Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except by me.”
So…when I read the Bible Jesus tells me that He is truth. Catholics tell me that their church is the source of truth.
But…their church is different from the Biblical definition of God’s church. They can’t both be right.
Do you see the dilema?

God Bless,
Robert
 
Logic and research accompanied by a little faith for me.

Jesus is the Truth. - John 14:6
Jesus is the bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. - Matthew 9:15 and Ephesians 5:25
Jesus and the Church are one due to marriage (two shall become one flesh) - Mark 10:8-9
Jesus founded one Church upon the rock which is Peter, who will lead it - Matthew 16:18
The Catholic Church has an unbroken lineage of Popes all the way from Peter. - History books and www.popechart.com

Therefore:

The Catholic Church is the truth. 👍
 
Robert902 said:
Dear Steven,

when I read the Bible Jesus tells me that He is truth. Catholics tell me that their church is the source of truth.
But…their church is different from the Biblical definition of God’s church. They can’t both be right.
Do you see the dilema?

God Bless,
Robert
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I’m sorry to hear that you have been dismissed by others. I would hope they didn’t mean to. We are all supposed to help one another.

As to your last dilemma here, I can relate to some extent. Faith and prayer are the biggest key, and of course, it wouldn’t hurt to find a Priest to discuss some of these matters with. But for me, what finally got me over this stumbling block was something so very simple and obvious, yet so previously elusive to me that it was quite profound when it sunk in. I believe it solves your dilemma. It is this: The Church PRECEDES the New Testament of the Bible! The New Testament was written by the founding fathers OF the Church! It IS the story OF Christ and his bride the Church, authored by the very people who were sent out by Jesus to found it. There can not be any conflict between the New Testament of the Bible and the Catholic Church because the New Testament of the Bible is a Catholic Church document. It is a Catholic set of books! I pray that this is of some help with your dilemma. I can’t believe how many years I let that little fact slip through my mind unnoticed, while I was busy looking for so many deeper explanations. Ah…the beauty of the Holy Spirit.

Yours in Christ,

Steven
 
Steven Francis,

The Holy Bible was written by more than 40 human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit over a period of about 14 to 18 centuries. Paul wrote the majority of The New Testament. Under what authority or historical basis does the Catholic Church claim it as their exclusive document?

God Bless,
Robert
 
Robert902 said:
Steven Francis,

The Holy Bible was written by more than 40 human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit over a period of about 14 to 18 centuries. Paul wrote the majority of The New Testament. Under what authority or historical basis does the Catholic Church claim it as their exclusive document?

God Bless,
Robert
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One two words. Apostolic Succession. I’m sure the Catholic Apologists will give you a clear view.

Take a look at this website:

scripturecatholic.com/apostolic_succession.html
 
Robert902 You earlier quoted
How have I distorted the Bible? The Bible tells me that God’s elect are a royal priesthood and also saints. In otherwords I am a priest and a saint according to the Bible. Do you disagreee? I can provide versus (NKJ) if you would like me to.
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God Bless,
Robert
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Let us understand that there is a difference between a royal priesthood and a ministerial priesthood. Please see this site. It should explain in much better detail what the difference is.

Thanks & God Bless.
 
slowly said:
The Protestant Religion teaches that the Catholic Church is a distortion of the original church that was founded by Christ and that this corruption started when the church came under the patronage of the Roman emperor Constantine.
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For me it was pretty simple.

Once you’ve come to believe that Christ was in fact the Son of God, then one of two things is true.

Either the Catholic faith is “the” Christian faith and Christ has sustained that Church as He promised or you have to believe that Christ is so ineffective that for 1400 years He had to live with a distortion of His intended church until the right men came along to fix it.

At that point you have to trust that a historical record that was kept primarily in existance by the same distorted corrupt Church you’ve already rejected provides a basis for the foundation of the true religion.

Seem’s to me its more logical to conclude that Christianity is just plain false all together than it is to conclude that the Catholic Church is false but that its “correction” is the truth.

As far a your OP goes, I would concur with many of the previous posts: You don’t have to look all that hard and all that long to find that there are not all that many religious options that hold up under much scrutiny.

Some are just so plain obviously contrary to the basic moral law built into our hearts by God that they can be quickly discounted.

Others are so clearly self contradictory in their history and moral teachings that they can be disregarded with a little study.

Others are a tad more subtle.

“Only” took me about 4 year to go from “Yes God I know You are there sorry for ignoring You” to “thank You for Your Chruch” while crying on my knees under St. Peter’s.

But that’s just me :.)

Chuck
 
This is intense. I have a simple question. Which church Fathers should I be reading? I tried Clement, and it was basically a re-hash of Corinthians (no disrespect intended), I mean, nothing really that’s not already stated in the N.T. Suggested reading? I am looking for historical underpinnings of the Catholic Church with a very open mind. I am a protestant that is not such a hard sell.

Intercessor 55
 
Intercessor55 said:
This is intense. I have a simple question. Which church Fathers should I be reading? I tried Clement, and it was basically a re-hash of Corinthians (no disrespect intended), I mean, nothing really that’s not already stated in the N.T. Suggested reading? I am looking for historical underpinnings of the Catholic Church with a very open mind. I am a protestant that is not such a hard sell.

Intercessor 55
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If you want to read an accurate account of the birth and growth of the Christian church, read the book of acts. It was written by Luke, who was a gentile physician, and it is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke. In a sense it is the connecrting link between Christ’s life and the life of the church, between the Gospels and the letters. The major themes of The Book of Acts are; Church beginnings, The Holy Spirit, Church growth, witnessing and opposition. It is the pure unadulterated account of the beginning of the Church. Unfortunately many present day church’s deny the authority, and many of the principles contained outlined in this Book. Happy reading.

God Bless,
Robert
 
Because Christ rose from the dead, and that doesn’t happen. Usually.
 
TobyLue said:
Robert902 You earlier quotedLet us understand that there is a difference between a royal priesthood and a ministerial priesthood. Please see this site. It should explain in much better detail what the difference is.

Thanks & God Bless.
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Thanks for the information, but I think I’ll go with what the Bible teaches…

God Bless,
Robert
 
Robert, along with those writers of the New Testament were several other writers. Books written include the Didache (authored by the apostles), The Shepherd of Hermas, The Protoevangelium of James, and the Gospel of Thomas. All were part of the spoken teachings at some point; some are still considered as authentic but not ‘inspired’, some are frankly gnostic and not authentic teachings at all.

For the first 350 years of Christianity, the early Christians both heard, and spoke, of the Jewish scriptures (known now as the Old Testament), portions up to and including all of the works now known as the New Testament, and portions up to and including all the other books above as well as things which are mentioned only by name but do not survive or survive only as fragments.

So for those 350 years there was no ‘Bible’ as we know it today.

The Bible as we know it was assembled through the guidance of the Holy Spirit using **Catholic men **(there were absolutely no other authentic Christians save Catholics; any who professed themselves Christian but not a part of ‘the Catholic Church’ were gnostics and heretics of whom absolutely no trace, succession, or heritage remains today. IOW, there were no Baptists hiding out for 1600 years until it was ‘safe’. There were no Episcopalians, Lutherans, Church of Christ, Quakers, Shakers, Anabaptists, or non-denoms. There were not even any Orthodox Christians.

The Bible is the product of The Catholic Church, because the Catholic Church had the Spirit given authority to proclaim **which ** of the many scriptures reviewed was the authentic word of God. As Jesus promised His apostles, the power to ‘bind and loose’ resided in His Catholic Church. This is proven by the fact that, generations after the death of the last of His apostles, the written word was still ‘bound’ by the word of the successors of those apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit.
 
Hi, Slow
The divisions from the one true church into protestentism was instigated through men such as Luther. In my opinion, his ego got the best of him and had an agenda, which resulted in so many divisions today, it got the ball rolling to divisions within divisions. It’s pretty obvious that there were so many different ideas out there;it was inevitable; and it has’nt stopped yet as is noted in your post. Without a visible head this wasthe result.

Peace,Onenow1

Taken from One Bread.
Unity in Call: Come let us reason together.
By Denise Bossert

You may be thinking of a few Catholics that you know personally and feel quite certain that they are the last christians you want to emulate.

And guess what? You are right. On March 12, 2000 Pope john Paul stunned the world when he asked for forgiveness for the errors and sins of some Catholics.With humility he reached out to all faiths and culture and said i’m sorry, please forgive us. The truth is all have come short of the glory of God Catholics included.
 
Every true Christian, are collectively the pillar and ground of truth. Church upholds and supports the truth revealed by God, we as Gods people are called to preserve the pure teaching of his Word, however this does not mean that we fulfill our duty without error or infallibly.

There were Churches back in the New Testament like Corinthian and the Galatian churches that made serious errors.

Same as today as individuals and churches throughout history we are still growing and learning none of us, or one single church know the truth perfectly.

We know the truth is found on what our Lord says and the scriptures make us wise unto salvation which is found in Christ.
 
If no one single church is capable of teaching or interpreting Scripture accurately, then Christ is wrong. He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. If all churches teach error at some point, then hell has prevailed. It isn’t a question of understanding --after all, most Christian Churches teach the doctrine of the Trinity, which no one understands fully; yet those churches would not allow us to speak of God as the Dynamic Duo or the Fab Four or anything else.

So even ‘incompletely understood’ truth is still truth. Even if no individual is able to completely understand the truth, the truth must still be taught, and have been taught, from the time of Christ, even when imperfectly and incompletely understood.

Luckily, we have just that Church–the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church. Catholic with both small and large 'c’s.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
If no one single church is capable of teaching or interpreting Scripture accurately, then Christ is wrong. He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. If all churches teach error at some point, then hell has prevailed. It isn’t a question of understanding --after all, most Christian Churches teach the doctrine of the Trinity, which no one understands fully; yet those churches would not allow us to speak of God as the Dynamic Duo or the Fab Four or anything else.

So even ‘incompletely understood’ truth is still truth. Even if no individual is able to completely understand the truth, the truth must still be taught, and have been taught, from the time of Christ, even when imperfectly and incompletely understood.

So the Churches in Corinth and the churches in the region of Galatia that Paul wrote to were not genuinely Christian, but did not Paul write to them to correct their doctrinal and practical errors.
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Tantum_ergo said:
If no one single church is capable of teaching or interpreting Scripture accurately, then Christ is wrong. He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. If all churches teach error at some point, then hell has prevailed. It isn’t a question of understanding --after all, most Christian Churches teach the doctrine of the Trinity, which no one understands fully; yet those churches would not allow us to speak of God as the Dynamic Duo or the Fab Four or anything else.

This promise to build and protect His church refers to all people for whom He shed His blood, and not an** institution. **
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This promise to build and protect His church refers to all people for whom He shed His blood, and not an institution.
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The Catholic Church** is** all people for whom He shed His Blood. You are a part of it too even though you don’t recognize it.
 
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