Why SHOULD or Why Shouldn't everyone be Catholic?

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For me being a Catholic is all about authority. I have yet to hear a good argument why Jesus would leave us a book and say I know this is a matter of life and death and I know you guys will have a hard time understanding everything in here. Not to mention you will constantly argue and disagree, but good luck.

Someone always has to be in charge. I’ve been in left in charge of many church and secular events and it is always the same. If I don’t keep an eye on everything, or place others in charge to manage things for me, we are talking catastrophic failure.

If I’m smart enough to see this is common in humans, I’m pretty sure Jesus would have too.

God Bless
 
I think the message of Jesus was more about letting love be our lifestyle than about organizational structure and hierarchy.
 
In Scripture, Matthew 28:19, Catholics are told to go forth and baptise.
 
All followers of Jesus are told to go forth and Baptize.
 
St. Peter (the first Pope - Matthew 16:18), and the other apostles, including St. Paul (who preached the faith to the Gentiles), and the disciples, did exactly that.
 
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Churches are human institutions, they do err and the Catholic church is no exception.
 
The Church does not err. We have been told through Scripture that the Holy Spirit will never leave us - its members can err, but the Church, does not.
 
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friardchips said:
The Church does not err.
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I think we might be using slightly different terms for church, church it me is the people. But yes, people’s interpretation of God does err though they claim to be speaking for God, this is what church is to many, especially people who are practicing Christians.
 
It seem a little odd to refer to the disciples as Catholic since the first known use of the phrase “the catholic church” was not used until about 110 AD in St Ignatius of Antioch letter to the Smyrnaeans. In fact many Protestants believe that they have more in common with the apostles than the institutional Catholic Church that evolved from them. So in our efforts to dialogue with Protestants it helps not to approach them with condescension.
 
Hi. One is not to renounce one’s faith to God through the Church, in the meantime, whilst bridging gaps.

While the term ‘Christian’, is the name given to those who were baptised in Christ, in the Bible, in the various communities, the term Catholic - first known recording of the term apparently used by St. Ignatius, in 107 AD - came to be for the whole people, after many churches in various places of the world, within the one Church, had been established. It is most probable that the term ‘Catholic’ had been circulating for some time, and considering that the Gospels were not written a huge amount of time before, Scriptural referencing of the term ‘Christian’ and the first use of the term ‘Catholic’, are not far separated, in years.
 
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And yet I dont think it is obvious that St Ignatius was using “Catholic” in the sense of a proper name. But I do like to try to place my self back in those early days of the Church and how they thought of themselves. Certainly there was a lot of diversity which hadn’t yet been ironed out by council doctrines.
 
I believe St. Ignatius knew to a great degree what words meant and used them to saintly effect.
 
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You are giving the impression of being a supporter of ‘relativism’.
 
“Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal [katholike] Church.”

Ok, So there in 110 A.D. We see an association between the “bishop” and the universal Church. By then St Alexander I was the sixth pope.
 
I don’t support relativism so much as I acknowledge it and try to respect other views without sacrificing my own.
 
‘I don’t support relativism’ - check.
'…so much as I acknowledge it’ - oh.
‘…and try to respect others’ - check.
‘…views’ - oh.
‘without sacrificing my…’ - possible check.
'…own’ - depends.
 
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