Protestants deny that Jesus Christ appointed Peter the first pope. They say that Christ is the Rock.?

All this angst would evaporate if people just took the statement of Christ to Peter in context! Go back a few verses (Mat. 16:13 onwards). What immediately preceded Jesus' statement to Peter, in his play on the Greek words 'petros' (Peter) and 'petra' (rock)?

Jesus had just asked Peter who he thought he was. Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" and Jesus exclaimed in joy, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven." Now, the next word is "And..." so it is a spiritual crime to give the impression that Jesus says "I..." when he actually says, "And I...."

And I what? "And I tell you that you are Petros [Peter], and on this petra [rock] I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven..."

Why is this conjunction essential? Because it shows that the church would be based upon the foundation of the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Significantly, Jesus is said to be the chief corner-stone in the foundation of the church. (See Romans 9:33, 1 cor 10:4 & 1 Peter 2:8.) A stone is a rock. The Bible states that Christians are placed upon the rock, Jesus Christ. He is their foundation. He is their rock. Yes, the Bible also says that the church "is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets", but that would prove that Peter was in no way superior to the other apostles, and all the preceding prophets! (Eph 2:20) But, unarguably, Christ is THE foundation of the church par excellence. He died for her. She is his bride. She should give allegience to no-one and nothing else.

This issue actually has nothing to do with the official formation of the Roman Catholic Church. Jesus established his church on earth before he died. All Christians who confess Christ to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, are part of that world-wide church.

Your question touches on the foundation of the RCC. If Jesus didn't institute apostolic succession, then the Papacy is an invalid position and the whole ecclesiastic structure crumbles.

The rcc teaches that there was a general consensus among the early church fathers that there ought to be a head Bishop over all local assemblies. History plainly exposes this assertion as false.

Prior to Emperor Constantine's appointment of Rome as the epicenter of Christian rule and authority, the church at Rome wasn't considered much more significant than the average assembly.

There's evidence of that in the New Testament Epistles alone, besides the writings of the early church fathers.

Just read the letters of Tertullian, Eusebius, Origen, and Cyprian to start.

The rcc will use exerpts from such writings to defend their position, but a closer look at such excerpts reveals that they were taken out of context.

There are seven church homes listed in the e book of Revelation and not one in each of them is the catholic church. Nowhere in the Bible is the define of any church that has a pope! The catholic church replaced into outfitted by technique of the Roman Empire 4 hundred years after Jesus walked the earth. yet however the catholics see no subject with mendacity to the international to make themselves look like they're the only actual church. Why do you catholics tutor lies? Do you no longer understand you're scuffling with against God? could God have mercy on your soul.

The Roman Catholics were established in accordance to the Church of Italy in Rome as I understand it. It's a man-made church because of the many conflicts it has with the Bible. Such as the Bible does not teach about the rosary, and we don't have to confess to priests. When the curtain of the temple was ripped from top to bottom this abolished several things such as animal sacrifice and the priesthood. God has given us pastors, evangelists, teachers, prophets, apostles, etc. to do the work.

Yes, Christ is the Rock! I Corinthians 10:4: and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them: and the rock was Christ. (NAS)

For Catholics that believe the Catholic Church is the real church that Jesus built and that the Pope serves as an earthly replacement for Christ.

The title "pope" comes from the Latin: "papa" or "father" from Greek πάπας, pápas, "papa", Papa in Italian

What did Jesus specifically say about calling someone "father"?

Mat 23:9 - And call no [man] your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Again, who is the "everlasting father"?

Isa 9:6; For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

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From the time of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ until 325 AD, there was no such entity as the Catholic Church (never mentioned in the Bible), and yet the Church of God, (mentioned 8 times in the Bible) still grew.

It wasn't until the politics of Rome under Constantine entered the picture and encouraged the Church of Rome to interfere in the affairs of other churches, such as the churches at Alexandria, Corinth and Antioch. The first real example of the Roman State Church exerting authority where it had none is noted in the illegitimate excommunication in 195 AD of Christians that chose to celebrate Pasch/Passover instead of the pagan holiday of Easter as the Romans commanded.

From that point on the Roman State Catholic Church elected itself as the authority over all of Christiandom and that role was officially declared at the First Council of Nicaea by none other than the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325 AD.

So, once Eusebius (who also happened to write the tribute to Constantine 'Vita Constantine") rewrote the history of the early Church of God and declared Popes where there were none ever mentioned by the true authors of the New Testament, the Roman Church then moved to defend its illegitimate authority with centuries of slaughtering those that rejected its authority because they recognized it as having abducted The Church of God.

Even though the Roman Church lost some of its authority with the fall of the Roman Empire, by then it had established its own political and military foundations. So, the blood letting continued even up through the last century in some areas of the world.

Christianity was started by Christ, but it was propagated by all the Apostles including Peter as well as multiple other First Century Christians. Read the Book of Acts, and the early Christian writers like Polycarp. The RCC was first instituted by Constantine to combat the polytheistic worship of the Roman Empire. This is why much of the holidays of the RCC correspond to pagan holidays of the Roman Empire as well as why the organization of the RCC hierarchy greatly resembles the Roman Empire's form of government including the establishment of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Bishop of Rome, the Pope as a pseudo-godlike figure - "Vicar of Christ." This was all done to make the transition from polytheistic mindset of the Roman people to Christianity. This is also why there are canonization of people to Sainthood and the strong belief in the divine nature of Mary (Queen of ?Heaven). Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Theodosius around 395 AD (CE). Charlemange was also instrumental in the development of the RCC. The RCC came to be known as it is today in around 1,000 AD (CE) which also brought about the Eastern Orthodox Chrisitians.

The LDS view is that the rock upon which the Church was built was the power of revelation which Peter used to know who Jesus was.

As for the history of the RCC, I'm not sure, but I do believe that the events leading up to the creation of the RCC was within the 1st century after Jesus' ascension.

Yashua, Jesus, is the rock upon who our foundation is built.

He is the way, and the only way to salvation.

No other way.

WE are told not to change anything in the Bible, not to add to or take away anything, and if we do, it is sin and we will pay for that sin. It is abomination, He tells us.

So , unless the Holy Bible states to us, and it does NOT, that someone other than Yashua, is the rock, then we know not to belive it.

And, as we know, His word never changes. This is one reason He says not to take away or add to His word.

Bible scriptures do not support what the Cathoics and other religions teach. In 2 John 7-12 , we are taught that if one brings to you God, without the full teachings of Jesus Christ, YASHUA, then they are part of the anti christ. Go and read it. See what it says.

Constantine changed many things, and therefore we put no weight into any of his beliefs, and consider them false.

He even changed the Seventh day Sabbath to Sunday.

Nowhere in scripture do we read, where anyone has the power to do such things. Remember: we cant change things.

What ended at the cross, was blood atonement for sins, as Yashua, Jesus Christ, paid that price.

But, we are still commanded to obey and live like Yashua.

In full obedience, as Yashua did with the Father.

Yashua, Jesus is our rock. Without HIm, we are nothing.

Great question.

Full Gospel Shirley

The link provided by Firefly, above me, is awesome!! Great read.

Edit - A common fact overlooked by the RCC were the "other" demoninations of "Christian" churches even during Jesus' time on earth. Consider Mark 9:38..speaking to Jesus:

38 "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."

39"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

While the 12 were still with Jesus, walking about for three years, churches were springing up, and Jesus didn't mind. So LONG before the RCC of 300AD, there were "Christ approved Christian churches."

the RCC did not exist before Constantine by definition. before then they were christians with different leaders. hence the disputes about th synoptic gospels and there order. because the disciples went out to spread the word they were no unified. thus the action of constantine was to unify the teachings and unite christians under peter as he was the seen to be the head of the leaders (this is to put it crudely)

The first hand-written English language Bible manuscripts were produced in the 1380's AD by John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian. Wycliffe, (also spelled “Wycliff” & “Wyclif”), was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the organized Church, which he believed to be contrary to the Bible. With the help of his followers, called the Lollards, and his assistant Purvey, and many other faithful scribes, Wycliffe produced dozens of English language manuscript copies of the scriptures. They were translated out of the Latin Vulgate, which was the only source text available to Wycliffe. The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river!

John HusOne of Wycliffe’s followers, John Hus, actively promoted Wycliffe’s ideas: that people should be permitted to read the Bible in their own language, and they should oppose the tyranny of the Roman church that threatened anyone possessing a non-Latin Bible with execution. Hus was burned at the stake in 1415, with Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles used as kindling for the fire. The last words of John Hus were that, “in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.” Almost exactly 100 years later, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention (a list of 95 issues of heretical theology and crimes of the Roman Catholic Church) into the church door at Wittenberg. The prophecy of Hus had come true! Martin Luther went on to be the first person to translate and publish the Bible in the commonly-spoken dialect of the German people; a translation more appealing than previous German Biblical translations. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs records that in that same year, 1517, seven people were burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church for the crime of teaching their children to say the Lord’s Prayer in English rather than Latin.