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How can one deny that Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church?
All history, religious and non-religious, including the Bible, clearly proves that Jesus Christ founded a Church.
After teaching publicly what He required all to believe and practice, thereby announcing the main doctrines of His Church, Christ gathered a number of disciples. From them He chose twelve, to whom He gave special instruction and training.
The term "a kingdom", by which Our Lord used to refer to His Church, implies organized authority. And He said to the special men He had chosen, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (John 15:16). He did not teach the disciples for themselves alone, but to be the foundation of His Church. God did not come to save only a few disciples, but all men.
Christ said to the men He had chosen: "As the Father has sent me, I also send you" (John 20:21), bidding them go and preach the doctrines He had taught. He sent them to all nations, promising salvation to those that should believe, and threatening condemnation to those refusing to believe.
"He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned" (Mark 16:16). God is just; He would not have threatened condemnation to unbelievers unless He had furnished the means whereby they could believe. His Church is this means; all men must join it.
Not only did the men chosen by Christ have authority; He gave them extraoidinary powers, particularly the twelve special men, the Apostles.
"Then having summoned his twelve disciples, he gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every kind of disease and infirmity" (Matt. 10:1).
They had power to sanctify, when Christ bade them:
"Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19).
They had power to forgive sin, when Christ said to them:
"Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them" (John 20:23).
They had power to rule when Christ said:
"He who hears you hears me; and he who rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me" (Luke 10:16). And: "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).
They had power to offer sacrifice, when at the Last Supper Christ, after instituting the Eucharist, bade them:
"Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor. 11:24-25).
After training the disciples and Apostles to form the organization of His Church, Christ chose Simon Peter, and made him the Chief. Simon, whose name Christ changed to Peter, was the Head of the Church.
On Simon Christ promised to build His Church, saying: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church" (Matt. 16:18). After the Resurrection He confirmed Peter's authority over the Church, saying to him: "Feed my lambs; feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17).
Finally, He promised to remain for all time with the Church He established.
If the death of Our Lord were to do good only to a few persons then living in Judea, its merits would have been very limited. But it could do good to future generations only if there were an organization with authority to carry on His teachings and preserve them from all change. This is His Church.
12 Answers
- Anonymous10 years agoFavorite Answer
It never stops amazing me to what directions deniers of the truth will take to avoid the truth. It all plays into the hand of Satan in his attempt to destroy Christ Church, which no matter how hard he has tried has failed each and every time.
- ?Lv 710 years ago
If this is true, then why did both Peter and Paul defer to James, the Lord's half-brother, in the matter of Gentile converts following the Mosaic Code? (See Acts 15 and Galatians) It is clear, both from the Bible, and from external sources, notably Flavius Josephus, that the seat of the Church was in Jerusalem, not Rome, up until the time of James martyrdom by the priests.
Matthew 16:18 (KJV) Thou art Peter ( G4074 ΠεÌÏÏÎ¿Ï Petros pet'-ros Apparently a primary word; a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037); as a name, Petrus, an apostle: - Peter, rock.) and upon this rock ( G4073 ÏεÌÏÏα petra pet'-ra Feminine of the same as G4074; a (mass of) rock (literally or figuratively): - rock.) I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
Notice the difference? The one is masculine, the other feminine. The rock His Church is built upon is the profession that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Finally, if Peter were the undisputed head of the Church, why would Paul call him an hypocrite to his face when the circumstances warranted it.
I mean no disrespect to Peter, but you are making too much soup from one bone.
Source(s): Strong's Greek Dictionary - ?Lv 710 years ago
The organization we now call the "Roman Catholic Church" (RCC) was formed in 1054, when it split from the larger Imperial Church (which is now called "The Eastern Orthodox Church" [EOC]).
So, not only is the RCC not the "Original Church", it isn't even the original, human, IMPERIAL Church. It's a SPLINTER group from the EOC.
Now, as for the EOC, it began when Emperor Constantine enshrined his own version of Christianity in the laws of the Empire. It solidified when Emperor Theodosius I dealt a harsher blow to the True Church of The Living God than all of the other Emperors put together by making Christianity the Official Religion of the Roman Empire.
We would have been better off if they had kept trying to feed us to the lions.
By blending the Church with the State, Theodosius hopelessly corrupted the church and created something Christ never intended. For Christ Himself had said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." (John 18:36)
Thus, this church that belonged to the state could NEVER be the TRUE Church, for it was VERY MUCH a "kingdom of this world".
The True ORIGINAL Church is NOT invisible, but it needs no human, earthly, worldly organization. The True ORIGINAL Church is made up of all those believers who have put their faith in Christ and been made new ... born again ... by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Some of these believers are Baptists, some are Methodists, some are Presbyterians, some are Pentecostals, and some belong to independent congregations. And, yes, some are Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic.
But these human organizations are merely TOOLS to be used by the TRUE Body of Christ. None of them represents the WHOLE of the Body of Christ ... and none of them are populated ENTIRELY by the Body of Christ.
And that is why it is simply IMPOSSIBLE for the RCC (or any other single organization) to be the Church founded by The Lord Jesus Christ.
- Anonymous10 years ago
None of this supports the Catholic Church. The gods of Rome were worshipped long before Jesus Christ. Do you truly expect anyone with a brain to believe that the pagan government had an abrupt change of heart and miraculously became believers? The Council of Nicea is evidence against such a notion. Constantine was concerned with peaceful control of Rome. He knew that could only come by unifying all who called themselves Christians. History records that those who attempted to understand Christianity from a Judaic perspective were murdered. The blood of Christians over the ages is on the hands of every pope since the founding of Constantine's pagan church.
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- ?Lv 710 years ago
The Truth is a hard pill to swallow.
To those who say Jesus did not exist outside of the Bible. I hate to burst your bubble, but I take it you have never read the wittings of Josephus Flavus, Tacitus, Phlegon, Pliny the Younger, &c., all of who mentioned Jesus of Nazareth.
- ScrewdriverzLv 710 years ago
Says you and your bronze-age book. I deny Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church. In fact, I highly doubt he ever existed to begin with.
Get over yourself.
- Anonymous10 years ago
Sounds like you have doubts yourself.
- Evren BLv 410 years ago
You're making that up. There's absolutely no proof of Jesus' existence outside of the Bible.
- Anonymous10 years ago
Easily.
Jesus is a fictional character.
Paul invented the church to become incredibly wealthy by fleecing gullible sheep. And the scam is still working today!