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deyoseb22
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| Joined: | Sun Dec 30th, 2007 |
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| First Name: | Steve | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Secular, Protestant, Wiccan, Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 03:17 pm |
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Here are some biblical reasons to believe that Jesus gave all of His authority to the Catholic Church to preach to the world:
Jesus (God in the flesh) only founded one Church, and he founded it 2,000 years ago with Peter as the chief shepherd of the Church on earth. - Matt. 16:18-19 (cross reference with Isaiah 22:20-23)
Jesus and His Church are one. When Saul was persecuting the Church, Jesus said "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:5).
Jesus and His Church are one just as the Father and Jesus are different persons of the divine Holy Trinity but one in being.
"Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:11)
"that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. (John 17:21-23)
"One Lord, one faith, one Baptism" (Eph 4:5)
It goes like this:
Jesus put Peter in charge of the Church and gave all of His authority to him. (Matt. 16:18-19, John 21:17).
The Holy Spirit was given to Peter and the other apostles (John 20:22-23).
But Jesus prayed specifically for Peter (Luke 22:32).
Jesus commanded the apostles to teach and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19-20)
And in order for the apostles to preach to all nations, the apostles appointed successors (Acts 1:20)
The Holy Spirit was then passed on from the apostles to their successors (bishops) by the laying on of hands (Acts 8:18)
And as we will see, the Bible says that not all in the Church are in authority, and not all have the same gifts.
1 Corinthians chapter 12
27: Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
28: And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.
29: Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30: Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
Romans chapter 12
4: For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function,
Romans chapter 13
1: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
2: Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
Everything in the Bible is the truth. But not all of the truth is contained in the Bible (at least not explicitly).
John 20:30
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book”
John 21:25
"But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."
When Jesus talks about "the seat of Moses", Jesus was making a reference to oral Tradition because the seat of Moses was not written anyplace in the Bible at that time.
Matthew 23:1-3
Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.
And we see in the Bible that following "traditions of men" should not be more important to us than following the traditions that come from Jesus and were passed down from the apostles and their successors whether by word of mouth or by letter (2 Thess. 2:15, 1 Cor. 11:2)
And the Bible calls the Church, not the Bible, "the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).
Why does the Bible call the Church and not the Bible the pillar and foundation of truth? The Bible gives us the answer:
2 Peter 1:20
"First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation"
Jesus gives his divine promise that the gates of hell (or death) will never prevail against his Church (Matt. 16:18). And Jesus also gives a divine promise that he will be with his Church always (Matt. 28:20).
The Bible tells us that if we have a disagreement that we should take it to the Church (Matt. 18:17).
It would not make sense to take something to a Church that is invisible. So, as we can see from scripture, Jesus intended for His Church to be very visible.
Luke 8:16
“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.”
Matthew 5:14
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can not be hidden.”
Despite scandals which have been in the Church since the first scandal of Jesus being betrayed by Judas Iscariot and abandoned by the other apostles, the Catholic Church continues to be guided by the Holy Spirit in all truth just as Jesus had promised for His Church. (John 16:13)
Although there have always been sinful people in the Church, the Catholic Church is holy because Jesus is present in the Church through the 7 Sacraments which he instituted.
Despite the sinful people in the Church, many saints in the Catholic Church have done a lot of good in the world over the centuries.
But the Church is a hospital for sinners, and the Sacraments are the medicine to help lead us to the cure for our soul so that we can be freed from the bondage of sin.
Last edited on Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 04:52 pm by deyoseb22
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"that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places." -Ephesians 3:10
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