WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN A NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH?

[Marymog]

The history of the Catholic Church that I have read said they dumped them because they were seen as buying your way into heaven and it was giving the catholic church a bad name.

Hi MM,

One of the things I love about The Church is that anyone can find with ease what The Church teaches, believes and practices.

Indulgences

Myths about Indulgences

 

[BreadOfLife]

Have a nice day your majesty.

I'm nothing.
Christ is King - not me.

 

[Dcopymope]

WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN A NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH?

Umm, no thank you, but thanks for the offer anyway.

 

[marksman]

I'm nothing.
Christ is King - not me.

If you are nothing how come you are so perfect?

 

[marksman]

Hi MM,

One of the things I love about The Church is that anyone can find with ease what The Church teaches, believes and practices.

Indulgences

Myths about Indulgences

The Church. Which one?

 

[BreadOfLife]

If you are nothing how come you are so perfect?

I'm not.
However, Biblical truth shouldn't offend you as much as it apparently does . . .

 

[BreadOfLife]

The Church. Which one?

Christ only built ONE - not tens of thousands . . .

 

[marksman]

Christ only built ONE - not tens of thousands . . .

And which one is that?

 

[marksman]

I'm not.
However, Biblical truth shouldn't offend you as much as it apparently does . . .

I lap up biblical truth because that is where all my studies begin. What I don't lap up is people who think they are the only ones with the truth.

 

[BreadOfLife]

And which one is that?

The Church that goes ALL the way back to the Apostles - and not just to the 16th century.
The Catholic Church.

 

[Marymog]

The Church. Which one?

Soooo instead of admitting you were mistaken about your belief on the history of The Church and indulgences you make another silly self gratifying comment....how sad.

Sooooo you wanna know which one....It is the one you have been searching for but keep denying. The one true Church started by Christ himself. You are welcome to join

Mary

 

[marksman]

The Church that goes ALL the way back to the Apostles - and not just to the 16th century.
The Catholic Church.

I have got various books and volumes on church history and not one of them put the catholic church going back to the apostles.

 

[Illuminator]

I have got various books and volumes on church history and not one of them put the catholic church going back to the apostles.

In this stunning, powerful, and ultimately persuasive book, Rodney Stark, one of the most highly regarded sociologists of religion and bestselling author of The Rise of Christianity (HarperSanFrancisco 1997) argues that some of our most firmly held ideas about history, ideas that paint the Catholic Church in the least positive light are, in fact, fiction. Why have we held these wrongheaded ideas so strongly and for so long? And if our beliefs are wrong, what, in fact, is the truth?
In each chapter, Stark takes on a well-established anti-Catholic myth, gives a fascinating history of how each myth became the conventional wisdom, and presents a startling picture of the real truth. see full review here

Note: Rodney Stark, one of the most highly regarded sociologists of religion, IS NOT A CATHOLIC, thus has no doctrinal bias.

 

[Illuminator]

I have got various books and volumes on church history and not one of them put the catholic church going back to the apostles.

Without listing some of the author's of these books, this is just an empty claim. Various books and volumes on church history are based on 18th century polemics, still used by anti-Catholics today. Scholars pouring over ancient archives discover historical facts that don't measure up to the fiction propagated by anti-Catholics. That's why the more mature Protestant bible colleges no longer teach revisionism. Protestant Ph.D.'s in history who write books after 1960's, after the ancient archives were opened, catalogued, and digitalized, no longer teach that anti-Catholic post-enlightenment garbage either.

 

[Pearl]

I have belonged to a NTC for many years and it is still the best place around even though it has maybe lost some of its original vision. I can't imagine ever wanting to go back to the denominational way of doing church with set rituals and set festivals and all the other palaver that detracts from God.

 

[Illuminator]

I have got various books and volumes on church history and not one of them put the catholic church going back to the apostles.

The first 40 popes were killed by pagan Romans, which takes us to the late 2nd century. I'll bet my pension cheque none of your "various books and volumes on church history" mention this hard historical fact.

As French historian Augustin Thierry has written, “To live, Protestantism found itself forced to build up a history of its own.”

 

[Brakelite]

The Church in the NT is the Acorn which has grown into what is now the Oak Tree.
The Church of today does not resemble the Church of the First century - nor should it.

We don't live in communes like they did, nor are we required to. They lived that way for the purpose of growing the Church in a world that was heavily-persecuting them.

Whereas the beliefs of the Church of today are the same - the practices and way of life are different.
Doctrines develop. The Canon of Scripture wasn't even declared until the FOURTH century. If you are looking for a Church that resembles the Church of the First century - you are wasting your time.

Christ's Church has grown up - as it was supposed to.
It didn't stay in the infant stage that it was in during the First century.

So, it's a rare event indeed that I place a "like" at the bottom of a post from BoL. While I am totally dismissive of the conclusions he would draw in that early embryo growing into what we witness today in Rome (oak tree? No, more like an overgrown blackberry bush) however, I agree with the bones of the post. The house to house meetings described in Acts are certainly a historical reality, but not an historical imperative. The church did grow. It developed into an organised mission oriented organism that brought life and light to cultures and from Britain to Africa, from Scandinavia to China. All within a few hundred years

 

[BreadOfLife]

So, it's a rare event indeed that I place a "like" at the bottom of a post from BoL. While I am totally dismissive of the conclusions he would draw in that early embryo growing into what we witness today in Rome (oak tree? No, more like an overgrown blackberry bush) however, I agree with the bones of the post. The house to house meetings described in Acts are certainly a historical reality, but not an historical imperative. The church did grow. It developed into an organised mission oriented organism that brought life and light to cultures and not from Britain to Africa, from Scandinavia to China. All within a few hundred years

This is a prime example of a post that, although I disagree on some points - I don't feel is blatantly "anti-Catholic".
It is simply a disagreement about what each of us sees as the Apostolic Church.

 

[Jay Ross]

It is interesting to note that the early ferocious anti catholic rhetoric took hold more in the early North American colonies rather than it did in Europe where the main reformation fight took place. The anti catholic rhetoric was more of a protection mechanism against the ever increasing numbers of Catholics immigrating to the American colonies towards the end of the establishment of the Reformation Churches and their oppression of the Catholic people where the reformation churches then held dominance. Initially, the American colonies were predominately Protestant because of the fierce oppression of the Catholic Church protecting its position as the dominate religious institution in Europe against all other comers. The early English immigration was because of the one form of protestant movement over another in a struggle for power.

 

[farouk]

It is interesting to note that the early ferocious anti catholic rhetoric took hold more in the early North American colonies rather than it did in Europe where the main reformation fight took place. The anti catholic rhetoric was more of a protection mechanism against the ever increasing numbers of Catholics immigrating to the American colonies towards the end of the establishment of the Reformation Churches and their oppression of the Catholic people where the reformation churches then held dominance. Initially, the American colonies were predominately Protestant because of the fierce oppression of the Catholic Church protecting its position as the dominate religious institution in Europe against all other comers. The early English immigration was because of the one form of protestant movement over another in a struggle for power.

It was also because in Europe episcopacy was stronger, while in North America congregationalism and independent churches became a huge feature of church life.

In legal terms also, appeals to meaning followed patterns of textual interpretation more influenced by ways of Scripture interpretation rather than by the the tradition of ecclesiastical monopolies and episcopal controls.