Who is the real Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Anglican, Episcopalian, Baptist, Church of God?
I believe the answer to this qusetion is the Catholic Church. Let me explain. I believe all of the names above take a part of the Christian faith and call themselves by it, but truly there is only one church. When Christ created the Church, he did not envision 30,000 denominations, all teaching slightly or extremely different theology and philosophy. He envisioned one church, and the only one he established is the Catholic Church. Let me explain how Holy Mother Church fits all the names above.
Pentecostal – 50 Days after Christ's Resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and gave them authority over Christians. They received the power to forgive or retain sins, and they went forth in the name of Christ. That's why we call Pentecost the birthday of the Church. Pentecost refers to 50 days, and is a reference to the 50 days after Christ's Resurrection in which the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire. The church that was born on Pentecost is the Catholic Church, therefore we are the Pentecostal Church.
Prebyterian – The Greek name for priest comes from presbyteros meaning elder. Our church receives the sacraments through the priest, and thus they offer us a share in Christ's life. Therefore our church is founded upon priests, or presbyters, therefore the Catholic Church is the only true Presbyterian Church.
Church of Christ – As I mentioned previously, Christ only established one church and he prayed that it would be united like he and the Father are united. Since Christ founded but one Church and that is the Catholic Church, we are rightfully called the Church of Christ.
Anglican – Anglican simply means originating from England. Anglican means the English Church. Since only one Church, the Catholic Church is truly universal, it is the true church of all countries. No country can claim a completely unique church apart fom all the others. Therefore, the only true Anglican Church is the Catholic Church, just as the only Irish Church is the Catholic Church or the only Scottish Church is the Catholic Church.
Episcopalian – Of course, this is a term often used by a certain variety of Anglicans, but it is not legitimate for their use. Episcopalian refers to the episcopacy. This terms means over seer. Epi means over and scope means to view. This is the name given to bishops. The term bishop is derived from episcopal. Episcopal refers to the fact that our church has a lineage of bishops all the way back to the apostles. Especially important is the Pope who carries the lineage of Peter, the pre-eminent apostle. Because only the Catholic Church maintains a valid and licit apostolic succession, only we can be referred to as Episcopal or Episcopalian.
What makes one a member of Christ's Church? Baptism. When babies are baptized, they become members of Christ's true church, the Catholic Church. This is also true for adults who are baptized after going through an RCIA program. Therefore, we are the only true baptist church. Other baptisms are licit, but they are not valid. There is only one baptism - however, one must become a full member of the Catholic Church in order to be a member of Christ's true church.
Finally, since Christ IS God, the Catholic Church is God's church, therefore the Catholic Church is the Church of God.
As you can see, groups try to gain legitimacy by adopting names which would falsely lead one to believe they may be a true church. Make no mistake. Their roots are short, the Catholic roots are deep and span the centuries. Be safe on the bark of the boat of Peter!
Brother let's not go far. I have nothing against catholics, i even have many catholics friend even. But I think that catholic church doctrine is fundamentally wrong. Let me explain:
ReplyDeleteIn the 10 comandments(exodus 20 v4-5), it is said that :
"thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them"
You can continue to read this passage.
Basically what this passage is saying is that you should not bow in front of any IDOL, Statue even not in front of The statue of the crucified Jesus as Jesus is not on the cross but he is resurected and is God in the flesh, reighning in heaven at the right hand of God The Father. You should not bow nor pray any other statue, idol, saints, images that God almighty in the name of his son Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 27:14-15 comfirms that:
"Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place, And all people shall answer and say, Amen"
Basically this confirms that you should not pray a statue or image that is man made and say that this is God.
So bowing in front of an image, statue or idol is a Big sin even that of Jesus, coz this image is not Jesus as Our LORD is not manmade or an image But he reigns in heaven. My belief is that praying these thigs is a lack of faith as People think that if they don't see God, this means that the Almighty is not listening. I have good news for you though, God is listening, when you look for him with all your heart, you will find him.
Finally, one of the Greatest mislead of the Roman Catholics church is that they pray to the saints especially Mary mother of Jesus. The bible never said to pray to Mary or any other Saints. In fact the bible is clear You don't bow in front of any other God, or representation of things in heaven and earth.
I believe that the Idea of Praying to Mary originated from Ancient Rome as cristianity was increasing at a large rate. What happened is that there was a mixture of ancient religious belief and chritianity where ancient belief had to pray many gods. I believe that Mary is the modern representation of the ancient goddess Athena of roman mythology.
Well this is what i think about the topic, and if you are ignorantly doing this, I suggest you repent and to seek God and he will answer and show you the way, as well as follow what the bible(whether the new or old testament) says as it is the living word of God.
To answer your question, I found the best resource was Wikipedia. It gave a great explanation as to how Catholics view images and statues:
ReplyDelete[Beginning of Wikipedia citation]
While Catholics are often accused of worshiping images, in violation of the first commandment, the Church says this is a misunderstanding. In the Church's opinion, "the honor paid to sacred images is a 'respectful veneration', not the adoration due to God alone". In the early centuries of the Church, heated arguments arose over whether religious icons were prohibited by the first commandment. The dispute was almost entirely restricted to the Eastern church; the iconoclasts wished to prohibit icons, while the iconodules supported their veneration. At the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, the ecumenical council determined that the veneration of icons and statues was not in violation of the commandment and stated "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." The Catechism posits that God gave permission for images that symbolize Christian salvation by leaving symbols such as the bronze serpent, and the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. It states that "by becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new economy of images".
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explain the Catechism in their book entitled United States Catechism for Adults, published in 2006. Regarding graven images, they expound that this command addresses idolatry that in ancient times expressed itself in the worship of such things as the "sun, moon, stars, trees, bulls, eagles, and serpents" as well as "emperors and kings". They explain that today, idolatry expresses itself in the worship of other things, and list some as "power, money, materialism and sports."
[end of Wikipedia citation]
You may have seen people with Nativity Scenes during Christmas. You would not accuse them of idol worship would you? Images, icons, statues, etc. all help us bring to mind someone or something we love. A picture of Jesus reminds us of him. We do not worship the material object as such, but rather we venerate those featured in the images, which renders the image itself something special.
Another example is having a photo of your spouse in your wallet. No one would accuse you of worshipping your loved one because you have a photo of her in your pocket. But if you had a very expensive portrait of your great grandfather, you would use it to remind yourself of him, but also you would show respect to that portrait, but you would not worship it as an idol.
I hope this helps explain things. Let me know if you have any further questions.