One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

I recently read a debate occuring on a friend’s facebook wall. On it, a catholic made a disparaging remark about protestants and more than just rubbing me the wrong way it made me think. He quoted from St. Matthew the verse where Peter confesses that Christ is Lord and Christ tells him that he will be the rock on which he builds his church and that whatever he binds here on earth will be bound in heaven…etc. Right there in red letters was Christ giving over the fate of the church into the hands of one who would later disown him. That irony not withstanding…I began to contemplate if the ‘Holy’ Roman Catholic church was the one true church.

Then it hit me. The guy had found two verses. Two verses in the entire bible that seemed to ordain the church. That was all. Not just that, but those verses can’t possibly be taken any more literally than can the use of the word ‘Jews’ can be in Romans chapter 2. Peter was the rock on which Christ built his church, but it was Christ’s church! It was a body of believers who gave their sins over to Christ and were saved through him. It’s not a physical building or congregation or even a certain structure of organizations that Christ was ordaining then; it was the fellowship of believers; congregations with correct teachings.

This guy found two verses to support catholicism. The reformers (namely Martin Luther [I have a one track mind]) had the entire bible to support them. They had entire systematic theologies. Traditional catholicism can’t hold a flame to the reformation, and they are not the one true church.

The one true Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is not defined in any human manner. It is not contained within any given congregation or denomination. It is comprised of true believers through the ages and bows to no man! Humanism, pride, greed and all the other ills of this world do not ravage the true church nor can any disaster, be it fire or flood ever destroy it. And I pity the people who don’t understand that.