Kristus Aman Youth Ministry.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Regarding the name of the Church

Is there any verse in the Bible that states that the name of the true church is Holy Roman Catholic Church? Because this is very important for us to know which is the true religion.

It is quite simple to find out which is the church which Christ left us.

1. Christ came 2000 years ago. The only church 2000 years old is the Roman Catholic Church. All other churches are only about 500 years old, starting with the Lutheran church in 1500's.

2. In the bible, Christ built the church on Peter, the Rock.

Matthew 16:15-19 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter (kepha, translated into Koine Greek as "petros" meaning "rock" and into English as "Peter"),and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Here, Christ changes Peter's name from Simon to Peter, to call him Rock. Christ gave Peter the power of binding and loosing, what we call the Keys to the Kingdom of heaven, or, the Power of the Keys. He gave PRIMACY to Peter, and made Peter the first pope. Only the CAtholic church has popes, and all its popes can trace their ancestry to the first pope through apostolic succession.

3. One way to see which church is the Church that Christ left us to to compare the teachings of a current church with the teachings of the first christians of the 1st-3rd centuries. The first christians believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, practiced devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, venerated relics and holy images, had priests, bishops who were ordained in specific rites, who offered the mass, taught that confession to a priest is necessary etc. Many early church fathers such as St Ausgustine, St Cyril, St Jerome writes about these beliefs. The only church which still teaches the same things as the first christians is the Roman Catholic Church.

4. Just because something is not in the bible, doesn't mean that it isn;t true. For the words abortion, homosexuality, the Trinity are not present in the bible, but are called by different names.

5. The first christians didn't call themselves catholic, because all were taught the same doctrines. The name Catholic only came into being when there were heresies and errors taught by heretics-and so, to distinguish between the true christians and the heretical sects, the name catholic came into being. Catholic comes from the Greek word Katolikos, meaning Universal.

Therefore, the only True Church left by Christ is the Roman Catholic Church.

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