Roman Catholic Beliefs- Part 6- The only true Church?- 2 of 5


Part 6 of "Cathechism Chat"

Jesus said, "Search the scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting; and the same are they that give testimony of me. And you will not come to me that you may have life."
(John 5:39,40; Douay Version)

        He didn't say to come to the Catholic Church, to do the sacraments, to get water baptized or all the other things that we hear that we are to do. Jesus said that we are to come to him for life. This article will be to the Catholics. I'll be continuing on from where I stopped last time regarding the subject of 'the only true church'. So going to the book, 'A Catechism for Adults' by William J. Cogan. In Lesson 16: The Church; I'm on question 3 which says,
"3. When did Jesus establish His church?
answer: Nearly two thousand years ago. "

        This is true but now we need some definitions. First what is a church? Is it a building with a cross or a steeple on top as many people think or is it something entirely different? Is it much more than that?
Yes, it's much more, it's people, those who have been born of God's Spirit. Those who have received him as their Lord and Saviour. Ck. To the Romans 10:9,10 which says, "For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.".

         The people, those born of his Spirit, are God's church, his temple (Ck. 1 To The Corinthians Ch.3:16; "Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"          The greek for 'church' is 'ekklesia' and it means 'the called out ones'. Those who have been called out of darkness into the light and have heeded that call. They are the body of Christ, it says in 1 To The Corinthians Ch.12:27, "Now you are the body of Christ and members of member."
         If you read this whole chapter, you will see that it is speaking to all believers, all Christians because Christ Jesus lives in all of his people and because of that we are his body which is his church.

Now going to the next question in the Catechism book. Number 4 says,
"4. How many churches did Jesus establish?
answer: Only one."

        I agree that he established only one church and it is comprised of all born-again believers in all types of Christian denominations whether it's Baptist, Pentecostal, Nazarene, Assembly of God, Charismatic, etc. We worship, praise and glorify the same Jesus!
        Then they partly quote two scriptures under question #4,
"Upon this rock I will build my church" [Matthew 16:18] and
"There shall be one fold and one shepherd" [John 10:16]"

        In another lesson, I've already discussed the 'Rock' being Jesus and not Peter. And I've shown here that all Christian denominations have the same Jesus who is the one Shepherd over the one fold (his sheep, his people) all over the face of the earth.

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