I take it you’re a Calvinist?
I would say, BreadOfLife, that my understandings of Scripture line up very closely to John Calvin's, so yes. And you, my friend, are very Arminian in yours. But not all Catholics are...
Once again – you live in a fantasy world where everything ins “peaches and cream”. The Church is in decline – Catholic and Protestant. That’s just a FACT. We can hide our heads in the sand and live in denial about it – or we cab DO something about it by spreading the Gospel message.
Well, again, yes, the aggregate number of professing believers is surely in decline; I never denied that and have concurred on that several times now. But, God promised to build His kingdom, which is made up of true believers, those born again in Christ, and that has been true and will continue to be true until ~ as Paul says ~ the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in and the partial hardening now on Israel is removed. People are still... coming to Christ, and will up to that time. Even though the number of professing believers is declining ~ at least in certain areas of the world;t the story is quite the opposite in places like Africa and China...
YOURS is a denial of the very definition.
No, it's an affirmation of the Biblically correct definition. :) But far be it from me to deprive you of your opinion. :)
The Catholic church is not a “Branch” of Christianity.
Hmmm... no comment here... :) I guess all I will say is that there is no "branch of Christianity"... :) Your response here is to my comment that (and I quote myself), "Denominations are recognized autonomous branches of the visible Christian Church." I get that you don't see the same difference I do, but I would say that calling something a "branch of Christianity" and calling something a "recognized autonomous branch of the visible Christian Church" are two very different descriptions.
It is the Original Tree from which ALL of the other branches sprouted.
That's the Catholic narrative, sure. And, as I've said before, I agree, really, but obviously in a much larger sense that what you have in mind; this is what I said ~ in a slightly different way ~ to Illuminator above.
No – that’s the one. In Acts 9:4-5, Jesus equates his Body – the Church - with his very self: He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He said, "Who are you, sir?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Ah, I see what you mean now. Okay, sure. It's parallel to what He says in Matthew 25, in opposing ways regarding believers and unbelievers (and will say upon His return to some as opposed to others):
"...'I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me... Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.’"
“...'I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me... Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’”
The irony, really, BreadOfLife, is that ~ unintentional as it may be ~ you make these things to be far smaller than they really are.
Like it or not – Jesus built ONE Church... That Church is His BODY and HE is the Head (Col. 1:18). He prayed for the UNITY of that Church – that it remain ONE and He and the Father are ONE (John 17:20-23). ALL Christians are incorporated to this ONE Church through Baptism (John 3:5, Mark 16:16). This is the “circumcision of the heart” that Paul speaks of.
Right. Agreed. Like. :)
Protestant Christians, however, are self-separated from that ONE Church.
LOL! Not at all. My goodness. The issue, BreadOfLife, is now ~ as it has been from the outset of our conversation ~ what, actually who that Church is. :)
Jesus established the Church one earth so that the world would NEVER be without Him. He and His Church are ONE (Acts 9:4-5, Col. 1:18, 1 Cor. 12).
Absolutely... :)
You CANNOT know Him if you refuse to know His Church.
One cannot know Him unless he/she is born again of the Spirit, because up to that time, he/she are dead in his/her sin, and therefore a slave to unrighteousness.
I actually got that metaphor from a PROTESTANT source. Church historian, Kenneth Samples wrote that in an essay for the Christian Research Institute that operates the Bible Answer Man radio show.
The name of the essay is “What Think Ye of Rome?”
Okay, well, there are a lot of very wrong "Protestant sources" out there... :) I'm not necessarily saying Kenneth Samples is one of those people; I would like to know his particular context in saying that, if in fact that's what he actually said/wrote/meant. Just on cursory glance though, I do see that he says this: "Today the Catholic church is incredibly divergent. Its diversity is actually on the level of that within Protestantism." Perhaps you disagree with that particular statement, but then that would mean you're... cherry-picking... :)
I honestly don’t know how you can say this with a straight face. New doctrines were being invented by different men during this time who eventual started they OWN sects based on their personal interpretations.
It seems to me because you're not giving it an earnest, honest assessment. I don't disagree that "new doctrines
(have been) invented by different men
(and women) ...who eventually started their own sects based on their personal interpretations." And, for sure, this is apostasy. However, I don't really know if you're trying to do this or not, but you can't paint every "departure," we'll call it, as apostasy. A very large amount of this "division" has been to avoid dissensions, controversies, and quarrels, which is exactly what Paul exhorts us all as Christians to do.
And, as I said, you're really sort of a pot calling the kettle black, so to speak, BOL. It is quite true that "today's Catholic church is incredibly divergent... and actually on the level of that within Protestantism," as Kenneth Samples said (quoted above).
Grace and peace to you, BreadOfLife.