ONE CHURCH - Is there to be only one Church or many? According to Scripture, Christ wanted us to be one (John 17:22-23). We are all as a Church to be of one mind and to think the same (Philippians 2:2; Romans 15:5). There is only to be one ';faith'; (Ephesians 4:3-6), not many. For the Church is Christ's Body and Christ only had one Body, not many. Also, since the Church is Christ's Bride (Ephesians 5:29), can Christ be married to more than one wife (essentially a spiritual form of the the sin of polygamy)? No, Christ can only have one wife (i.e., one Church, not many).
Every Christian believes that Jesus Christ established and sustains a community of faith, hope and love for all believers. This community we call His Church. The Church that Christ founded is the Catholic Church which has a formal earthly structure established by Christ and which continues under His authority and protection.
Jesus did three things that established the framework of His Church. First, He chose humans to carry out His work. He appointed Peter to be the visible head of the Church. Jesus said to Peter, ';You are Rock and on this rock I will build my Church.'; (Matthew 16: 18) Jesus said ';build,'; as in to create a structure. Jesus built His structure on specifically chosen human beings Peter and the apostles.
Second, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles the power and authority to carry out His work. ';Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.';(Matthew 16:19; 18:18) ';Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, whose sins you retain, they are retained.';(John 20:23)
Third, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles commands as to what that work should be. At the last supper, He commanded, ';Do this in memory of Me.'; (Luke 22:19) He commanded them to ';Make disciples of all nations'; (Matthew 28:19), and to ';Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.'; (Mark 16:15)
The Catholic Church is the only church that can claim to have been founded by Christ personally. Every other church traces its lineage back to a mere human person such as Martin Luther or John Wesley. The Catholic Church can trace its lineage back to Jesus Christ who appointed St. Peter as the first pope. This line of popes has continued unbroken for almost 2,000 years.
God rules, instructs and sanctifies His people through His Church. Under her teaching office, the Catholic Church preserves the Word of God. She is the custodian, keeper, dispenser and interpreter of teachings of Christ. And she accomplishes this under the protection of the Holy Spirit.
FOUR MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH
If we wish to locate the Church founded by Jesus, we need to locate the one that has the four chief marks or qualities of his Church. The Church we seek must be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
The Church Is One (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 10:17, 12:13, CCC 813–822)
Jesus established only one Church, not a collection of differing churches (Lutheran, Baptist, Anglican, and so on). The Bible says the Church is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:23–32). Jesus can have but one spouse, and his spouse is the Catholic Church.
His Church also teaches just one set of doctrines, which must be the same as those taught by the apostles (Jude 3). This is the unity of belief to which Scripture calls us (Phil. 1:27, 2:2).
Although some Catholics dissent from officially-taught doctrines, the Church’s official teachers—the pope and the bishops united with him—have never changed any doctrine. Over the centuries, as doctrines are examined more fully, the Church comes to understand them more deeply (John 16:12–13), but it never understands them to mean the opposite of what they once meant.
The Church Is Holy (Eph. 5:25–27, Rev. 19:7–8, CCC 823–829)
By his grace Jesus makes the Church holy, just as he is holy. This doesn’t mean that each member is always holy. Jesus said there would be both good and bad members in the Church (John 6:70), and not all the members would go to heaven (Matt. 7:21–23).
But the Church itself is holy because it is the source of holiness and is the guardian of the special means of grace Jesus established, the sacraments (cf. Eph. 5:26).
The Church Is Catholic (Matt. 28:19–20, Rev. 5:9–10, CCC 830–856)
Jesus’ Church is called catholic (';universal'; in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of ';all nations'; (Matt. 28:19–20).
For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28).Why can there be only One True Church, and why One, and why True? Is it because of it's founder, Jesus Christ?
It is because there is only one truth.
The Catholic Church requires baptism, but not necessarily by immersion.
The Baptist Church says baptism is not required, but when it is done it must be by immersion.
Can both be right? Of course not!
There is some measure of truth in every religion, however, therefore we Catholics say that we have ';the fullness of the truth';.
Hope this helps.Why can there be only One True Church, and why One, and why True? Is it because of it's founder, Jesus Christ?
Jesus only started one church (Matt 16:18), and he prayed that we all be united (see John 17:20-21: ';My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.';)
Other people have started more than 30,000 fellowships, not by following Jesus' directions, but by ';protesting'; against Jesus' organization. These organizations usually have part of the truth, but they wear doctrinal blinders that won't allow them to consider evidence outside the Bible, or interpret key scriptures correctly, or recognize their limitations as scriptural interpreters 2000 years removed from the original documents.
I'm not sure why anyone would try to follow Jesus by rejecting Jesus' church in favor of an organization protesting against Jesus' church.
Cheers,
Bruce
there can only be one truth, because God , who is one, taught one truth, One Lord, One baptism. The doctrines, teaching of the church, the traditions, are all from Jesus, and held in the catholic church for over 2 thousand years. There has been a pope for 2 thousand years, the sacraments, everything that Jesus died to give us, for our journey home to him, is in this one true church. Check inside for more salvation information.
There was only to be ONE proper way of worshipping God. Think about it. Adam and Eve were getting direct instructions from their creator. It wasn't until after they disobeyed and things went arry that worship also strayed, reaching it's ';peak'; in more ways than one in the days of Nimrod. By then all kinds of unacceptable practices had crept into the worship fo God. When the people were dispersed, they took their worship with them.
Again, why ONE? Imagine having five children. Would you set different house rules and so forth for each child. Would you allow one child to do things you wouldn't allow the others. Expect something from one or two that you don't expect from the others? It wouldn't make for a very peaceful household would it? And it's why we don't have a peaceful planet... at least one of the reasons.
there is one true church....the body of belivers in christ jesus.....just dont happen to be the one you consider to be true.its not a literal place or organization.
Ephesians 1:22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Colossians 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
colossians 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
The principal evidence is in Matthew 16:13-20, not in a sermon but in a private teaching session with his disciples.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ';Who do people say the Son of Man is?';
They replied, ';Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.';
';But what about you?'; he asked. ';Who do you say I am?';
Simon Peter answered, ';You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.';
Jesus replied, ';Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.'; Jesus established a human organization, the church, with Peter as its first leader. He protected it from the powers of hell. He gave ';keys to the kingdom,'; so that what the leaders of the church decide would be honored in heaven.
Among the authorized decisions were to appoint new leaders, such as Matthias to replace Judas in Acts 1.
History shows that this organization has an unbroken line of leadership dating back to Peter:
The organization is very much alive today--the Catholic Church.
because there is only god. its based on his gospel. there is only one gospel, the holy bible. he started the true church the day of pentecost.preached to the world by the apostles. see upci.org for a full explanation or you can e-mail me for questions!
Yes......Jesus Christ started the One True Church..His followers are called the One True Church....it is not an organized religion.
because there is only one truth...there cant be two truths. one will be a lie. Jesus Christ also Established ONE TRUE church. he didnt establish a whole bunch of churches and call them all true
yes
Do you mean which Church is true
LDS
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment