July 12, 2007

The True Church?

According to Pope Benedict XV, the head of 1.1 billion Catholic Church, Protestant churches are not really churches at all.

On Tuesday, the Pope approved and released a document stating that, "other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation."

Bill Keller, the host of Live Prayer with Bill Keller, the nation's only "live" call-in faith and values based program airing exclusively on secular TV and the Internet's leading evangelist at LivePrayer.com, said that he "was shocked and appalled at Pope Benedict's statement that all non-Roman Catholic churches are illegitimate since that is in complete contradiction to what the Bible teaches." Keller also went on to say that the Pope's "theology is also horribly flawed when he states that non-Catholic churches do not have the ‘manes of salvation' since salvation does not come from an ecclesiastical body but through God's grace and faith in Jesus Christ alone as clearly stated in Scripture!"

My Take: 

  • The Pope's statement that all non-Roman Catholic churches are not true churches is false and not what the Bible teaches
  • The so-called "True Church" was established by Christ and existed nearly 400 years before what we know today as the Roman Catholic Church came into being
  • What makes a true Christian church? The Bible teaches that the true church (ekklesia) is made up of a body of Believers who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
  • By approving this document, Pope Benedict XVI has opened up old wounds of division and hatred between Catholics and Protestants
  • Satan is always working to defeat the Body of Christ through strife and division
  • Martin Luther broke with the Catholic Church when he challenged the authority of the Pope by emphasizing the Bible as the sole source (sola scriptura ) of religious authority and the true church of Jesus Christ is made of all those who confess faith alone in Christ as the only means of their salvation (sola fides); the "priesthood of all believers"
  • The Bible is our final authority in all matters (see 2 Timothy 3:16)

Bible - 1  Pope -  0

Posted by Brother Ron at 23:53:47 | Permanent Link | Comments (7) |