/lit/ - Literature

>>23267935
>Sorry but I'm a lot closer to believing in Sola Scriptura than the Pope.
Interesting, because Scripture plainly establishes the latter while refuting the former (2 Thes 2:15).

>He didn't mention a particular 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)
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).

The Church Is Holy (Eph. 5:25–27, Rev. 19:7–8)
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)
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).

Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19).

The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, “the Catholic Church,” at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded.

The Church Is Apostolic (Eph. 2:19–20)
The Church Jesus founded is apostolic because he appointed the apostles to be the first leaders of the Church, and their successors were to be its future leaders. The apostles were the first bishops, and, since the first century, there has been an unbroken line of Catholic bishops faithfully handing on what the apostles taught the first Christians in Scripture and oral Tradition (2 Tim. 2:2).

Early Christian writings prove the first Christians were thoroughly Catholic in belief and practice and looked to the successors of the apostles as their leaders. What these first Christians believed is still believed by the Catholic Church. No other Church can make that claim.

Christ gave Peter alone the “keys of the kingdom” (Matt. 16:19) and promised that Peter’s decisions would be binding in heaven.

He also gave similar power to the other apostles (Matt. 18:18), but only Peter was given the keys, symbols of his authority to rule the Church on earth in Jesus’ absence.

Christ, the Good Shepherd, called Peter to be the chief shepherd of his Church (John 21:15–17). He gave Peter the task of strengthening the other apostles in their faith, ensuring that they taught only what was true (Luke 22:31–32). Peter led the Church in proclaiming the gospel and making decisions (Acts 2:1– 41, 15:7–12).

Early Christian writings tell us that Peter’s successors (https://www.catholic.com/tract/peters-successors)), the bishops of Rome (who from the earliest times have been called by the affectionate title of “pope,” which means “papa”), continued to exercise Peter’s ministry in the Church.

The pope is the successor to Peter as bishop of Rome. The world’s other bishops are successors to the apostles in general.
Source: https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth

The Catholic Church is the one true Church established by Jesus Christ when He walked the earth.

>There is not and there never was on earth a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church. The history of that Church joins together two great ages of human civilization. No other institution is left standing, which carries the mind back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when cameleopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian Amphitheater.

>The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday, when compared to the line of Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back to an unbroken series from the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century to the Pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extended till it is lost in the twilight of fable.

>The church saw the commencement of all governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all.

>She was great and respected before the Saxon set foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished at Antioch, when idols were still worshiped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigor when some traveler from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's.
Thomas Macaulay, Protestant historian

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>>20601099
>I feel that it just simply doesn’t set up realistic regulations for its followers.

As between Christianity and Islam, this is very much a secondary side issue.

The key issue is the status of Christ: Was He God incarnate, as per the Nicene Creed? Did He die on the Cross and then rise again?

These are, or should be, the big questions for you. If the Christian claims respecting Christ are true, then you must become a Christian, whether or not it has "realistic regulations for its followers."

Yes, Jesus was God incarnate. Yes, He died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0iDNLxmWVM

Yes, He established a Church, which we know today as the Catholic Church. Pic related.

Reclaim your Catholic heritage, anon.

>>20495497
Take the Catholic Pill.

For suitable reading, see the books discussed in these posts:
>>/lit/?task=search&ghost=&search_text=hildebrand+transformation

Pray. Ask God for light. Trust that God is good.

>>19496155

2/2

>So maybe I'm missing something but it seems clear that to be deep in history is TO BE Protestant.
Yes, you're missing something: the facts of history. Certain key points are highlighted in the attached infographic (my posting of which will doubtless draw down upon my head the wrath of the Addison contingent on this thread). As it illustrates, with copious citations, the beliefs and practices of the early Church track the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church, rather than the Protestant denominations.

This is why "to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant."

>>19429795
Yes, it's a good thing, since Jesus Christ invested no such authority in them, in distinct contrast to the Petrine Ministry.