thetruthseeker----------The Catholic church has a gospel, but it is a perverted gospel. It is an imposter. The Catholic church is filled with a miriad of errors--<B>other gospels. </B>
The authority of the Catholic Church, rests on the identity of Jesus Christ. If Jesus is God, then the authority of the Catholic Church cannot be denied either biblically, historically, or "ecclesiologically". On the other hand, it does not take an exceptional mind to recognize that when the divinity of Jesus is attacked, the authority of the Catholic Church "falls" as well.
The biblical case for the authority of the Church is, an extremely compelling one. However, what 'cements' the Catholic Church's claim is the unanimous testimony of the early Christians. Here are a few excerpts from their writings. Some were taught by the Apostles themselves. Let the reader judge for himself or herself.
"Through countryside and city the apostles preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier... Our Apostles know through Our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry." (Pope St. Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians 42:4-5, 44:1-3 80 A.D.)
"Be subject to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ was subject to the Father, and the Apostles were subject to Christ and to the Father; so that there may be unity in both body and spirit" (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians, A.D.110, 13,1)
"Take care to do all things in harmony with God, with the bishops presiding in the place of God and with the presbyters in the place of the council of the Apostles." (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians, A.D. 110, 6,1)
"Those, indeed, who belong to God and to Jesus Christ - they are with the bishop. Do not err, my brethren: if anyone follow a schismatic; he will not inherit the kingdom of God." (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians, A.D. 110, 3,2)
"You must all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, A.D. 110, 8,1)
"Indeed, when you submit to the bishop as you would to Jesus Christ, it is clear to me that you are living in the manner not in the manner of men but as Jesus Christ, who died for us, that through faith in His death you might escape dying. It is necessary, therefore, - and such is your practice, that you do nothing without the bishop, and that you be subject also to the presbytery, as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ our hope." (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Traillians, A.D. 110, 2,1)
"And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. Every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled." (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16:2, 155 A.D.)
"Although he Paul writes to the Corinthians and to the Thessalonians for their correction, nevertheless it is shown that there is one Church spread abroad though the whole world." (Muratorian Fragment, 155 A.D.)
<B>"Let us be careful, then, if we should be submissive to God, not to oppose the bishop." (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, A.D. 180, 5,3)</B>
"And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the Apostles, and their successors to our own times: men who neither knew nor taught anything like these heretics rave about." (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, A.D. 180, 3,3,1)
"The blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, having founded and built up the Church of Rome, they handed over the office of the episcopate to Linus. Paul makes mention of this Linus in the Epistle to Timothy. To him succeeded Anencletus; and after him, in the third place from the Apostles, Clement was chosen from the episcopate. He had seen the blessed Apostles and was acquainted with them. It might be said that He still heard the echoes of the preaching of the Apostles, and had their traditions before his eyes. And not only he, for there were many still remaining who had been instructed by the Apostles. In the time of Clement, no small dissension having arisen among the brethren in Corinth, the Church in Rome sent a very strong letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace and renewing their faith. To this Clement, Evaristus succeeded; and Alexander succeeded Evaristus. Then, sixth after the Apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him, Telesphorus, who also was gloriously martyred. Then Hyginus; after him, Pius; and after him, Anicetus. Soter succeeded Anicetus, and now, in the twelfth place after the Apostles, the lot of the episcopate has fallen to Eleutherus. In this order, and by the teaching of the Apostles handed down in the Church, the preaching of the truth has come down to us." (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, A.D. 180, 3,3,3)
"It is necessary to obey those who are the presbyters in the Church, those who as we have shown, have succession from the Apostles; those who have received, with the succession of the episcopate, the sure charism of truth according to the good pleasure of the Father. But the rest, who have no part in the primitive succession and assemble wheresoever they will, must be held in suspicion." (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, A.D. 180, 4,26,2)
<B>"For all these heretics are of much later date than are the bishops to whom the Apostles handed over the Churches; and this fact I pointed out most carefully in the third book. It is of necessity, then, that these aforementioned heretics, because they are blind to the truth, walk in various devious paths; and on this account the vestiges of their doctrine are scattered about without agreement or connection. The path of these, however, who belong to the Church, goes around the whole world; for it has the firm tradition of the Apostles, enabling us to see that the faith of all is one and the same" (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, A.D. 180, 5,20,1).</B>
"After the death of the tyrant, the Apostle John came back again to Ephesus from the Island of Patmos; and, upon being invited, he went even to the neighbouring cities of the pagans, here to appoint bishops, there to set in order whole Churches, and there to ordain to the clerical state such as were designated by the Spirit" (St. Clement of Alexandria, Who is the rich man that is saved?, 190 A.D. 42,2).
"Moreover, if there be any heresies bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, so that they might seem to have been handed down by the Apostles because they were from the time of the Apostles, we can say to them: let them show the origins of their Churches, let them unroll the order of their bishops, running down in succession from the beginning, so that their first bishop shall have for author and predecessor some of one of the Apostles or of the apostolic men who continued steadfast with the Apostles. For this is the way in which the apostolic Churches transmit their lists: like the Church of the Smyrnaeans, which records that Polycarp was placed there by John; like the Church of the Romans where Clement was ordained by Peter. In just the same way the other Churches display those whom they have as sprouts from the apostolic seed, having been established in the episcopate by the Apostles" (Tertullian, The Demurrer Against the Heretics, A.D. 200, 32,1).
"Even here in the Church the gradations of bishops, presbyters, and deacons happen to be imitations, in my opinion, of the angelic glory and of that arrangement which, the Scriptures say, awaits those who have followed in the footsteps of the apostles and who have lived in complete righteousness according to the gospel." (St. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 6:13:107:2, 207 A.D.)
"From what has been said, then, it seems clear to me that the true Church, that which is really ancient, is one.We say, therefore, that in substance, in concept, in origin, and in eminence, the ancient and Catholic Church is alone." (St. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 7:17:107:3-5, 207 A.D.)
"Our Lord, whose commands we ought to fear and observe, says in the Gospel, by way of assigning the Episcopal dignity and settling the plan of His Church. From that time the ordination of bishops and the plan of the Church flows on through the changes of the times and successions; for the Church is founded upon the bishops, and every act of the Church is controlled by these same rulers." (St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter without heading, of Cyprian to the Lapsed, A.D. 250, 33,27,1).
"They alone have remained outside the Church who, were they within, would have to be ejected. There in John 6:68-69 speaks Peter, upon whom the Church would be built, teaching in the name of the Church and showing that even if a stubborn and proud multitude withdraws because it does not wish to obey, yet the Church does not withdraw from Christ. The people joined to the priest, the flock clinging to their shepherd in the Church. You ought to know, then, that the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishops, and if someone is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church. They vainly flatter themselves who creep up, not having peace with the priest of God, believing that they are secretly in communion with certain individuals. The Church, which is one and Catholic is not split or divided, but is indeed united and joined by the cement of priests who adhere to one another." (St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 66(67):8, 254 A.D.)
"The power of forgiving sins was given to the apostles and the churches which these men, sent by Christ, established and to the bishops who succeeded them by being ordained in their place." (Firmilian, Epistle to Cyprian 75:16, 255 A.D)
"And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is - for the others, sects of impious, attempt to call their dens 'houses of the Lord' - nor ask merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church, for this is the name peculiar to this holy Church, the Mother of us all, which is the Spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God." (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Cathechetical Lectures 18:26, 350 A.D.)
"We believe in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church, for heretics and schismatics call their own congregations churches. But heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God, and not schismatics, because the Church loves neighbour." (St. Augustine, Faith and Creed 10:21, 393 A.D.)
