At what point did the church that was established in Rome...

Maria Billingsley

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...begin adding all sorts of doctrine that apparently did not come from Christ?

Or, do you know a good source for answering such questions?

Thanks in advance!
With each new Pope possibly came a new doctrine. I found this to be helpful to find out who contributed what. List of popes - Wikipedia
Blessings
 
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NotSparedTheRod

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From what I've read, the Pope actually is the legitimate leader of Christandom. Christ is the head of the church, and passed on apostolic succession to Saint Peter, who became the first Pope. It's been passed down from leader to leader to the present day. Protestantism, founded by Martin Luther (who betrayed the Catholic Church and attempted to claim unmerited and ungranted apostolic authority), is seen by many people as something of an embarassment, if not possibly the False Prophet of the Book of Revelation. He was known to have believed that Christ must have sinned as a human, for example. Here's a few articles on him and the strange fire he brought to seemingly try and burn down the Church Universal:




Then we've also got the other "good fruit" of Luther's work:
  1. The balkanization of Christiandom into thousands (somewhere like 4500) different denominations. Anyone remember Christ telling his followers to be of one mind and calling for unity under authority granted by God? Luther got excommunicated and this has not, to my knowledge, been revoked. Thus, he never recieved apostolic authority.
  2. The Salem Witch trials, done by the Puritans
  3. Ideas like "a good, strong lie for the sake of the Church" being a holy thing. God -hates- lying lips.
  4. Nazi Germany and it's Holocaust. Something good came from Nazareth, but can anything good come from Germany? (Luther was German).
What's really needed in these days, IMO, is a Christian Unity movement. I think God would greatly prefer if Protestants, Catholics, etc. would band together, especially in the face of the rise of atheism in powerful, populous places like Communist China. Already, some of the earliest schimatics, the Eastern Orthodox church, have repented and returned to full communion with the Catholic church. Protestants can do the same, if their leaders would realize how self-righteous and arrogant Martin Luther was. While iron does sharpen iron, iron bereft of genuine apostolic authority is as rust is to iron, much like chaff is to grain. Each of the Protestant denominations is doomed to scatter, as Jesus said, unless they gather to Christ, who passed his authority in this fallen world down through St. Peter. At least that's my opinion. Not sure if it is inspired by God, but He is a loving father, and I don't think he wants His children to be at eachother's throats, metaphorically or literally. This just the view of a former outsider who has felt something working through him, or so I believe.
 
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Tolworth John

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What's really needed in these days, IMO, is a Christian Unity movement. I think God would greatly prefer if Protestants, Catholics, etc. would band together,
So you are saying that the rcc will abandon all its non biblical practices and become like protestant churches?
Or that protestants should accept the man made inventions found in the rcc and we all become one.

There is one Christian church, made up of All who believe in Jesus, regardless of what church organisation they belong to.
 
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Valletta

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The Bible is not an instruction book containing all Christian practices, Protestants have plenty of man-made concepts and practices. As to the Catholic Church, when the Catholic Church chose the 73 books of the Bible any text that contradicted Catholic teaching was rejected.
 
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Valletta

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With each new Pope possibly came a new doctrine. I found this to be helpful to find out who contributed what. List of popes - Wikipedia
Blessings
No, new doctrine does not come from each new Pope. Catholic teaching has been passed down through the Apostles and certainly popes and bishops over the centuries. The Word of God does not change but we can come to a deeper understanding.
 
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concretecamper

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No, new doctrine does not come from each new Pope. Catholic teaching has been passed down through the Apostles and certainly popes and bishops over the centuries. The Word of God does not change but we can come to a deeper understanding.
I've asked many a protestant what did the Pope ever unilaterally decree binding on all Christians that protestants disagree with. I get crickets.
 
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rturner76

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...begin adding all sorts of doctrine that apparently did not come from Christ?

Or, do you know a good source for answering such questions?

Thanks in advance!
Since the Church in Rome was founded by Christ's Apostle who was designated the Rock of the Church, The Church in Rome had a pretty good idea of what was supposed to be taught. It's a passing down of knowledge from the first Apostles. We believe that The Church still receives revelation from God so some things come up for review from time to time but it's still pretty much the same Latic Church that converted half the world.

The Protestants that came behind them just cut out or altered whatever their particular branch of Christianity disagreed with.
 
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...begin adding all sorts of doctrine that apparently did not come from Christ?

Or, do you know a good source for answering such questions?

Thanks in advance

Probably with the founding of the Catholic Church (with the Edict of Thessalonica on 27 February AD 380.

Others would say with the founding of the Roman Catholic Church proper (11th Century).

But even with the Church that was established in Jerusalem there were disagreements on interpretation and practices.
 
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RileyG

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Probably with the founding of the Catholic Church (with the Edict of Thessalonica on 27 February AD 380.

Others would say with the founding of the Roman Catholic Church proper (11th Century).

But even with the Church that was established in Jerusalem there were disagreements on interpretation and practices.
The five "super centers" were Jerusalem, Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. For the first few centuries, they were all in Communion with one another until the schisms began happening. It depends how you define how they were "founded."
 
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The five "super centers" were Jerusalem, Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. For the first few centuries, they were all in Communion with one another until the schisms began happening. It depends how you define how they were "founded."
By "founded" I am referring to Christianity when merged with the Roman Empire. This was drastically different from the Apostolic and Early Church.
 
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RileyG

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By "founded" I am referring to Christianity when merged with the Roman Empire. This was drastically different from the Apostolic and Early Church.
Oh! Never mind. I misunderstood. 312. Edict of Milan.
 
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DragonFox91

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There are many reasons different traditions entered the ancient church & why the church eventually approved them.

There's a belief the Apostles were in complete uniformity with their teachings & so every church everywhere they set up taught the same thing & stayed to the Apostles' teaching strictly. The reality is it's not unreasonable at all 12 apostles would disagree on teachings. They agreed on fundamentals, yes, but each one would've brought different ideas to the table. If God hadn't intended each Apostle's individuality, he wouldn't have used 12. (One of the Gospels says 70 were sent out at one point)

Christianity spread fast. Acts talks how people converted at thousands at a time. It would've been so easy for non-fundamental traditions to enter. Christianity is considered a liberal religion because it allows so much.

We know from history & the Bible that Bishops & deacons were set up to oversee church's. This may sound like correct doctrine would've been preserved, but things that seem okay were allowed in & overtime they snowball & balloon into something not resembling what was originally allowed at all. This is called accretion. So what we have now may not be because anyone was trying to be nefarious, but they were trying their best, then later someone misinterpreted what they were saying & it got a bit worse, then someone else misinterpreted what they were saying & it got a bit worse, & so on.

There's a belief these things would've been stamped out at Councils when church leaders meant to decide doctrines, but congregations didn't live in a bubble. What one congregation was doing would've spread to the congregation next door, which would've spread it to the congregation next door to them, & so on. All over the region. So when these bishops met, it would sound to them like it was a universal doctrine that had in fact been started by one individual congregation.

Also, people back then were very superstitious. Even the Christians. I could easily see a church leader saying "If this teaching was this bad, God would've struck us down" or "he would've struck the congregation down." Stuff like that. They may've even cast lots on issues.

Bad doctrine was able to enter because converts brought in their own ideas. Congregations thought they were okay because they thought similarily. The leaders thought they wouldn't lead to ruin.

Meanwhile, Gnosticsm & other heresies were popular in a lot of congregations. It had entered because they claimed their teachings went back to Apostles. The Church we now know rallied in union against these & was able to defeat them because Paul's early letters were presented. (The Gnostics rallied, forging their own letters & Gospels which they claimed could be traced back, but they were proven frauds. If a Gospel of Peter pops up 150 years after Peter died & no one knew about it till now, of course it's a forgery) So because Paul's letters are so early & so widespread & can easily be traced to him, we know his teachings are correct. The Gospels of Mark & Matthew, which are also early Gospels, put Gnosticsm to bed as well. (Some people think John was written to specifically combat Gnosticsm, but the Gnostics would be able to say it was written too late & a forgery, which they did not)

After putting a dent in Gnosticsm, the Church focused more on unity & excommunication became popular (even tho 'heretical' ideas may've still been held by individual leaders in good standing). Accretions were still able to enter tho & continue to enter to this day.

So to answer the OP: different doctrines have always been present. Sometimes they were defeated, other times they were allowed to grow. People are individuals & bring individual ideas. Not everything can be traced & everything guarded against. Just as the Hebrews in the Old Testament strayed from God (count how many times!) while remaining his, so can the Church. In regards to sources, what doctrine are you specifically wondering about?
 
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