Sigh, I did not intend to go into a fully fledged debate...did I say that I deplored the Protestants? On the contrary, I believe that the Protestant Reformation was necessary as a ''wake up call'' to the Church, for it was greatly sinning at the time. Yes, I as a Catholic, recognise and am ashamed that my Church was corrupt in the past. Maybe you might have the same humility as I do...who knows (at least I have many saints whom I can learn from)? There's really no need to attack the Church...
Notwithstanding, there are some flaws and bias in your argument
(of course there will be flaws and bias in my argument, but I am trying to stay and balanced as possible without compromising my faith!)
There was no 'pope' at the time the Bible was put together, so the Christian Church of the early years is not the same as the catholic church today.
The Church is Apostolic, it was started by Peter and other followers of Christ who came from the Levant. It does not matter whether Peter at the time considered himself Pope, for the Nicene Creed provided the foundations of the Church.
The New Testament portion of the Bible was collected, canonized, preserved and protected by the only Church that existed at the time (hint: it was Catholic). There was only one Church,
one universal Church, to do this.
And the word "catholic" means "universal". So yes, it was the Catholic Church that Christ founded which put the New Testament together. Each of the authors of the New Testament are Catholic saints (we actually venerate and show them respect), and the people who canonized the New Testament (verifying that it was true through prayer and investigation) were all Catholic, too.
Unfortunately there has been a lot of revisionism and conspiracy theories about the Church, that Emperor Constantine used the Church to unify the Roman citizens...that the Church was a tool of the Empire...that Christianity was simply a unifying force....well believe what you want, I tend to stick to facts
And about Stephen, there was a lot of antagonism and division in the Church. Everyone was trying to push their views onto others, but all abided to the teachings of Christ. Ultimately we needed one united, universal Church. We never wanted schisms...but politics tended to rule religion at the time.
...and immorally stole land and murdered native peoples in Christ's name
The Roman Empire adopted Christianity as a state religion. All the peoples of the Empire were persuaded to adopt Christianity (same as what the Islamic empire would do later on, but in much more brutal ways). Meanwhile it is evident that we spread Christianity peacefully, usually the monarch of a country would convert to Christianity and their population would follow suit (i.e. Poland). It was thanks to the Church that America is predominantly Christian, for we brought Christianity to the British Isles, Saint George and Patrick were Catholics.
Might I also say that the first Popes were all murdered by Pagans! We were
persecuted at first,
we were the victims,
everyone hated us! We could have just given up and then you and I wouldn't be Christian, this would be some sort of Pagan forum. No, we ensured that the Pagans would not limit our right to worship, and thus we did hurt them...we are very sorry to have done that but they were intent on wiping us out (though I think we can all agree that we did not listen to Christ's teaching of ''Turn the other cheek'', we are very sorry...the Church is not perfect, only Christ is perfect).
On that note I am not going to defend the Church's crimes...the Crusades, the Inquisition, the extermination of Native Americans...I am ashamed.
The Church has apologised for its crimes and has given aid to the victims, being the largest non-government aid provider in the world (something that today's media often ''forgets'', since paedophile priests tend to dominate the news).
However what about the Protestants?
Martin Luther wasn't exactly a peace loving person...he was a total anti-Semite, exterminating Jews across German villages. No doubt Hitler was influenced and hated the Church. Anyway you have a shorter history than us, so you would evidently have committed less crimes.
Anyway we are all guilty of sin and contempt, we should look up to and follow the teachings of Christ. After centuries of corruption, the Church is currently trying to do that.
We have gone far enough to call the Jews and Muslims our brothers, saying that their devotion to God might save them. Pope John Paul II actually went far enough to kiss the Quran, while evangelical Christians burn it! Pope Francis actually said that atheists might be even saved (though that's pretty universalist...it might not be true). We are by far one of the most tolerant denominations, because we have learnt from our past crimes and seek to repent!
As for our ''heretical'' doctrines...although you might not accept them please understand that we accept the fundamental, Trinitarian (adopted and conserved by the Church of course, you'd suffer the fate of the Unitarians if it wasn't for us...actually you'd probably be Pagan lol
) Christian values.
revering Mary
"27 While [
a]Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed. 28 But He said, On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. - Luke 11:27-28
Lol this is typical...
we do not worship Mary! I admit that there is too much veneration towards her, too many prayers about her...but it used to be even more beforehand, the Second Vatican Council reformed it. I hope that we can reform it further. Anyway Mary is the mother of Jesus, we should respect her for delivering God to us. In order to give birth to Christ, she would have to be great among women (but I do not believe she was sinless, only Jesus is sinless). Indeed, everyone who follows the Lord is blessed...Mary is no exception. If she had rejected Christ, she would not be blessed.
Of course Mary would need Christ, she is only saved by Christ. She is not the ''queen of heaven'' as some unorthodox Catholics like to put it. As for priests not being allowed to be married...I admit that this has more to do with politics. A priest would traditionally own part of the chapel or estate. If he had children, they would stay in the estate after he died... In order to counter this and keep the Church from being private, we ensured that all priests and bishops would remain celibate, that no bloodline would be used. Pretty respectable, especially since the Church had the opportunity to be a form of monarchy.
Anyway I'm pretty pressed for time, I have so much homework due tomorrow lol. Lets just put our differences aside and love ach other, as Christ taught us to do.
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.'' -John 13:34
And please do not judge. Not all Catholics are heretical as you think we are, we represent 1.2 billion people...surely some of us are unorthodox, but most of us know that we are Christians like you! We are all ultimately sinful (as you mentioned) and realistically should go to Hell. However the Lord died for us so that we may have Eternal Life...so lets not judge each other.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?'' -Matthew 7:3
God bless! (☆^ー^☆
