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The Protestant and Evangelical Churches differ in many of their teachings but all coincide in one: The Church founded by Christ was corrupted. This alleged corruption is, according to them, what justifies the creation of new churches, which, claim, at the same time, to be true because the others are also corrupted or are false or do not have the full truth. What can you say about these arguments? |
| Starting to quote one of the most aggressive sects, Jehovah’s Witnesses, in its magazine “The Sentinel”, in an article about the fall of Babylon, says: “The post-Apostolic Church gradually departed from the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice… The Protestant Reformation returned the Scriptures to their proper place within the Church and brought to light the apostolic doctrine of justification by faith”. Another important event: “The Church did not fulfill Christ’s commands, but with the passing of time there were errors introduced. From Constantine, it was becoming corrupt little by little until Luther came to reform it. Evangelical Christians come to correct all errors and untruths that the Catholic Church has introduced.” Cfr. Roman Catholicism p. 20.
Therefore, the protestant argument to justify the break with the Catholic Church is that the Church of Christ introduced corruption because, if this were not true, they would have no reason to exist. Built on Rock Christ recommended that when we were to build a house, that it not built on sand but on rock. Perhaps Christ was not going to follow His own rules. If it were true that the Church Christ built was corrupted shortly after his death, then I would have to say that Christ did not know how to do things. The Church that he founded, to no avail, it broke down. Christ said that everything that is built on the rock can never collapse. (Luke 6:48). Christ is the rock and the foundation of his Church. “And the rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). He is the cornerstone. (Mark 12:10). All evangelical Christians recognize that Christ is the rock. Therefore, to say that the Church that Christ founded became corrupt, means to teach that the Foundation, which is Christ himself, served to no avail and contradicts Scripture. Christ is the truth and He cannot deceive himself nor deceive us. But he promised, with regard to the Church, that “the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). If it were true that the post-apostolic Church departed from the teachings of Christ and Satan prevailed, the error and the lie, that would mean that Christ deceived us or deceived Himself. If He deceives us, He is not the Truth; if it deceives himself, and was not able to fulfill His promise, He is not God. Christ is the Bridegroom. (John 3:29). The Church is his bride. (Ephesians 5:25 and Revelation 19:7). To assert that Christ repudiates his Church for being a sinner and was with another is to accuse Him of adultery. “The one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.” (Mark 10:11). Christ is merciful and does not repudiate the adulterous women but that forgives them. (Luke 7:44-50 and John 8:10). The adulterous Samaritan woman is not rejected but is converted into His apostle. (John, chapter 4). Therefore, the Christ that rejects his wife the Church, does not forgive her and goes with another, is not the Christ of the Bible. The prayer of Christ is infallible: Christ said to Peter: “I will pray that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren”. (Luke 22:31). Although Peter had sinned, his faith would not fail, because it is sustained by the perfect prayer of Christ. To say that the Roman Catholic Church teaches things contrary to the faith, Evangelical Christians deny the infallible power of the prayer of Christ. The Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15). If it were true that Church which Christ founded gradually departed from the truth, that means that that foundation and that column Sestablished by Christ collapsed. Could that be true? Christ inaugurated his kingdom 2000 years ago (Mark 1:15). Evangelical Christians contradict Scripture because it affirms that the kingdom of God established by Christ “will never be destroyed…and shall stand forever.” (Daniel 2:44). Errors First mistake: confusing “sinful” with “apostate Church”. The one who does not distinguish- confuses: to say that the Church of Christ may be sinful is one thing, but saying that it has been corrupted and apostatized is another. If the Church, as Protestants claim, was corrupted from the time of Constantine, how is it that She still exists? Second mistake: Believing that the Church must be impeccable. If the Church asks for forgiveness, it is because She has sinned; if in the Catholic Church we pray the “I the sinner” is because we recognize that in Her there are sinners. But by the fact of being sinful, it does not cease being the church of Christ, in the same way that because there are sinners in the world it ceases to be a divine creation.
Many would have us believe that because there have been scandals and bad Popes in the Church, that is enough reason for the Catholic Church to cease to being the church of Christ. But Christ, on the contrary, stated that in its field were to be mixed wheat and tares until the end of the world and did not allow his servants to pull out the tares. (Matthew 13:24-30). Third error: indeed, it is precisely because the church of Christ is sinful, we must believe that it is the work of Christ, because how do you explain the fact that a Society from 2000 years ago subsists in spite of their sins and imperfections? All empires that have been corrupted have disappeared, the Church remains, is more alive and stronger than ever. Why is that? Undoubtedly to the divine and powerful force of the One who said: “I am with you all days until the end of the world”. Who should we believe? Those who say that Christ left His Church or the same Christ who promises not to ever to leave it?. It turns out that the Protestants say that the church is invisible. That is, that in order to love the Church and to accede to it, they say that this is not seen, that no one knows what it is; but to attack and denigrate it all can easily identify and know that it is the Roman Catholic Church. Inconsistencies They claim that the Church that Christ founded broke down, was corrupted and then they founded another. Who is making them competent? They say that the church was corrupted and nevertheless it is alive and present all over the world. If it is corrupt and disappears, then why is the Church alive? If they continue to attack and protest the Church, does that not mean that the Church remains alive and strong? They say that it’s the same thing being in one church or another. If it is the same, then why not everyone become Catholic? They say that everyone is equal. If everyone is equal, why do they make a different church? |
