This free leaflet contains
the key reasons of the great recent converts to the Catholic Church in one page: Scott
Hahn, Peter Kreeft, Steve Ray, Jim Akin, Tim Staples, Marcus Grodi, etc on how
they found the real Jesus in his one true Church.
It is a tool for the New Evangelization summoned by Pope Francis.
Ten Reasons the
Catholic Church is the One True Church of Jesus
while other
Christian groups derive their elements of truth from her fullness
A one-page
leaflet to support Pope Francis’ call for a New Evangelization that “all may
come to the knowledge of the truth” (1
Tim 2:4) and to support Jesus’ prayer that “all may be one” (Jn 17:21)
Download the one-page leaflet here (Dropbox) or here (Scribd).
1. The Bible is a
Catholic book. It was Pope Damasus’
Council of Rome in 382 AD which drew up the official list of the books of the
Bible. Thus, Luther felt “compelled to concede” that his Protestant Bible was “received”
from the Catholic Church. All Christians today trust the authority of the Catholic
Church that what they read is the true Word of God and not a false text.
2. The Bible refutes
the “Bible alone” principle. The Bible says
that the “Word of the Lord” is “spoken” (Jer 25:3), not
just written. St. Paul urged us to “hold to traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thes 2:15). The Bible also tells of a Council’s authority, where
Peter settled a doctrinal dispute and declared what “we believe” (Acts 15).
The Bible teaches that not the Bible or the
Protestant interpreters of the 16th century and of the present, but
“the Church is the pillar and the
bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15). It
also warns against “twisted” interpretations of Scriptures (2
Pt 3:16). While the Church has one teaching, there are
now 43,000 evangelical groups with 2.3 added daily. Their views on the Trinity,
on gays, etc. contradict each other. Since truth (e.g. Jesus is God) cannot be
falsehood at the same time, real falsehoods are sadly being taught among these
groups.
3. Jesus built
his Church on a man he named Rock. Jesus said “On
this rock, I will build my Church and I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven” (Mt
16:18-19). Jesus changed
the name of Simon to Petros, Greek
for Rock. He gave Petros or Peter, “the keys of the kingdom”, which the Jews
knew to be the power of a prime minister of the King and chief teacher (Is 22:22).
Jesus told him alone to “feed my sheep” (Jn 21:15-17). The Bible shows him leading the Church.
The early Christians referred to Peter’s Roman
Church as “presiding” (Ignatius, 1st -2nd c.), “of superior
origin” and standard of “true Faith” (Irenaeus, 2nd c.), “Chair of
Peter”, “the principal” (Cyprian, 2nd-3rd c.), and “the
primacy” (Augustine, 4th-5th c.). While the Catholic
Church can give evidence of its unbroken link to Jesus and Peter, other
Christian groups began their existence with their founders like Luther (1517),
J. Smith (1830), and F. Manalo (1914).
4. Jesus and the Church are
one. It is not true the Catholic
Church left the true Faith, since the Church is the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27), and he
is inseparable from his body. He promised that “I am with you always” (Mt 28:20), evil “shall not prevail” against his Church (Mt 16:18), and his
Spirit “will guide you into all the truth” (Jn 16:13). He told his Church: “He who hears you hears me” (Lk 10:16).
5. The Bible says we are saved “not by faith alone”.
The Bible used Luther’s phrase “by faith
alone” only once: “a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas 2:24). The
Bible also says that “what counts is faith
working through love” (Gal 5:6). While Catholics and Protestants agree that Jesus alone
saves us, Luther in the 16th century inserted without basis the word
“alone” in his German translation of Rom 3:28 (“a man is justified by faith”) in
order to support his personal interpretation that a Christian is incapable of
cooperating with God in his salvation.
6. The Bible and
the early Christians believe in purgatory. As
shown in their tombstones, the early Christians followed the Bible: “Pray for
the dead that they may be loosed from
sins” (2 Mc 12:46), for
“nothing unclean can enter heaven” (Rev
21:27). It does not
make sense to pray for the dead if they only go, as evangelicals say, either to
heaven (with faith in Christ) or to hell (without faith). The Bible also spoke about forgiveness in the age to come
(Mt 12:32) and those judged by God are “saved but as through fire” (1
Cor 3:13-15).
7. The Bible and the early
Christians believe in the Catholic sacraments. Jesus
gave the Apostles the power to “forgive
sins” (Jn 20:23). Peter taught that “Baptism now saves you” (1 Pt 3:21) and thus is not a mere inciter
of faith. The Bible speaks about “anointing
the sick with oil” (Jas
5:14-15), laying
of hands (Acts 8:17; 2 Tim 1:6), and marriage in the Lord (1 Cor 7:39). Jesus
repeatedly said that “he who eats my
flesh has eternal life”. This is no figure of speech, for he did not give
in when “many of his disciples” left due to this “hard saying” (Jn 6:48-68), and St.
Paul taught that he who eats the bread unworthily is “guilty of profaning the
Lord’s body” (1 Cor 11:28).
Ignatius of Antioch said “the Eucharist is the flesh of the Redeemer,” Irenaeus
“we receive the bread as our Redeemer”, and Cyprian “Christ is our bread”.
8. The Catholic Church is
salt and light. Modern secular historians of science,
economics, university education, human rights, international law, hospitals and
Western art are showing that Catholic priests, scientists and thinkers were
behind the foundation and great achievements in these areas, acting
as salt and light as Christ foretold (Mt 5:13-14; Woods 2005). In his Church, Christ works his
miracles: Eucharistic bread turning into blood; appearances of Mary; heroic saints;
cures and sacred images that are scientifically unexplained; saints with stigmata,
powers of healing, bilocation and prophecy, and incorruptible dead bodies.
9. The Catholic Church is catholic. Jesus
“desires all men to be saved and come
to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4), thus his real Church is universal,
evangelizing in all parts of the world with more than 1.2 billion members
today. Compare
this with the 2nd biggest Christian group, the Easter Orthodox
Churches with only 230M (1/5 of its size) mainly found in
Eastern Europe; the Anglicans 85M (1/16); Southern Baptists 16.3M (1/73), Mormons
14.7M (1/81) and Iglesia ni Cristo 6M (1/200).
10. Jesus and the Bible glorify his mother. Catholics do not worship Mary, but follow Jesus’
ways. He obeyed the fourth commandment: Honor your father and mother. Honor in
Hebrew is kaboda, which means to glorify. The Bible calls Mary “Mother of my Lord” (Lord
= God) and says all generations will call her blessed (Lk 1:43.48).
It shows that she is the New Ark of the Covenant, the woman clothed with the
sun, crowned in heaven with twelve stars (Rev
11:19-12:1). To honor his mother, Jesus’ last message to us on
the cross is: Behold, your mother (Jn
19:27).
====================
Notes.
These notes (which I will write little by little) are meant to support the brief arguments in the leaflet.
I
invite our brothers in Christ to read with calm and great reverence
the Word of God and the writings of the early Christians contained in
the leaflet. Let us all exercise the contemplative spirit and the humility
of a creature, so that the accumulation of our subjective biases ("I
think", "as I see it", "in my view") and our past readings of Biblical
interpretation do not detract from the actual reality Jesus revealed. It
is love for the truth that allows us to encounter the real Jesus:
"Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice" (Jn 18:37).
Some
might say that any claim of a human organization to be the One True
Church is arrogant and presumptuous, and that it can lead to imposing
doctrines on others. Remember: Jesus said he is the Truth, and he is
neither arrogant nor an imposer of beliefs. He also told his Church that
the Holy Spirit will lead you to all
truth and that they are supposed to love their neighbor as he loves
them, i.e. with self-sacrifice unto death.
Truth
and love are not opposites. As our parents and good teachers showed us
with warmth and affection, teaching the truth even if it hurts is a
service of love. Moreso, if the truth we teach is the Way of Love
itself. This means not judging people, understanding their background,
habits, and prejudices.
1. The Bible is a
Catholic book. In his Commentary On St. John, Martin Luther said: "We are compelled to concede to the Papists
that they have the Word of God, that we have received It from them, and that
without them we should have no knowledge of It at all."
The
definition of the word Bible used here, as found in Webster's
Dictionary, is the most widespread notion of the Bible: the Christian
Scriptures, which contains both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old was written by Jews and the New by saints like St. Peter and
St. Paul, St. Mark and St. James, St. John and St. Jude. The
consolidation of the two Testaments into one Christian Scriptures --the
Bible -- and the screening out of false, apocryphal "gospels" is the
handiwork of the Catholic Church.
It is this one Church that we trust when we trust the Bible to convey to us the Word of God.
2. The Bible refutes
the “Bible alone” principle. There are many articles refuting Sola Scriptura. A favorite is Dave Armstrong's A Quick Ten-Step Refutation of Sola Scriptura.
3. Jesus built
his Church on a man he named Rock. After detailed studies, many protestant Bible scholars have accepted this fact, as shown by Phil Porvasnik.
After quoting them, Phil shows that they conclude that "(a) Peter's name means Rock (
petros or
petra in
Greek,
Kepha or
Cephas in Aramaic); (b) The slight distinction in meaning for the Greek words for
Rock (
petros, petra) was largely confined to poetry before the
time of Jesus and therefore has no special importance;
(c) The Greek words for Rock (
petros, petra) by Jesus'
day were interchangeable in meaning;
(d) The underlying Aramaic
Kepha-kepha of Jesus' words
makes the Rock-rock identification certain; (e) The Greek word
petra, being a feminine noun, could
not be used for a man's name, so
Petros was used; (f)
Jesus says "
and on this rock" not
"
but on this rock" -- the referent is therefore
Peter personally".
Jesus calls Peter “Satan”
soon after giving him his new name. Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio explains: “Some
have pointed to this as proof that Peter, and his papal successors, are not
infallible as Catholics claim. But actually, this illustrates well what the
Catholic Church teaches about the subject. For Catholic doctrine does not
proclaim that the pope can never make a mistake in personal judgment. It is
only when he fully engages his authority as successor of Peter speaking from
Peter’s seat of authority (“ex cathedra”) that the Church guarantees him
to be acting under the charism of truth given by the Father through the Spirit.
When Peter publicly proclaimed “you are the Christ,” Jesus pointed out that
this was not from him, but from the Father. When Peter privately said, “God
forbid that you should suffer,” Jesus notes that the source of this was
himself.”
4. Jesus and the Church are
one. Anyone who tries to prove the so-called Great Apostasy
of the Catholic Church would have to contend with Jesus' promises of
continuous union with his body, the Church. To deny these would imply
that Jesus is a liar who made false promises, and a powerless leader
incapable to unifying his Church in faith and doctrine."It's
inconceivable that he would permit
his body to disintegrate under the attacks of Satan. The apostle John
reminds us
that Jesus is greater than Satan. (1 John 4:4)." (Patrick Madrid,
In Search of the "Great Apostasy")
Supporters
of the Great Apostasy would also need to contend with the Church
Fathers who lived during the time of the alleged apostasy: "There is no
mention in
any of their writings of a great
apostasy or any sort of battle for the faith on such a scale.
Certainly, there are mentions of individual heretics and certain
heretical movements, but there is no mention of any sort of total
apostasy. Even if it is assumed that the Church Fathers were part of
the apostasy it is likely that they would have mentioned it – even if
just to condemn the “true” Christians! But there is no sign in the
writings of the Church Fathers of this heresy, nor are there
any other writings which support the notion. History is
totally
silent. History mentions the other great splits and schisms within the
Church (such as the split between the Orthodox in 1054 and the
Protestant Reformation which began in 1517) but about this alleged
schism there is total silence." (
Catholic Basic Training)
