John A. Broussard

I'm lost. Can you explain this sentence to me?

Oh. Wait a minute. "They" refers to something else besides the Church. I can't seem to find it in this debate. Who is they?

Thanks.

Evoken

I was refering to the protestants and other denominations.

Avatar

I disagree with this. The only authority that the Catholic Church has is self-proclaimed. The Church does not have the objectivity or clarity to judge what is Christianity any more than Reverend Fred Phelps, Jerry Falwell, Reverend Edward Verjoven, or L. Ron Hubbard. The claim about "keys handed from Jesus" is more tradition and mythology than anything else. Similar claims are made by the Mormons...with just as much evidence.

Awmte

Faith and reason do not go hand in hand. This is a fundamental dichotomy. Reason undermines faith; faith comes into play when we have no good reason to believe.
"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." - John 20:29.

Belief implies a lack of evidentiary support, knowledge (in so far as we can be said to know anything) consists of empirical evidence supporting fact.
The two are fundamentally contradictory.

Evoken

Well, then I guess we have reached a dead-end with this don't you think Avatar?

Nice exchange tho. :thumbs:

Avatar

*Sigh*

I suppose so.

:thumbs:

John A. Broussard

Since you've never given me a definition of "christian," I may be on shaky ground here, but I'll give it a try anyway.

Since there are some 1200+ different christian denominations, and all seem to claim at least some measure of certitude concerning god, heaven, hell, the after life, etc--many of which views differing radically from one to the other--what suggestions do you have for picking out the right one?

It would seem that doing so is rather important, since one's immortal soul may rest upon making the correct choice.

Evoken

Actually there are more than 30000 denominations

My advice on "picking out the right one"? Seek the one that is rooted in Christ and traces itself back to him, the one that has preserved his message across all generations without comrpomising it. The plethora of denominations you see today start evaporating as you go back in history, continue to go back and you will see how it is the Catholic Church that contains the truth. Once you realize that and move back to the present, everything becomes clear.

John A. Broussard

30,000? Wow! What is there about Christianity that makes for such fragmentation?

As for "tracing itself back to him" this seems to be the point made by virtually every mainstream christian church. If I remember correctly, Luther claimed that the Catholic Church had abandoned Christ long ago, and while I hate to take sides, I do find the Church of Rome a somewhat different institution from the first century agape congegations.

Evoken

Luther said a lot of things, as do many others. But I am sure you will agree that they are empty claims if they do not bring up their facts to the table

As far as the Catholic Church being "somewhat" different, it is to be expected ,the needs of the first century are different than the needs of today. The Church is a gobal instituton and not a local one, it has way more members than in the first century, so obviously means of better organization had to be applied. But the teachings of Christ have always been faithfully guarded and preserved.