Wanna convert me? There are 4 things that you must first prove to be wrong. If you can prove ANY of these propositions to be false, then I will gladly convert to your brand of Christianity.
1) The Catholic Church, in its nearly 2,000 year history, has never reversed or contradicted a single doctrine once that doctrine has become part of the infallible teaching of the Church. As a note, anyone challenging this proposition needs to know the difference between church doctrine/dogmas, church discipline and church customs and devotions. To begin with church doctrine/dogmas are the infallible teachings of the Church, such as: purgatory, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the Immaculate Conception, Apostolic Succession or, the Assumption. Church disciplines are the man-made laws that govern the church like, for example: priestly celibacy or the ex-communication of heretics. Church customs and devotions are things like Novenas or the color of priestly vestments during the liturgical year – these thing can be changed as the Church may adapt to different cultures and thus not pertinent to our salvation. It is dogma alone that I make the claim of historical consistency.
2) A Christian cannot have absolute assurance of which books belong in the Bible without accepting the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The Council of Rome in 382, under the authority of Pope Damasus I, listed the Old and New Testament Books as Catholics know them today, with ALL 73 books; two separate church councils, the Council of Hippo (393 A.D.) and the Council of Carthage (397 A.D.), accepted and ratified the collection of books. In 419 AD, at the end of the Council of Carthage, Pope Boniface I agreed with the list of books and it became Canon. I would really like to hear a good argument for the acceptance of the Canon of Scripture which doesn’t ultimately rely on the authority of the Early Catholic Church and its doctrinal claim, even Martin Luther said: “We are obliged to yield many things to the Papists—that with them is the Word of God, which we received from them; otherwise we should have known nothing at all about it.”Without historical truth, Protestants merely have a fallible collection of infallible books.
3) The Bible does not teach that Scripture Alone – Sola Scriptura – is the sole rule of faith for Christians. Most Protestants claim that all truths binding upon Christians must be found in the Bible, this is known as the “formal principle” of Protestantism, yet the 2 main beliefs of Protestantism aren’t found in the Bible. 1) The Bible itself contains no list of what the New Testament should be, if you have to believe that these 27 books are inspired and that EVERYTHING you need to know is found in those books and nowhere else, where in the Bible does it say, mention or elude to the 27 books of the New Testament? 2) Where in the Bible does it say that the Bible IS THE SOLE rule of faith? Our Lord left us a Church, not a book (Mt. 16:18). The book came from His Church, not the other way around.
4) The beliefs, government and worship of early Christianity were clearly Catholic. The proof of the Early Church’s Catholicity is too overwhelming to mention, denying this is denying history itself. I would suggest reading the writings of the Early Apostolic Fathers and the Ante-Nicean Fathers as well, you will immediately and clearly notice just how Catholic the Early Church of the first 3 centuries was, the question then becomes a simple one: is your church like the one established by the disciples of the Apostles or not?
I would challenge that Catholic and Protestant alike read and reflect upon this propositions – challenge them and challenge yourself, as well as what you thought was the Catholic faith and, above everything else, don’t be afraid of what you find. I’m not posting this in an attempt to anger or knock on Protestants. I’m simply offering the truth, the truth that Christ established one Church and not 35,000 different churchs each interpreting its version of scripture differently. The truth that, that Church continues to this day, through an unbroken line of succession of bishops, archbishops and Popes. The truth that, only through His Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is the fullness of the faith truly found.
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