The Church (part I)

OK! FINALLY! I decided to stop trying to lay this out perfectly and just show you what was going through my head at the time that I was considering the claims of the Roman Catholic Church. Like I said before, this is a multi-faceted topic, but I’ll eventually get it all done! First you’ll need a little background information. The basic idea of Church History in the Apostolic movement (which I was a part of) is that from the day of Pentecost until sometime after the death of the Apostles, Christianity looked like the modern day Apostolic Pentecostal churches. In other words, the belief is that the Apostles and most likely their successors taught the doctrines of “the Oneness of God” (as opposed to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity), salvation by repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus Christ (as opposed to baptism using the Trinitarian formula “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”), and reception of the “Baptism of the Holy Ghost (as evidenced by speaking in other tongues)”. Then at some point, the greatest majority of believers left the original teachings of Jesus and the Apostles. Some feel that this happened around the time of the Council of Nicea because this is when the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was “ironed out” and defined in response to the Arian heresy. I’m not sure if that particular time line was wide-spread, but I tended to lean toward that view personally. (Of course, most Oneness believers wouldn’t say that the doctrine was “ironed out” then as most believe that it was invented at that time.) Following this thought process, there remained small numbers of people who believed these doctrines through-out history, until just before the Azusa Street Revival in the early 1900s. At this time, people in the United States began to seek and experience the “Baptism of the Holy Ghost” again. A few years later, the Oneness Pentecostals “reappeared” on the scene in larger numbers and have continued to grow since then.

I had long since accepted these beliefs whole-heartedly as well as the views of Church History. Really though, history did not really play a significant role in my beliefs or the beliefs of my fellow Apostolics, because for us, Scripture was the only acceptable source of faith and doctrine.

As I read through “Rome Sweet Home” by Scott and Kimberly Hahn (a book I HIGHLY recommend for anyone who desires an in depth look at why someone would convert to Catholicism), I came across a question that forever changed the way I viewed the concept of “church”. Look at Matthew 16:18:

“…on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.”

Of course I had heard this passage preached many times before, but I had never considered one idea. If the powers of death would not prevail against the church, where did “my church” go for over 1,900 years? I started to go through Church History, and there just was not a consistent presence of Oneness Pentecostalism to be found! If indeed the Apostolic movement is a continuation of the Church of the New Testament, how had it experienced such growth as to see thousands of people baptized in one day on at least two occasions and to have pagan rulers acknowledge that they had “turned the world upside down” only to drop to such small numbers that they couldn’t even be recorded as existing for almost 2,000 years?! Admittedly, there were a few groups who held similar one or two similarities here and there to the Oneness movement of today, but none that could be considered “Apostolic”. The closest was Sabellius in the 200s, but even they disappeared after a while. There just is no “church” in history that resembles today’s Apostolic churches against which the “powers of death” did not prevail.

Obviously, I was not happy about this. I had to ask the question now, “If we aren’t the New Testament Church, then who is?” Even though in the back of my mind, I knew the answer, I was not ready at all to admit it!

I continued to study and read books written by Catholics, Non-Catholics, Apostolics, and even Anti-Catholics. I still could only draw one conclusion. The only Church that has existed since the very beginning of Christianity and continues on today very much the same in structure and in major doctrine is the Roman Catholic Church! She still believes and teaches the traditions that have been handed down to her whether written or orally. She still operates under the leadership of Bishops, Priests (which the NT sometimes calls Elders) and Deacons, and councils. She still knows mercy through men of God who are ambassadors of reconciliation and who forgive sin in the name of Christ. She still believes and relies on the Body and Blood of Christ made present in the Eucharist, and she still baptizes for remission of sins as Christ commanded. And she will continue to do so until her bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, returns in glory! Thanks be to God!

Next up on menu of doctrines about “The Church” will be the question of “Sola Scriptura”.