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Which Church was founded by Christ?

Spiderman

Veteran Member
Christ founded an Authority to settle disputes about Scripture and Dogma. He established a Church.

The importance of listening to this Church was so severe that:

Matthew 18:17
If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Does this authority exist today?

Is there a Church on Earth that dates back to the time of Christ and has Christ as it's founder?
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
I'm not saying Catholicism is true. Only God knows for sure about that. I'm just a poor fool who wastes his life praying all the time.

However, for centuries there was no other Church on Earth but the RCC. The second Pope was Linus in 67AD.

It seems the Catholic Church doesn't have a founder other than Christ. That doesn't make it's teachings true, but the history of the RCC begins 2000 years ago. No other denomination I know of can say that.

Bottom line is, Scripture has divided people. "Bible alone" Dogma is not Biblical and has splintered Christianity into thousands of denominations.

Did God set up an Authority to settle such disputes, quarrels, and differences?
 

BSM1

What? Me worry?
Not sure that was possible. There were no scriptures when Jesus was around.
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
To which Scriptures are you referring?
Right, there was no New Testament.

I'm not saying Catholicism is true. The Church has changed a lot and doesn't resemble the Church of the first century much, but it seems clear to me that every institution has a founder. If this one wasn't Christ, who was it?
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
There's also the Orthodox Church (Eastern and Oriental) which has done a better job of preserving ancient teachings and liturgy. They would say that the Catholic Church fell away from them. Should look into Orthodox Christianity.
 

Jonathan Ainsley Bain

Logical Positivist
However, for centuries there was no other Church on Earth but the RCC.

Well its quite difficult to know exactly what was going down so long ago.
But the break with Orthodoxy is something I wish I knew more about.
The Russian Patriarch seems to offer more reasonable guidance than the Pope;
although I hear little, and am not claiming to be a church-christian.
The Ethiopians also claim to have converted very soon after Christ,
but the west does not seem to notice the African part much.

But if I look at the parable of the good Samaritan, it seems to me that
the concept of 'church' was meant to be transcendental to the outward form.
And that it was through actions and deeds that one is saved, not through
'belonging' to a particular congregation.
 

Mister Silver

Faith's Nightmare
Does the church really matter? To me, it seems the church, through its insistence on religious structure, is a cancer of spirituality. If one wants to be metaphorical instead of literal, the church resides personally in each person's heart, and that to me seems healthier than cancerous religion.
 

Enoch07

It's all a sick freaking joke.
Premium Member
Christ founded an Authority to settle disputes about Scripture and Dogma. He established a Church.

The importance of listening to this Church was so severe that:

Matthew 18:17
If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Does this authority exist today?

Is there a Church on Earth that dates back to the time of Christ and has Christ as it's founder?

Church in this context does not mean a physical building or even a denomination.

Church in this context means the people. 2 or more followers of christ.

This is corroberated by reading a little bit further.

Matthew 18-20

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
Church in this context does not mean a physical building or even a denomination.

Church in this context means the people. 2 or more followers of christ.

This is corroberated by reading a little bit further.

Matthew 18-20

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
But people just keep dividing over Scripture that is so difficult to interpret. Without a central authority to settle Dogmatic disputes, Scripture causes huge division.

I have no problems with a divided Christianity until one section is using Scripture to judge and condemn another, which I see a lot of unfortunately
 

DavidFirth

Well-Known Member
I'm not saying Catholicism is true. Only God knows for sure about that. I'm just a poor fool who wastes his life praying all the time.

However, for centuries there was no other Church on Earth but the RCC. The second Pope was Linus in 67AD.

It seems the Catholic Church doesn't have a founder other than Christ. That doesn't make it's teachings true, but the history of the RCC begins 2000 years ago. No other denomination I know of can say that.

Bottom line is, Scripture has divided people. "Bible alone" Dogma is not Biblical and has splintered Christianity into thousands of denominations.

Did God set up an Authority to settle such disputes, quarrels, and differences?

The authority is Christ. If our forefathers had taken their differences before Christ in prayer and waited for His answer we wouldn't have all these problems. The divisions are due to men trying to solve problems their way, the wrong way, by division. Originally, the Church was not supposed to be divided.
 

Super Universe

Defender of God
Christ founded an Authority to settle disputes about Scripture and Dogma. He established a Church.

The importance of listening to this Church was so severe that:

Matthew 18:17
If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Does this authority exist today?

Is there a Church on Earth that dates back to the time of Christ and has Christ as it's founder?

You're confusing two slightly different definitions of the word "church". One is for a building, the other is a group of Christians.

In Matthew 18:17 Jesus' group of Apostles is the "church".
 

leibowde84

Veteran Member
Right, there was no New Testament.

I'm not saying Catholicism is true. The Church has changed a lot and doesn't resemble the Church of the first century much, but it seems clear to me that every institution has a founder. If this one wasn't Christ, who was it?
I would say that it was either St. Peter or St. Paul. But, not Jesus. It was founded after his death in his name, but the church itself did not exist before Jesus died.

I think Paul is the best bet though, as he took Christianity to non-Jews, making it a religion that stood on its own two feet rather than a mere subcategory of Judaism.
 

Enoch07

It's all a sick freaking joke.
Premium Member
But people just keep dividing over Scripture that is so difficult to interpret. Without a central authority to settle Dogmatic disputes, Scripture causes huge division.

I have no problems with a divided Christianity until one section is using Scripture to judge and condemn another, which I see a lot of unfortunately

This is human nature. Humans tend to default to subjectivity, most have to excercise effort in order to employ objectivity. Your OP is a good example. Scipture was in question. Several people has different ideas. But the answer really was as simple as reading a few more sentences.

Your right.They shouldn't be judging in the first place. It is not the Christians duty to be the judge and jury. That is God's job. Christians are not perfect, but then again if they was, they wouldn't need Christ.
 
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