(Ron) Dick and the original church
Helen Willis hhiwater@BRIGHT.NET
Wed, 29 Apr 1998 08:43:10 -0700 (00893886190, 35474A8D.3FC1@bright.net)
Brian Dean wrote:
>
> TOD
> Any moron with a basic knowledge of Christian history knows that the
> Catholic church was not the "ONLY" form of Christianity until Martin
> Luther broke from the church, nor is it "basic" Christianity, and it most
> certainly was not the first sect of Christianity. This honor goes to the
> Jeruselem Church, alledgedly founded by Peter and James (the brother of
> Jesus), the church that Paul broke ties with due to his teaching the
> abrogation of the Torah.
>
> Not to mention the Gnostic Ebionites, founded by Cerinthus, which also
> predate the formation of the Catholic church. They were consequently
> persecuted out of existence by the Catholic church, an eradication that
> didn't occur until the tenth century, as is evident from the records of
> Saadia, a Jewish philosopher.
>
> There were so many (mostly quibbling) sects of Christianity in the first
> century, that anybody that says that the Catholic church was the only
> sect of Christianity until Martin Luther doesn't even have a firm grasp
> of the New Testament, much less Christian history in general.
>
> Now go ahead and bombard me with insults, but that will not change
> history and your ignorance of it. I know I had said I wasn't going to
> correspond with you any more, but when somebody shows such a gross
> ignorance of a subject, that is implicit taunting in its own way.
>
> RON
> Let's rephrase that: Catholicism is the only orthodox version of
> Christianity, not a sect, that has handed down the teaching of Christ
> and the Apostles, without change on essentials of doctrine, to the
> present time (except the Eastern Orthodox Church which has not changed
> it's doctrine since separating from Catholicism and retains its
> sacramental validity). I suggest you read the teachings of the Apostolic
> Fathers, such as Clement, for details.
HELEN:
So what is the Coptic Church? It's as old as the two versions you
mention above, but not a part of either. By the way, there is not one
Orthodox Church, but many each with it's own bishop, (Greek Orthodox,
Russian Orthodox, and so own) that's part of what the original
seperation was about, the orthodox churches believe that no bishop is
head of "the church", each church has it's own head. So much for the one
true church, which is what Dick was claiming.
Helen
hhiwater@bright.net
Helen
hhiwater@brigth.net