|
|
|
|
|
|
CATHOLIC CHURCH _____________________________ Eastern Orthodox (19 bodies) _____________________________ Lutheran (21 bodies) _____________________________ Mennonite (15 bodies) _____________________________ Protestant Episcopal _____________________________ Presbyterian (10 bodies) _____________________________ Congregational _____________________________ Bapist (24 bodies) _____________________________ Unitarian _____________________________ Friends or Ouakers (4 bodies) _____________________________ Reformed Churches (4 bodies) _____________________________ Baptist, German (4 bodies) _____________________________ Methodist (22 bodies) _____________________________ Universalists _____________________________ United Brethren (2 bodies) _____________________________ Evangelical _____________________________ Churches of Christ _____________________________ Latter-Day Saints (7 bodies) _____________________________ Adventist (5 bodies) _____________________________ Salvation Army _____________________________ Christian Scientists _____________________________ Assemblies of God _____________________________ Church of the Nazarene _____________________________ Evangelical, Reformed |
JERUSALEM _____________ Near East _____________ Germany _____________ Switzerland _____________ England _____________ Scotland _____________ England _____________ Amsterdam _____________ London _____________ England _____________ Holland _____________ Germany _____________ England _____________ New Jersey _____________ Maryland _____________ Pennsylvania _____________ Kentucky _____________ New York _____________ New York _____________ England _____________ Massachusetts _____________ Arkansas _____________ U.S. _____________ Ohio |
JESUS CHRIST ___________________________ Schism from Catholic Church ___________________________ Martin Luther ___________________________ Grebel, Mantz, Blaurock ___________________________ Henry VIII ___________________________ John Knox ___________________________ Robert Browne ___________________________ John Smyth ___________________________ John Biddle ___________________________ George Fox ___________________________ Assembly ___________________________ A. Mack ___________________________ John and Charles Wesley ___________________________ John Murray ___________________________ Otterbein and Boehm ___________________________ Jacob Albright ___________________________ Thos. and Alex. Campbell ___________________________ Joseph Smith ___________________________ William Miller ___________________________ William Booth ___________________________ Mary Baker Eddy ___________________________ General Meeting ___________________________ Union at General Assembly ___________________________ Union at General Assembly |
33 _______ 1054 _______ 1517 _______ 1525 _______ 1534 _______ 1560 _______ 1583 _______ 1600 _______ 1645 _______ 1647 _______ 17th c. _______ 1708 _______ 1739 _______ 1770 _______ 1800 _______ 1803 _______ 1827 _______ 1830 _______ 1831 _______ 1865 _______ 1879 _______ 1914 _______ 1919 _______ 1934 |
| There are over 200 different Protestant bodies existing in the United States alone. In the above list a few of the best-known are enumerated, in comparison with the Catholic Church. This comparative list indicates this fact: none of these denominations can ever become the True Church founded by Christ, Son of God. It is well known that many heretics, at the hour of death, return to the Catholic Church. But what Catholic at that hour has ever denied his religion to seek admission into a sect? As the heretic Melancthon wrote to his Catholic mother: "The Protestant is the best faith to live in, but the Catholic Faith is the best one to die in." |
What is the Church? --The Church is the congregation of all baptized persons united in the same true faith, the same sacrifice, and the same sacraments, under the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff and the bishops in communion with him.
All members are subject to the same religious authority, possess identical religious doctrines, live a common religious life, and use the same means of grace, the sacraments.
The priests, with their bishops and the Pope, compose the "teaching Church"; the faithful, who believe and obey, and are admitted into membership through the Sacrament of Baptism, compose the "hearing Church".
How is the Church enabled to lead men to salvation? --The Church is enabled to lead men to salvation by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, who gives it life.
The Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles to enlighten, strengthen, and sanctify them, so that they could preach the Gospel and spread the Church all over the world. On the Feast of Pentecost, in remembrance of God the Holy Ghost, we celebrate a mystery which is forever renewed in the Church and in our souls: the mystery of the indwelling of God, the reign of the law of love which succeeded the law of bondage and fear (Rom. 8: 15).
Before the descent of the Holy Ghost, the Apostles had been timid and afraid. After His coming they went forth to teach, whatever hardships carne; they remembered and understood all the teaching of Christ.
St. Athanasius defended the Church in the time of the Arian heretics; Pope Gregory VII during a period of great disorder; St. Dominic, during the time of the Albigenses; and St. Ignatius of Loyola, after the Protestant outbreak.
The members of the Church strive to imitate its Divine Founder, and in all countries and all times it has produced saints, canonized and uncanonized, martyrs, confessors, hidden souls that burn with the love of God and their fellowmen.
Are not all religions the same? --No for truth and error are not the same; faith and unbelief are not the same.
Anything that is not the whole truth is not truth. Christ said: "I am the way, and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6).
No one will assert that glass is as good as diamonds, nor that brass is as good as gold. No one claims that an imitation is just as good as the authentic thing. More unreasonable then would it be to claim that a religion established by a man is as good as that founded by the Incarnate God.
Before the coming of Christ, this true religion was not universal, but limited to one people, the Jews, the,"chosen people." All other nations had degenerated and worshipped idols, false gods. In spite of the imperfections of the old religion preserved among the Jews; it was always the true religion, the one true religion. It forshadowed the coming of the perfect religion, that established by the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who then abrogated the Jewish Faith, the Old Law, in favor of the New Faith, the New Law.
Why should Christ, and after Him the Apostles, and after them a long line of believers, have suffered so much and resisted persecution so firmly, if it were of no importance what a man believed? The Apostle said, "There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12)
How can we prove that the only true Church of Christ is the Catholic Church? --We can prove that the only true Church of Christ is the Catholic Church, because:
As a matter of fact, only the Catholic Church claims to have all these four marks of the True Church, the marks so evidently set by Christ.
In spite of corruption and persecution, in spite of the combined forces of error and evil, the Catholic Church has continued to live and to carry out its purpose, as its Founder promised. The indestructibility of the Church, as has been proved by history, is alone enough to mark it as divine. God alone could have preserved it so long. The Church is the only institution which has proved itself an exception to the law of decay and death. It has watched the birth and decay of every government on earth for almost 2000 years. After every attack against it, it rises, the Bride of Christ, ever fresh and fair.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|