Originally posted by makinho21
I am not catholic, and I don't know why it doesn't say that. From what I read the Catholic claim is that in the scripture of Mark, Jesus proclaims
Paul as the rock of the church - which is specifically referring to the Catholic Church, seeing as how "St. Paul" is recognized as the Catholic
founder.
This is just incredibly incorrect, I am sorry to tell you. If you want to try and pick on Christianity, I think you should study it first. I cannot
even imagine how anyone who is as studied on this topic as you are claiming to be, could confuse Paul with Peter. This is the verse that you are
referring too:
"And I say to thee. thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew
16:18
Which is in Matthew (not Mark), and has Zero to do with the Roman Catholic Church of today, other then the claim laid on it by Roman Catholics
Themselves. This holds no more credibility then me claiming that I am superman because my initials have an “S” in them. Read on if you want to
learn the truth on this, and part of the reason why some folks do not believe that the RCC is a Christian faith...
Peter was in fact the first bishop of Rome, that is the Church that Christ is talking about, and it existed almost 1000 years before the Roman
Catholic Church of Today. Catholics
CLAIM Peter to be the first Roman Catholic Pontiff, but as I am about to show you, I find that claim to be
highly suspect.
The term Pontiff is MUCH older then the Roman Catholic Church, in fact it goes back to the Roman Empire. The term was known as
Pontifex Maximus, and was the person charged with running the numerous Pagan religions of
Rome. The title Pontifex was normally granted to the Emperor, though occasionally he would surrender the title to a Roman Senator or other high
ranking Roman.
In Peters time, the Pontifex Maximus was Nero, the man who put Peter to death. Now, do you honestly think that Peter would have accepted the title
held by the very man who killed him? Do you honestly think that Peter would have considered someone titled Pontiff an acceptable person to be running
Christs Church? The man who was sending Christians into the arena to be tortured, and slaughtered by the thousands? The guy who would have parties
with Christians burning on stakes as the torches for light? Obviously not! Yet that is exactly what the Roman Catholic Church claims.
So how did the Bishop of Rome become the Holy Pontiff?
That would be due to two people. The first was
Emperor Gratian, who refused to hold the title of
Pontifex Maximus as, “unbefitting a Christian”:
Under the influence of Ambrosius, Gratian prohibited Pagan worship at Rome; refused to wear the insignia of the pontifex maximus as unbefitting a
Christian; removed the Altar of Victory from the Senate House at Rome, despite protests of the pagan members of the Senate, and confiscated its
revenues; forbade legacies of real property to the Vestals; and abolished other privileges belonging to them and to the pontiffs. Nevertheless he was
still deified after his death.
But there was also, at the same time, a rather crooked Bishop of Rome,
Damasus I, who took the
discarded title, and became the first “Christian” Pope (Pontiff). The Roman Catholic Church to this day claims the line of Popes back through
Peter, the first “Bishop of Rome”, by backdating that title to all the Bishops of Rome before Damasus. There is no way that Peter would have
accepted the title that was once held by Nero.
Many believe that the “Little Horn” in the book of Daniel, which some refer to as Antichrist of Jesuit Futurism, actually refers to the station of
the Pontifex Maximus, and I tend to agree. The Pontifex Maximus was charged with: Punishing heretics, setting the Religious and Seasonal Calendar, and
setting Jus Divinum or divine law, later the Popes would claim to speak with Papal Infallibility.
Sound like this:
Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and
laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
It sure does to me...
You still think that Peter wold have accepted the title of Pope, and laid claim to being the head of the Roman Catholic Church?
[edit on 7/27/2009 by defcon5]