Replies

"Here's something else to think about. The Catholic hierarchy is closed. Meaning, they do not accept authority outside the Catholic church, right?"

- - - - - - -

The Authority that the Catholic Church accepts is God, and the Authority that God specifically delegated to the Magisterium within the hierarchy of the Church Jesus built.

Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church He built, and we mere humans are the Body of the Church He built.

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.
Colossians 1:18

(See also Romans 12:5, Ephesians 1:20-23, 1 Corinthians 12:27, and other similar texts.)

Jesus also promised to send the Holy Spirit, to guide the Church He was building into all truth. The Magisterium (the Pope in union with the Bishops in their teaching function), is infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit when teaching faith and morals, based on the solemn promises of Jesus Christ.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...
John 16:13

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"On the authority totem pole, a prophet is higher than a Pope, right? Rev 11 is very clear about the two prophets being on the earth just before the second coming of Christ. Therefore, these two prophets have higher authority than the Pope. Therefore, they are not part of the Catholic Church and are rejected outright by Catholics. Catholic Church can not be the true Church of God because it has no provision for succeeding authority of the Pope to these true prophets. And God's house is not divided."

- - - - - - -

Well, St. Paul puts "Apostles" first here:

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
1 Corinthians 12:27-31

However, you are quoting from the prophetic book of "Revelation", which most people believe was written by the Apostle John. Who do you think is "higher on the totem pole" - the prophet John who wrote "Revelation", or the Apostle John who walked with Jesus Christ? Do you see how absurd that question is if they are in fact the same person? Those Church functions were apparently NOT mutually exclusive for John the Apostle, and there is really no reason they should be.

The Church teaches that the Bishops are the successors to the Apostles (the Pope is the Bishop of Rome), and they have been placed in charge by Jesus Himself of the Church Jesus built, and are under the infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit when teaching faith and morals.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Part of the problem I think, is that you are interpreting all these Bible texts according to your own personal thinking. One of the things I think you will find is that if you read 100 different Bible commentaries, you're likely to find 100 different interpretations of any given text in the Bible. Some Bible commentaries are going to be more reliable than others, but it is very dangerous to just rely on your own personal analysis and interpretation of Bible texts, when Jesus gave His Church a much better method for getting to the Truth before all the Bible books were even completely written.

It is of course important to read the Bible as well, but I would strongly recommend you get hold of a good set of reliable Bible commentaries to aid in your study of the Scriptures. Here are a few I would recommend in relation to the questions you are asking and the interpretations you are coming up with.

A very good version of the New Testament (Ignatius Study Bible) with outstanding commentary can be acquired here: Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament	Another very good version of the New Testament (Navarre Bible) with outstanding commentary can be found here: The Navarre Bible - New Testament Expanded Edition
If you just want the Ignatius text and commentary of the Book of Revelation, get this book: The First, Second and Third Letters of St. John and the Revelation to John (2nd Ed): Ignatius Catholic Study Bible	If you just want the Navarre text and commentary of the Book of Revelation, get this book: The Navarre Bible: Revelation

[MeOnTheBeach quoted by Heart-Rest] "On the authority totem pole, a prophet is higher than a Pope, right? Rev 11 is very clear about the two prophets being on the earth just before the second coming of Christ. Therefore, these two prophets have higher authority than the Pope. Therefore, they are not part of the Catholic Church and are rejected outright by Catholics. Catholic Church can not be the true Church of God because it has no provision for succeeding authority of the Pope to these true prophets. And God's house is not divided."

I'm guessing you quoted this for some reason? If you're going to quote something, at least address what you've quoted.

"Jesus also promised to send the Holy Spirit, to guide the Church He was building into all truth."

So he started out guiding to all truth....

"...is infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit when teaching faith and morals,"

But that's not how it worked out... so lets qualify it to be a bit more vague.

The Church teaches that the Bishops are the successors to the Apostles...,"

Of course it teaches that...NOW... because they had no choice, the Appostles were all dead. That's like tripping, doing a face plant, getting up and saying, "I meant to do that!" They said this in order to make themselves look legitimate...and killed anyone that disagreed.

Then you go off creating some strawman about the myriads of problems you think I have... Your not going to prove your point by clouding the issues.

The original points still remain, which I will not ignore.

1. There is no legitimate succession between Peter and Linus or Clement. They made this up after the fact.
2. There was no complete Church organization after the death of the Apostles, from 70AD to 325AD.
3. The Catholic church did not further the teachings of Christ.
4. The Catholic church has no prophets or Apostles. Which is in direct contradiction to Rev 11.

You can't get around Rev 11. It looms over the Catholic church like a sword.

In reality there is not a single thing about the Catholic church that points to it being a continuation of the Church Christ set up in 33AD. Nothing. Nota.