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... yet in one small verse the RCC has declared that Peter is the Rock the church is built on.

Small verse? Show me another one from Scripture where Jesus singles out one individual and .... to cite the author ...

In the span of just three of those verses, Jesus addresses Peter personally ten times.

There is NOTHING small about that verse.

First of all that “ten times” is really a stretch but actually immaterial. There is a Greek word that the Catholics, and many others for that matter, don’t include. The text really reads like this.

Matthew 16:18 I also moreover to you say That you are Peter and on this the rock I will build my church and [the]gates of hades not will prevail against it.

Jesus didn’t say “on this rock”, He said “on this the rock. Now what does the rest of scripture say is the rock? It’s God in every instance.

Deut. 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

2 Sam. 22:2 And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; 3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

Psalm 18:31, "And who is a rock, except our God."

Isaiah 44:8, "Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none."

Rom. 9:33, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed."

1 Cor. 3:11, "For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,"

1 Cor. 10:4, "and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock (petras) which followed them; and the rock (petra) was Christ."

Scripture is pretty clear who the rock is. Even St Augustine made a statement.

St Augustine wrote: ‘For on this very account the Lord said, On this rock will I build my Church, because Peter had said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. On this rock, therefore, He said, which you have confessed, I will build my Church. For the Rock was Christ; and on this foundation was Peter himself also built. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus’ (Augustine, Tractate 124, 5).

Then this interesting tid bit hidden away in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

424 Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church. "To preach. . . the unsearchable riches of Christ"

Catholics tell us all the time how the church is built on Peter but the RCC itself says it’s on the confession of Peter.

Are you sure you want to disagree with both scripture and what the RCC has in it’s Catechism?

The last living apostle was John, not Peter. The Catholic Encyclopedia lists four popes as succeeding Peter, St. Linus, St. Anacletus I, St. Clement I and St. Evaristus, the last of whom reigned about A.D. 99. The apostle John lived until about A.D. 100 or later. Yet John, in his writings, never once mentioned the name of any of these popes or even the fact that any pope existed. Why? Four popes supposedly succeeded Peter during the life span of the apostle John. Yet, if there was to be a successor, wouldn’t John, the beloved disciple of Jesus and apostle of the Lamb and one of the twelve foundation stones, be the most logical choice?