In spite of being filled with sinners and having bad leaders the Catholic Church still stands.
Maybe it is because every single priest in the world can trace his lineage directly back to one of the Eleven.
Yet every single one of the original protestant denomination is splintered most to the point that they bear little resemblance to the intent of the original leader.
Ask yourselves seriously if the Catholic is truly evil why does God allow it to build so many hospitals, engage in so much charitable work, create and safe guard some many amazing works of art? Why have so many of it's Priests been directly involved in so many advances in science across so many different fields? The list goes on and on of the good done by the Catholic Church.
Why does God allow such and "evil" institution to even exist at all?
Your basic evil/not-evil premise is faulty.
We are all sinners worthy of death.
Yet here we are.
And Islam is doing pretty well for itself too.
A bible literate person would KNOW this answer.
Read the whole thing and get back to us.
Satan is still around and it’s been much longer than 2000 years. Just sayin.
Something for you to ponder: If the Catholic Church is as horrible and evil as you say why is it still here after 2000 years? Seriously God had no trouble wiping out the evil in the world with the Flood in Genesis. He had no problem wiping out Sodom and Gomorrah or Pharaoh's army when they went after the Israelites in the Red Sea.
Bad argument.
Islam has been around since the 6th century. Hinduism and Buddhism for longer. God is not, as you rightly note, powerless to take them out.
They are there in the providence of God, for his ends. Ditto Rome.
“... every single one of the original protestant denomination is splintered most to the point that they bear little resemblance to the intent of the original leader.”
The “original leader” is Jesus. If that’s not the case, then that particular “denomination” is a heretical cult.
Members of the Roman Catholic Church have done a great deal of good. Much of the denomination’s doctrine, however, has become corrupted over time.
Let’s trust in Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Let’s make much of Him, and little of our particular denominational preferences.
I urge you to search the Scriptures for your answers. What seems right, good, wise, and logical to our fallen human minds cannot be trusted. The Bible warns against “vain philosophy.”
In 2 Cor. 11:14 Paul said that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Satan is a deceiver and that’s one of the ways he deceives us. What seems good and right and impresses men is very often anything but.
And then we know that God declared He raised up Pharoah to show His power so that His name would be declared throughout the earth. God hardened Pharoah’s heart and allowed him to work evil toward Israel so that ultimately he would be destroyed to the glory of God and God alone. The utter destruction of Pharoah and his army continues to glorify the most high sovereign God to this very day. Pharoah was an Old Testament “type” or picture of antichrist.
The Bible teaches that God, the sovereign Potter, is free to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor, one to whom He will show His mercy and grace, another to whom He will show His wrath and justice.
Romans 9:22 says this: “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:”
The Scripture plainly teaches there are those who are “...as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;” (2 Peter 2:12)
Get that? Some are MADE to be taken and destroyed and they perish in their own corruption.
In the end I know “The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Proverbs 16:4)
Hinduism, Buddhism, Janaism, Zorastrianism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hermeticism are all older than the Roman Catholic church.
Longevity doesn't make right.
Besides, if any religious system is from the enemy, why would the enemy want to destroy a perfectly good religious system that keeps people from God and yet makes them think they're right with Him.
The longevity of the Catholic church is absolutely no indicator of it's truthfulness.
The only indicator of that is its conformity to Scripture, in which it fails mightily.
Maybe it is because every single priest in the world can trace his lineage directly back to one of the Eleven.
Prove it.
Show us the records kept.
And what difference does that make if they can produce lineage? How is that important?
Why have so many of it's Priests been directly involved in so many advances in science across so many different fields? The list goes on and on of the good done by the Catholic Church.
Can you say *Inquisition*?
Top 10 Most Wicked Popes
http://listverse.com/2007/08/17/top-10-most-wicked-popes/
1. Liberius, reigned 352-66 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
2. Honorius I, reigned 625-638 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
3. Stephen VI, reigned 896-89 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
4. John XII, reigned 955-964 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
5. Benedict IX, reigned 1032-1048 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
6. Boniface VIII, reigned 1294-1303 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
7. Urban VI, reigned 1378-1389 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
8. Alexander VI, reigned 1492-1503 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
9. Leo X, reigned 1513-1521 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
10. Clement VII, reigned 1523-1524 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
Top 10 Worst Popes in History
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-worst-popes-in-history.php
1. Pope Alexander VI (1431 – 1503)
2. Pope John XII (c. 937 – 964)
3. Pope Benedict IX (c. 1012 – 1065/85)
4. Pope Sergius III (? – 911)
5. Pope Stephen VI (? – 897)
6. Pope Julius III (1487 – 1555)
7. Pope Urban II (ca. 1035 – 1099)
8. Pope Clement VI (1291 – 1352)
9. Pope Leo X (1475 – 1521)
10. Pope Boniface VIII (c. 1235 – 1303)
Why did God let obama get elected? Why did He allow WWI and WWII? Why does HE allow any evil?
There's a purpose and we don't know what it is, but its continued existence is not an indicator of God's favor or blessing on it.
I've never called the Catholic Church horrible or evil. I have taken issue with Pope Francis on several issues, but that doesn't mean I think he's evil. I think that means he and I have different beliefs.
In fact, I do try to look for common ground as Christians. For example, I admire the Catholic Church's stands on same sex "marriage" and have said so. But if I believed everything the Catholic Church believes, I'd be Catholic. That's a long way from calling it evil.
My posts in this thread have been to take gentle issue with a poster who claims the Bible was written by Catholics and with a poster who said confessing sins to God was somehow a Protestant misinterpretation despite extensive Scriptural proof to the contrary.
Broad-brush interpretations serve no one and do your argument no credit.
Ping to post #403.
I was pointing out the Medici dynastic hold on the Papacy for a season or four. An historic observed fact, no?