In his days on earth, Jesus prayed for unity of believers and unity starts with understanding. The understanding of the belief of the Church is essential in working toward that unity. Below are some key reasons to keep in mind when speaking to non-Catholics:
Authority
Jesus Christ gave specific instructions regarding dealing with members of the Church who were in sin. In this case, Matthew 18:15-18 says that “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
What Protestant Church has the authority to remove someone completely from the church? None. If an individual is removed from a ‘congregation’ then he/she can go down the street and join another ‘congregation’ of the same denomination.
The congregations are individualized and have no authority outside their own denomination. That is not true with the Catholic Church. If removed from the Catholic Church, one cannot go to another city and join another Catholic Parish.
History
The Roman Catholic Church is the only oldest and original Christian Church, however, the beliefs and teachings of the Church were actually directly passed onto the leaders of the Catholic Church by the apostles.
The Catholic Church started with the teachings of Jesus Christ, during the 1st Century AD in the province of Judea of the Roman Empire. The Catholic Church is the only continuation of the early Christian community which was established by Jesus and no modern Christian Church can make that claim.
By the end of the 2nd century, bishops started congregating in regional synods and to correct doctrinal and policy issues and by the time the 3rd century came around, the Bishop of Rome (Pope) served as the decisive authority, sort of court of appeals, for problems and issues the bishops could not resolve.
This is similar to the teachings of the Bible. According to Exodus 18, we see where the children of Israel brought their disputes to Moses and Moses settled those disputes.
However, it also shows where leaders appointed by Moses also worked to settle disputes.
The Catholic Church still remained the only Christian Church until the East-West Schism of 1054, which caused medieval Christianity to split and become two separate branches.
However, the highest division, came during the Reformation from 1517-1648, which was led by Martin Luther. The East-West (Great) Schism was caused by Patriarch Michael I. So, according to Titus 3:9-11, the divisions led by Patriarch Michael I and Martin Luther were sin. “Avoid nonsense arguments, genealogies, rivalries, and quarrels about the law, for they are useless and futile.
After a first and second warning, break off contact with a heretic, realizing that such a person is perverted and sinful and stands self-condemned..”
The Catholic Church handed over the Bible to Christians
The first official list of books contained in the Bible was written at the Council of Hippo in 393 and then again in Carthage in 397 and 419. Before Jesus was born, the Jews followed the Old Testament and Jesus is also pictured in Scripture reading from the Old Testament in the Synagogue.
There were also multiple writings from this time but it was only after the list of books which was determined to be the ‘inspired Word of God’ by the Catholic Church first with the Council of Hippo in 393 that the world had what is called “The Bible”.
The Bible contained the original 73 books which was determined by the Catholic Church until the Reformation, when Martin Luther threw out 7 books of the Old Testament which he disagreed with his personal view of theology, and the same Old Testament were also adhered to by the Jews.
He also attempted to throw out New Testament books which are James, Hebrews, Jude and Revelation. Concerning James, he said he wanted to ‘throw Jimmy into the fire’ and that the book of James was ‘an epistle of straw’ with no usefulness.
Non-Catholics now accept and use the Biblical books which are contained in the Protestant Bible but they do not acknowledge that they are accepting and trusting the authority of the Catholic Church because the Catholic Church was the one who proclaimed the entire list, as a whole, as ‘inspired’.
The letters within the Bible are not the only letters written by the Apostles so, as a matter of fact, those contained within the Bible had to be declared ‘inspired’ and it was the Catholic Church that did that duty.
The Sacraments are Biblical
Power was given to the Apostles to ‘forgive sins’ in John 20:23, also, Peter taught in I Peter 3:21 that ‘baptism now saves you’, the ‘anointing the sick with oil was recorded in James 5:14-15, laying on of hands was portrayed in Acts 8:17 and in 2 Timothy 1:6, marriage in the Lord is also recorded in I Corinthians 7:39 and Jesus went further to state numerous times that the disciples should participate in the breaking of bread (Eucharist) by saying that ‘he who eats my flesh has eternal life’.
