Main |
2) The
papal institution in Rome is by NO means the true Church
of Christ, nor does it practice the "one faith"
as it was once delivered by the apostles as Jesus
commanded them. "Catholic structure and Catholic belief cannot be clearly perceived before the 2nd century... The emperors Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian in the 3rd century... did not foresee that Christianity would reach a compromise with the empire, that it would become 'Roman'... " -Encyclopedia Brittanica, vol. 15, pages 986-987. "Later Developments. based upon Augustine's views... in the West, A **new** power was formed: the Roman church... This church understood itself as the successor of the extinct Roman empire... The church became great and powerful as the heir to the Roman empire. Only within this vacuum could the idea of the papacy develop in which the great Popes, as bishops of Rome, stepped into the position **of the vanished emperors**... "The Roman popes not only based their claim to form and lead their own church state on a spiritual-secular judicial understanding but they also created a theocracy within areas that until then were part of the provinces of the Byzantine emperor. They renounced a number of former imperial rights and claimed them for themselves. They extended the secular claim of government of the church beyond the borders of the church-state and developed the so-called theory of the two swords, stating that Christ gave the pope not only spiritual power over the church but also secular power over the worldly kingdoms."- Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition, 1984, Vol. 4, pages 511-512. |