History According To Fundamentalism The original Christian Church was doctrinally the same as todays Fundamentalist churches. When Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in A.D. 313, pagans flocked to the Church in hopes of secular preferment, but the Church could not assimilate so many. It soon compromised its principles and became paganized by adopting pagan beliefs and practices. It developed the doctrines with which the Catholic Church is identified today. Simply put, it apostatized and became the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, true Christians (Fundamentalists) did not change their beliefs but were forced to remain in hiding until the Reformation. The trouble with this history is that there are no historical facts whatsoever to back it up. Distinctively Catholic beliefs-the papacy, priesthood, invocation of saints, sacraments, veneration of Mary, salvation by something besides faith alone, purgatory—were evident long before the fourth century, before Constantine. They were believed by Christians before this supposed paganization took place. Another difficulty is that there are no historical records—none at all—which imply an underground Fundamentalist church existed from the early fourth century to the Reformation. In those years there were many schisms and heresies, most now vanished, but present-day Fundamentalists cannot find among them their missing Fundamentalist church. There were no groups that believed in all or even most, of the doctrines espoused by the Protestant Reformers (e.g. , salvation by faith alone, and an invisible church). No wonder Fundamentalist writers dislike discussing Church history! Since the Christian Church was to exist historically and be like a city set on a mountain for all to see (Matt. 5:14), it had to be visible and easily identifiable. A church that exists only in the hearts of believers is not visible and is more like the candle hidden under the bushel basket (Matt. 5:15). But any visible church would necessarily be an institutional church that would need an earthly head. It would need an authority to which Christians could turn for the final resolution of doctrinal and disciplinary disputes. Christ appointed Peter and his successors to that position. Christ designated Peter head of the Church when he said, And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church (Matt. 16:18). Fundamentalists, desiring to avoid the natural sense of the passage, say rock refers not to Peter, but to his profession of faith or to Christ himself. But Peters profession of faith is two sentences away and cant be what is meant. Similarly, the reference cant be to Christ. The fact that he is elsewhere, by a quite different metaphor, called the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20, 1 Pet. 2:4-8) does not mean Peter was not appointed the earthly foundation. The apostles were also described as foundation stones in a sense (Eph. 2:20, Rev. 21:14), meaning that Christ is not the only person the Bible speaks of as being the Churchs foundation. In one sense the foundation was Christ, in another it was the apostles, and in another it was Peter. In Matthew 16:18 Christ has Peter in mind. He himself would be the Churchs invisible foundation since he was returning to heaven, from where he would invisibly rule the Church. He needed to leave behind a visible authority, one people could locate when searching for religious truth. That visible authority is the papacy.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 11:38:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015