Believer wrote:What I realize is the rock Jesus built His church upon was the rock of faith in Him. As Peter attests:
And he became the first bishop.
Peter did not ascbibe to himself the position as the stone upon which Christ would build His church.
Of course not, in fact Prophecy states that God is the Rock.
Now Peter was given authority by Jesus Christ, special authoriy, and He became the Bishop of Rome, and all popes are successors of Peter.
According to Matthew 16? How about:
Matt 18:15-20
15 "And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 "And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer. 18 "Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst."
NAS
John 20:19-23
19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." NAS
The authority given to Peter in Matthew 16 is extended to
all the Apostles and disciples in the above.
The cross has been a pagan symbol as far back as Egypt when it was used in worship of the god Ra. I have not done as much research on the inverted cross as Scorpion so I will let him respond to this part of your post.
The cross is just an object people were crucified on.
The Persians first invented the crucifixion, and the other pagan peoples followed implementing the practice.
So Jesus was crucified on this pagan cross.[/quote]Christ was crucified on a cross not an inverted cross like the one on the Papal throne. As to who invented crucifixion, it was originally a torture stack without a crossbeam. So what is your point?
Actually, Believer I have not been reading many anti-Catholic websites, I have been researching Gnosticism and Mithraism. As to be able to prove my assertions, yes I can. Constantine was a devotee of Mithras before he had his vision. It was Constantine who set Christmas as Dec 25, the annual celebration of the sun god known as Apollo, Solar Invictus and other names. The Eucharist is based on pagan ceremonies. The immaculate conception is a Gnostic concept, as is the assumption.
The Eucharist is based directly from scripture, read the Biblical passage about the Last Supper.
Transubstantiation is not a Biblical concept; the Lord's Supper is.[/quote]Everyone with common sense will realize that since nobody knew when Jesus was born, why not celebrate His birthday over old pagan dates. Now this will further eradicate paganism since the new pagan converts will be celebrating Jesus Christ over Mithra.
Are you a Christian? I must seriously question your Christianity.[/quote]At the time of Constantine Christmas was celebrated January 8, as it still is in the Orthodox faiths.
Isis and Horus, Isis is the only pagan goddess pictured with her infant son:
What does this have to do with anything?
So you think Mary holding baby Jesus is pagan?
Seriously, are you even a Christian?[/quote]I will let the webmaster handle these comments about me being a Christian. However, the part about the images has to do with Deuteronomy 5. A little Bible study would do you some good:
Hab 2:18-20
18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. KJV