Why Catholic?

    As a kid I was always interested in knowing the truth. Not relative or subjective truths but objective truths that are true in every sense. An objective truth presupposes an unchanging, timeless and all powerful reality. This should without explanation express a need for God as baseline reality. Not a being in the sky or a white man with a long beard but the generator of existence itself, the great I AM. Also the answer to the vapid question "but who made God?" That was step one to my journey for truth. Assuming Christianity is true I had to navigate through many different doctrines, systems of thoughts and denominations. The journey was long but I feel confident that I have arrived to the gravitational center of the Christian faith. Here are the essential reasons why I've come to this conclusion.

Broken Ecclesiology-I think this verse means...

John 17:20-21

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

    All Christians believe that God appointed a correct way for man to worship Him. Jesus Christ prayed that we would all be united in Him in the same way He is united to the Father. It would be a flat-out lie to assume that Jesus wanted us quarreling and divided. Our Lord desires us to be of one mind and will, at the very least, in relation to God's revelation. It's safe to assume that Jesus' 12 apostles were given this revelation, and it's our job to study and identify which group in history has the correct interpretation of the events in Jesus' ministry here on Earth.

    If we understand that the apostles were all first-century Jews, history shows us that they practiced a transmission of authority called Semikhah. Leadership would lay their hands on their successors, and we can see an unbroken chain of this practice in some groups of churches today. The apostles appointed bishops in their place, and that succession now exists in only a select few denominations: the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, Anglican Communion, and some Lutheran Churches. A quick glance at the formation of these churches paints a clear picture of who has the strongest claim to being the "true church."

    In my short time as a Protestant Christian, I always identified as non-denominational, as I was reluctant to align with any specific group for fear of getting it wrong. Reading and coming to conclusions on my own led to some very funky theology, and like any good Christian, I sought to learn from wiser men. I chose my doctrine à la carte based on how it made me feel or if it sounded "right." I was my own authority. This was a significant problem in terms of unity.

    Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide His Church to all truth. Why would the Holy Spirit be received on the day of Pentecost, then disappear for 1,600 years, only to guide the first Protestant alone? By 2022, it no longer made sense for me to remain Protestant. I had to discern which apostolic church was the true church Jesus promised wouldn't fail.

Eucharist-Very truly, I tell you...

John 6:51

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

    Jesus spoke in parables, used rhetoric, and employed hyperbole at times. This was done to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah, but also to convey spiritual truths to those who would listen. This approach was in line with Jewish tradition and served as a profound teaching method for his followers to contemplate. However, there was one occasion in Scripture where Jesus spoke in a way that was so explicit that many of his followers could no longer follow him. When asked to explain himself, Jesus doubled down and simply repeated that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood.

    The belief in the true presence of Christ—the bread and wine actually being his body and blood—was universally held by the Church for hundreds of years. It was only sometime in the 1600s that a Protestant church decided it was symbolic. All of the churches that emerged from the Protestant Reformation adopted this symbolic belief. Methodist, Baptist, Church of Christ, non-denominational, Pentecostal, and Presbyterian churches all share a symbolic view of the Eucharist.

    As a non-denominational Christian, realizing this put me in an uncomfortable position. I wanted to follow Jesus' command, even if it meant trying to wrap my head around eating our Lord's flesh. I did not want to be like those who walked away in John 6:66

Authority-And upon this rock...

Luke 5:1-11

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.

There are many instances in Scripture where Jesus specifically instructs Simon/Peter for a particular task, setting him apart from the rest of the apostles. At one point, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, and each time, instructs him to feed his sheep. If we are Jesus' sheep, how can Peter feed us long after he is dead? This, of course, implies that his office is perpetual; his authority needs to continue until the end of the world. It does, and every Orthodox Church recognizes that Peter had primacy. If we are to unite, we must—and can only—unite under one leadership. If the Patriarchs of the East are not in communion, where should we go? I say to the chief bishop, the first among equals, the bishop of Rome, upon whom Jesus built his Church.

There is only one institution that has a central authority who sits on the Chair of Saint Peter, whose headquarters were quite literally built on top of Saint Peter's remains, affirms the real presence in the Eucharist, and whose members all believe in the same dogmas and follow all the commands of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This indicates to us that the Church in the Vatican is the same church Jesus founded almost 2000 years ago. Mainline American Christianity taught me to hate Roman Catholicism. To stay away from them because they fell into paganism and have become the religion of man. Luckily reading history disarms all of their attempts to keep me away from my Lord and my God.