• 2000 plus years ago, after Jesus rose from the dead, He did not leave a Bible.  He left a group of people - group is ekklesia which means church. Matthew 28: 16-20

• Jesus also empowered the group with His Holy Spirit and left the Holy Spirit as a promise for the future.  John 14: 25-26,  John 16: 12-13

• Jesus therefore left a group (the church) and His Holy Spirit.

• The Catholic Church is the only church that can trace itself back to this original group.  This can be seen by looking at the line of Popes from the very first one Peter, all the way down to our present Pope.  Click here to view list.

• The Church was a recognized reality preaching a simple doctrine.  1 Cor. 15: 8-11, Eph. 5: 28-29

• Early Christians received their faith from the life of the Church.  There was no Bible at that time.  1 Cor. 15: 3-7,  2 Thes. 2: 14-15

• A very important scripture that demonstrates how the early church existed can be found in Acts 15: 1-29.  In this passage we see that the Church has authority coming from the Holy Spirit. - "It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves, not this value with any burden beyond these essentials:" Acts 15: 28

• Some persons have no authority because they have not been sent by the Church.

• Acts 15: 24

• Romans 10: 14-15 - preachers must be sent

• The Church has clear leadership that decides on to the of doctrines.

• Acts 15: 23 - 29

• Gal. 2: 1-3

• The Bible came to us through and not the Church Council - The Council of Carthage in the year 397. Prior to that there were many writings divided into three groups:-

• Those that were accepted by all

• Those that will be rejected by all

• Those that were rejected by some and accepted by some.

• In the year 397 the Council of Carthage decided upon the 73 books as inspired by the Holy Spirit that made up the Bible.

• The Bible therefore comes to us through the authority of the Church. Therefore, the correct question to ask is not " wind do you find this in the Bible?" but rather " what does the Church teach about to this?" it is the Church that tells us that the Bible is the word of God.

• It is important to note that the Protestant Bible is different from that of the Catholic Bible.  The Protestant's Bible has less books.  This came about as a result of a man called Luthor who broke away from the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century.  He left out the following six books from the Bible so as not to contradict what he was teaching :

  1. Tobit

  2. Baruch

  3. Wisdom

  4. Ecclesiasticus

  5. 1 & 2 Maccabees

  He left out part of the books of Esther and Daniel, and changed up parts of the New Testament.  For instance, the original text says that 'we are justified by faith', but Luthor wrote that 'we are justified by faith alone'.  Because he was teaching that there was no Purgatory, and the books of Macabees says otherwise, he omitted them.

   

• The Bible needs someone in authority to give correct interpretation of scriptural passages. Only the Catholic Church can do this.

• 2 Peter 1: 19 -21

• 2 Peter 3: 16

• Acts 8: 26-35

• Matt 28: 16-20

• The Catholic Church of authority to teach. Some teachers are false teachers even if though they work miracles.

• 1 John 4: 1-6

• 2 John: 7-11

• Rev. 16: 12-14

• 2 Thes. 2: 9-10

• If God has spoken to the human race there has to be a place to hear his voice with a measure of clarity he has left a church, the Catholic Church.

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