The idea of a teaching authority in the Catholic Church used to make me indignant. I really do mean indignant. My view about the Catholic church was formed by people who knew little, if anything, about the real teachings of the church. This is usually the basis for all bigotry and close-minded prejudice. As I began, 4 years ago now, objectively studying the history of Christianity I realized that all of Christianity had a teaching and final authority up to the time of the reformation in the late 1500s. Where does this come from?

I think Sacred Scripture speaks much more powerfully to this than I can. Jesus tells Peter that upon "this rock" He would build the church. Matthew 16, whole chapter. Jesus doesn't say "upon this confession." Then in John 20-21 he was given the great responsibility of feeding the followers and binding and loosing forgiveness to those followers who would come from the Great Event in chapter 20.

I have been reading "Coming Home" lately. It is a book about former protestant ministers who became Catholic. (There are tons of ministers who have done this.) I was reading the other day about a fundamentalist preacher. I think he was Baptist. It was a great story. The analogy he made really stuck out; paraphrased "in observance of the law in the constitution it is clear that we need a legal authority like the supreme court to uphold the law contained therein....likewise there is a need for a qualified ecclesial body to guide us into all truth."

What if you don't agree with the words of Christ? What if you disagree with the analogy or many others? Well, I feel ya because I used to hear those very things and still thought "nay nay sir."

In all honesty what has the absence of a teaching authority done for protestant Christianity, with thousands of people interpreting scriptures for themselves? Some believe that homosexuality, abortion and adultery are OK. This may repulse those with more traditional senses. You know what the big scandals were after Luther? Two big ones. First, some were teaching Christ wasn't present in the Eucharist (Lord's Supper). Second, that Mary wasn't actually the Mother of the Church. Wow!

Jump forward 500 years....Now most protestant church reject both of the above and many accept those things I mentioned first. What in the world happened? It wasn't a lack of faith. It wasn't a lack of sincerity. That is for sure. It was the inevitable misdirection that takes place when you don't have a final authority to guide you. It is the church which is the pillar and foundation of all truth. When the church ceases to be this for the members you have 33000 different divisions.

There are now 33000 different denominations. What happened? What makes your view any more valid than someone else who proof-texts their way to their conclusion?

I am so thankful for my brothers in protestant churches. Acknowledging the fact that some of them don't accept my faith as valid Christianity I irrespectively am grateful for what God has done in their respective tradition(s). However, I will admit I want everyone to come to fullness of the faith which was and always has been in the one true Apostolic Church.