There are many things that appealed to me about Catholicism the more I learned about not only Catholic teachings but the Christian faith as seen through the 2000 year history of the Catholic Church: At the end of verse 11 in John chapter 17 Jesus praying to the Father says "that they may be one, even as we are one" and at the end of verse 21 in John chapter 20 Jesus speaking to the apostles says "as the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
It should be so obvious that there is ONE TRUTH that Jesus started 2000 years ago, but sadly that is not the case among Christians. I truly think it comes down to men believing they have the right version of how the Bible should be interpreted. But what gets me is the logical conclusion that I came to when I think about the key parts of the verses that I listed in the first paragraph.
"That they may be one, even as we are one." Did Jesus want unity? YES Did Jesus teach thousands of different ways to figure out the Christian faith? NO Did Jesus teach ONE straightforward message that he wants every Christian to follow and be in unity with? YES Oh, here's a big one, did Jesus establish one Church? YES That's the big one that Christians get all over the place about. If every Christian believed, which they don't, that Jesus established one Church ( the Catholic Church - the Universal Church ), all Christians would flock to the Catholic Church and none would leave it. I believe the issue is looking at it through human eyes and not letting God truly work His will in ones life.
"As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." After His resurrection, Did Jesus send the 11 apostles out to teach 11 different versions of His message ( what I like to refer to as the 11 denominations of the apostles )? NO Jesus was sent by God the Father with ONE message. Jesus earthly ministry was over by the time he said this to the apostles. Jesus was sending the apostles out to continue His one message in unity. Did the apostles appoint other men of God to continue the ministry? That is quite obvious when reading the New Testament. In Acts, Matthias was chosen to replace Judas. Deacons were appointed: Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas. Paul advised Timothy and Titus to appoint worthy men of God. The succession is obvious and they were not all numerous denominations. They were all part of one universal Church.
One key Protestant view on the above is that there is ONE essential message among Christians: "Christ on the Cross - Salvation is only through Jesus." That is what is referred to as essential and many other things are non-essentials. I used to say something along those lines in my Protestant days. Although it is an essential message, is that all there is to Christianity? What about feeding the poor? Loving your neighbor as yourself? Baptism? Holy Communion? Attending Church? And More?
My Protestant mind was confused by all the interpretations of scripture and all the denominations that the easy answer was and still is for many Protestants "Christ on the Cross - Salvation is only through Jesus" and the rest doesn't really matter. So it really doesn't matter if I ignore the teachings of Jesus or the many things that the apostle Paul wrote? Really? If none of that is important, why bother arguing over it? why bother starting a new church because of disagreement? why not just all get along since we all have the same essential message? That's not reality.
Yes, it's true that there is a lack of unity among individual Catholics, but I'm not looking at individual Catholics. I look at what the Catholic Church teaches about herself and believe that Christ did set up one Church to continue the Christian faith as he set it up until the end of time through apostolic succession.
The two verses that I referenced in this article are just two of many that pointed me to the Catholic faith in conjunction with learning about what the Catholic Church teaches about herself along with historical data of the first few hundred years after Christ was crucified.
I came to the conclusion that there has to be ONE truth. The God of the universe is not the author of confusion. Either the Catholic Church is telling a lie or telling the truth. I believe it's the truth. There is no other Church on earth with the history behind it like the Catholic Church. The evidence both biblically and historically is so overwhelming. It's amazing when your eyes are opened to see something that you've never seen before.
