Matteo retweeted
Twitter is my favorite place to hear expert opinions from people who don't read books.
Matteo retweeted
St. Ignatius was consecrated as the second bishop of Antioch by the hands of St. Peter himself. He was originally ordained a presbyter (priest) by St. John the Apostle. In AD 110, he was martyred by lions at the Colosseum in Rome for refusing to deny Jesus Christ and worship Caesar. To ignore him is to ignore Christian history and deny the teachings of the Early Church that was persecuted for the Faith. This is his testimony, the testimony of a martyred Christian bishop…👇🏻
On the Eucharist (Real Presence / Flesh of Christ)
• To the Smyrnaeans 6–7 (107 AD): “They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes.”
• To the Romans 7 (107 AD): “I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible.”
• To the Philadelphians 4 (107 AD): “Be careful, then, to observe a single Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and one cup of his blood that makes us one, and one altar, just as there is one bishop…”
On Church Hierarchy and Obedience to the Bishop
• To the Smyrnaeans 8 (107 AD): “See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is administered either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast…”
• To the Ephesians 5–6 (107 AD): “Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God… He, therefore, that does not assemble with the Church, has even by this manifested his pride… For we ought to receive every one whom the Master of the house sends to be over His household as we would do Him that sent him. It is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon the bishop even as we would upon the Lord Himself.”
• To the Magnesians 6–7 (107 AD): “…your bishop presides in the place of God, and your presbyters in the place of the assembly of the apostles… Do nothing without the bishop and presbyters… There is one Jesus Christ, than whom nothing is more excellent. Therefore run together as into one temple of God, as to one altar…”
Matteo retweeted
Mormons are a thorn in everyone’s shoe because they meet the lowest-common-denominator standard for what it means to be Christian. They’re a silent indictment of Protestantism.
How are they not Christian?
Their faith is centered around Christ. They believe He died to atone for our sins, and that He rose from the dead. They believe in baptism, and repentance from sin.
I was told that’s all you need.
Mormons illustrate for everyone that that’s not all you need. Doctrine is important. Getting the Trinity right is important. You’re not Christian if you get the Trinity wrong. Now suddenly you have to get that right too in order to be saved. Another condition to salvation pops out of the blue.
So there are these boundaries Protestants are always having to draw to try and exclude certain groups and not others—completely arbitrary, post-hoc boundaries. You challenge them on it and they recede back to “you just have to have faith in Jesus. Stop making it complicated.”
Okay, Mormons have faith in Jesus. Roman Catholics have faith in Jesus.
You’re trying to get the best of both worlds, innocent (rather blind) faith in Jesus without a bunch of rules and doctrines, but when that net is too wide you add back the parameters, like a sheepdog that just can’t keep up with all the sheep.
Mormons show how Protestantism is the most rule-laden religion of all. The simplicity is an illusion. They’re constantly bouncing between simple and complicated. Notice it next time.
This is why they hate Mormons—the black sheep of the Protestant family.
Matteo retweeted
Atheists: "if God is all-powerful, why doesn't He destroy evil?"
[God purges evil by destroying world with a flood]
Atheists: "why would a loving God commit mass genocide?"
Matteo retweeted
Spent a few moments on the official LDS site. As expected, much vague pablum. This, however, caught my eye:
"The Holy Trinity is the term many Christian religions use to describe God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Latter-day Saints believe very strongly in all three, but we don’t believe they’re all the same person."
Newsflash: No Christian believes they are the same person. This is either ignorance or worse.
Matteo retweeted
Mormons are often very personally offended when Christians say that Mormonism isn’t Christian. This is dumb.
Joseph Smith’s first “encounter” with God involves God telling Smith that every creed Christians profess is an abomination to God.
Every creed.
That includes the Nicene Creed. They reject who God is, who Jesus is, the nature of salvation, the nature of exaltation, the clear teaching of Scripture, etc..
Mormonism rejects the very core of the Christian faith in all its essentials. Joseph Smith knew this but nowadays they are playing mind games with their own people and with real Christians.
Either THEY are Christians or WE are. It’s one or the other. Not both.
When asked “Will all be damned but Mormons?” Smith replied, “Yes, and a great portion of them unless they repent and work righteousness” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 119)
The Doctrine and Covenants (1:30) leaves no doubt to the Mormon teaching of exclusivity when it says the LDS Church is “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased ….”
Brigham Young, second only to Joseph Smith in Mormonism said…
“Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity” (Journal of Discourses 10:230).
“The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God” (Journal of Discourses 8:171).
I could easily give you pages of them saying they are the only true Christians and how we are all ignorant beasts and our doctrines are wrong. They knew at the time they had a different God, gospel, Scripture, and system of belief. But now it has become expedient to pretend otherwise while still preaching all those false and unchristian things.
Mormons, your leaders are gaslighting you and you are gaslighting us. You aren’t Christian but we want you to be. Flee from Mormonism. Flee from Joseph Smith.
Matteo retweeted
Scripture describes the Church as something that upholds and protects the truth.
If that Church can formally err, then Scripture’s description is false or it’s meaningless. Both cannot be true at the same time.
Matteo retweeted
Years ago, I read the following anecdote somewhere: Once, in Spain, a Protestant "missionary" attempted to "convert" a socialist: "Do you know Jesus?" The response: "My good man, stop right there; I do not even believe in the true faith, so how could I believe in yours?"
Matteo retweeted
Fun fact:
If you invested $1.00 into the American stock market when it first opened in 1790, today you would be dead
Matteo retweeted
If the Bible is “self-authenticating,”
Why did it take 1,500 years for Protestants to identify their 66 books?
Just admit Catholics canonized it💧
