Catholic Answers

Why Be Catholic Instead Of Some Other Christian Denomination

Of all the thousands of Christian denominations that there are, why does the Catholic church claim to be the “true christian church? Why should I be Catholic and not just Christian?

So maybe you are searching for the truth and just don’t understand why there are so many different sects of Christianity and why Catholicism is the right one.  When you look at all the divisions and the the multiplicity of denominations; it all looks one like one big chaotic soup right?. Jesus Christ surely did not intend things to be that way as he always spoke about unity and prayed that we may all be one (ref. John 17:21)

I would say that the diversity in religious belief can be attributed to people who disobey God. They may trust in their own pride their own reasoning and reject God’s revelation and that’s essentially what happens with heresies. It is easy to see that the existence of God makes perfect sense and that Christianity too makes sense – God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, whose mission was to “save his people from their sins.” This same Jesus was crucified, he died on Calvary, but then He rose from the dead conquering it all.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus promised that He would not leave us as orphans. Not only did He leave us his Holy Spirit, but he also left us His church. Matthew Chapter 16 describes this happening in Peter’s profession of faith. When to the question “who do you say I am,” Simon professes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter which comes from the Greek word Petros which means rock. He said to him, “you are now Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.

So Peter, formally Simon, was the first Pope and of all the thousands of Christian denominations there are in the world, the Catholic Church is the only one that has an unbroken chain of popes going all the way back to Simon’s profession of faith and Jesus’ subsequent declaration and initiation of The Church.  All the other thousands of Christian churches we see are but branches broken off from the original Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ, and have come about as a result of people who have disagreed with the Church on some of Her theological teachings.  Sad to say but many have come about because many see Christianity and the setting up of a church as a business.  But in spite of the very many break-offs, the Catholic Church itself has maintained its unified belief for 2000 years and has continued to spread God’s word.

The Word Of God is and always will be true. History attests to this when we look at the Catholic Church and at Jesus’ pronouncement over it when he said, “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

The Catholic Church has been through very many trials, but through it all, she continues to rise. This is truth. The Catholic Church is the true Christian church. This is a historical fact.

Click Here for a list of all the Popes throughout history.

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