| First, you do not know, especially reviewing the various denominations, if the Church is remotely close to the Church Jesus established. As far as one can tell from patristic literature, there were already bishops and presbyters (priests) in the first century or two. We know they celebrated some form of the eucharist, and sang hymns. What we don't know is which denomination resembles the early Church more. Second, you have no basis to say that the relationship with the Apostles was "purely personal". They were under divine commission, to spread the gospel and establish communities of believers. If one believes that Jesus operated under divine guidance, it only makes sense that the mission of the Apostles, which even now is not completely fulfilled, should be under divine guidance. To put it a different way: who has the authority to evangelize, or speak for Christ? The Church has some kind of bona fides, particularly the Roman Catholic and Orthodox denominations, more problematically the Reformed (Calvinist), Evangelical (Lutheran), and Anglican churches. Even the less traditional denominations have a theory of the saving remnant that kept the purity of doctrine alive as Rome became corrupt........ |
