Crossed The Tiber

An Evangelical Converts to Catholicism

My Photo
Name:
Location: Pennsylvania, United States

I was born into the Catholic faith. At 14, I was "born again" and found Jesus personally but lost His Church. After thirty years as an evangelical protestant, I have come full circle to find that He has been there all the time, in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I wish others to find the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith as I have found.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

"Man Made Religion"

"Heretical teachers pervert Scripture and try to get into Heaven with a false key, for they have formed their human assemblies later than the Catholic Church. From this previously-existing and most true Church, it is very clear that these later heresies, and others which have come into being since then, are counterfeit and novel inventions. "
 (Pope St. Clement I 80 AD)  (this is incorrect, see below)

When I read this quote, I immediately assumed it must have been written after the reformation in response to the novel doctrines brought in by the reformers. Examples of these early false teachings was the heresy that the Eucharist was not the true body and blood of Christ, or that Jesus was not equal, con-substantial with God (of the same substance)

The reality is that this was written by the fourth pope who was responding to heretical teachings that were already arising in "human assemblies" that claim a "false key" as early the end of the first century.

Note the language Pope St Clement uses to describe the non-Catholic churches: "human assemblies." Implicit in this statement is that the early Christians who remained in succession from the original apostles truly believed that Church was "God-made", not "man-made."  By definition, the Church was the assembly of  Christian believers that could trace their spiritual patrimony to the gentleman named Peter who received the "true Key" from the hands of no one less than Christ Jesus himself.

Isn't it sad and ironic that one of the most frequent claims made against the Catholic faith passed on to us directly from the apostles is that it is a "man-made religion?"

NOTE: Correction of the Above. The author of this quote was from Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata
(125-200 AD)


8 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Russ, do you know which letter this is from?

May 17, 2011 1:43 PM  
Anonymous russ said...

Epistle to the Corinthians.
how's it going?

May 17, 2011 6:41 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Having trouble locating that specific quote except for some radtrad sites..

Doing well! On our third kid now and working at a hospital doing data analysis.

May 17, 2011 6:48 PM  
Blogger Russ Rentler, M.D. said...

If you go to ccel site and search the primary document, perhaps u can find it there. Congrats on the growing family. You are my hero !!!

May 17, 2011 7:35 PM  
Anonymous russ said...

Chad, I did a database SEARCH OF ALL THE WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS AND IT WAS CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, NOT POPE ST CLEMENT!! THOSE RADTRADS!!

May 17, 2011 9:24 PM  
Blogger Christina A. said...

Dr. Rentler, I am so excited to have come across your blog through Blogger's "next blog" button function. I am in my 2nd year of medical school and also a "reborn" Catholic. As I am currently studying for boards I have run across a few medical 'ethic' questions that are part of our exam, but do not correlate with my personal views. Needless to say, this has lead me to contemplate how I hope to handle my practice. I'm sure I will find some guidance in reading your blog (during study breaks :)). Just wanted to say thank you!

May 20, 2011 6:09 PM  
Anonymous russ rentler said...

Christina:
Thanks for stopping bye!
If you search medical ethics on my blog search engine in the left hand corner you will find my articles related to medical ethics. If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact me.
God bless you and your studies. We need more holy doctors who are obedient to the Lord and His Church!

May 20, 2011 10:12 PM  
Blogger Joyful Catholics said...

Superb! :) Viva la Papa!

January 13, 2012 9:25 AM  

Post a Comment

Home

Universalis