Month: February 2015

Was Irenaeus wrong?

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A while ago, I had a chap called Roscoe commenting on my blog, denying the Catholic claims concerning St. Peter and the See of Rome. In response, I quoted St. Irenaeus, one of the most important witnesses concerning the Church at Rome:

“…that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; …which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority…

…The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate [of Rome]. Of this Linus…Anacletus…Clement…[and] Eleutherius does now…hold the inheritance of the episcopate.

“In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the apostles until now, and handed down in truth 

– Against Heresies III.3.3 (c. AD 180)

Irenæus_af_Lyon copy

Not founded by Peter and Paul

In reply to my quotation of Irenaeus, Roscoe wrote the following:

There are no historical facts to support the idea that Peter and Paul founded the church at Rome. Rome was over 1000 miles away from where they were. We can see what Peter was doing in Acts and he was not in Rome at this time. Most likely the faith was brought there by pilgrims who were converted in the early chapters of Acts.

Roscoe’s main argument seems to be:

1. Irenaeus says Peter and Paul “founded” the church at Rome.

2. Jews from Rome were present at Pentecost and converted to Christianity. It would have most likely been these Christians who would have brought the faith to Rome.

3. Irenaeus is proven demonstrably wrong and therefore his testimony concerning Rome should be regarded as extremely dubious.

I’ve heard this kind of argument a few times in the comment section of other blogs, so today I’d like to respond to it…

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Music Monday: Break the shell

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This isn’t a Christian song, but India Arie’s song “Break the shell” is still one of my favourite spiritual songs…

VERSE 1
I met a prophet dark as the night
She could see into my soul
Said she’d been watching and had some advice
She said shadows make you whole
A life without pain is a wolf in sheep’s clothes
Cause if you listen to the lessons that it holds
You’ll find the gold

CHORUS
Child it’s time to break the shell
Life’s gonna hurt but it’s meant to be felt
You cannot touch the sky from inside yourself
You cannot fly until you break the shell

VERSE 2
I can remember when I was a child
How the grown folks seemed so crazy
Why are they so angry, why are they so loud?
And when I grow up that’s never ever gonna be me
That was the moment that I decide
That I would build a wall just shy of six feet tall
Too strong to fall

BRIDGE
Courage is not being hard
It’s time to peel back all of the layers
You put between who You’re meant to be
And who You are
And go be who You are

VERSE 3
So much disappointment to finally understand
That there is no such thing as perfect
Were all simply doing the best that we can
And we have a choice to live or truly be alive

(This is your life)

VERSE 4
Do with these words what you will
It’s time for us to be for real
You’ll be stuck on the ground until
You finally break the shell

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