The question is whether or not your chosen "church" is in fact that one historic Church founded by Jesus Christ himself in 33 A.D..
He didn't establish an institution. He said that those who are His would be known by their love for their fellow-Christian. I've only seen that in a very few spirit-filled Catholics. Most who come into a dynamic relationship with The Living God leave Catholicism for a more loving congregation.
Neither do Catholics (worship idols).
Sorry. I know better. I've seen the masses of people bowing to statues and leaving food and other presents at their feet. It's not Christian at all. It's idol-worship. :duh:
...and against which he declared that the gates of Hades would never prevail (Mt. 16:18)
I am the church. My body is The Temple of The Lord. It is me (as well as other believers in Christ) which is capable of attacking the enemy at his very gates.
...or whether your chosen group was invented by a mere man (or men) during the past five centuries or so.
Actually, the one Who established my church is a Man and He is God, too. Jesus made me a member of His Body by inhabiting my flesh, not by causing me to join any particular denomination. He isn't into religion.
Neither do Catholics violate Jesus' instructions on this point (repetitious prayers).
They do, because it is vain repetition for no reason, other than thinking that you will be heard because you repeat it often enough.
No doubt the "dresses" worn by Jesus and the apostles would strike you as "funny" as well.
They were normal clothing for the day, that normal people wore. Should The Lord have chosen today to walk this earth, He would no doubt wear Levi's, a T-shirt and Crocks. He certainly wouldn't wear a clown outfit like your pretend pope wears. He didn't walk in Jewery for the same reason. He isn't religious. He came to seek and to save that which was lost in the fall: relationship. It's what He wants to have with every soul on the planet. He even wants you to come out of empty dead religion and meet Him.
Neither do Catholics (worship crackers).
Actually, they do.
I present a quote from
THIS ARTICLE for your consideration:
Can you tell where the Roman Catholic Jesus is in these pictures? See that little white circle in the middle of the sunbursts? That is a cracker. Catholics call it Jesus or the "holy" Eucharist. They eat their Jesus. But before they eat him, at times they bow down in front of this gold thing that holds their Jesus and worship him (one former nun who became a Christian testified that she would spend hours before "the host" that little cracker that the Romish priest supposedly changed into the Lord Jesus Christ (which blasphemy and heresy did not, and does not, happen.)) . The gold thing is called a monstrance. Sometimes the monstrance is paraded through the street with their Jesus (idol) in it and "adored" in their solemn processions. You see, their Jesus can't walk. He has to be borne about by men. THIS is the Roman Catholic Jesus that we write about here at Jesus is Lord--he is plainly not the Jesus of the Authorized Version of the Bible.
Genuine Apostolic Tradition, being itself the word of God, cannot change any more than the truths of Scripture can change.
Actually, The Word of God has not changed. Your imagining that the early church did the nonsense you cling to as 'holy tradition' doesn't make it so. If it were, history would have recorded such and if it were important there would be a whole lot more genuine relationships created in your pretend religion than what occurs. What few do occur only happen to those who seek The Lord with their whole heart and end up leaving your empty dead religion for a church that believes the way they've come to know by coming into a dynamic relationship with The Living God.
