The Church, quotes…
Theodore Beza said: “The church is an anvil that has worn out many a hammer.” And as the later Roman Catholic Hilaire Belloc said, “The Church is a perpetually defeated thing that always survives her conquerors.”
"CRUX sola est nostra Theologia." – 'The Cross alone is one theology.' – Luther
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Fr. Robert,
| The Church is a perpetually defeated thing that always survives her conquerors. |
What an excellent quote!
1 Peter 1:3-9 says that our spiritual faith will be tested like gold in the fire. In order to obtain pure gold, we must drive out the impurities with fire exceeding 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit (1000 degrees Celsius). Likewise, the Church must periodically go through the fire of extreme persecution along with intermediate hardship, leaving behind only those individuals whose hearts are filled with God’s Holy Spirit; thus eliminating those who trust in their church and its unique doctrinal scripture at the expense of knowing Jesus Christ, the author of scripture and Cornerstone of The Church (the body of believers).
It is interesting that various church groups and world religions rise and fall across the millennia, but the Body of Christ, the Living Church, lives on – and on – because it lives through Jesus Christ alone, the very Author of Life. If God be for us, who can be against us? No one! “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” [Matthew 10:28 NASB]
The Church is literally indestructible because so too is our God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Great I AM, through whom we the Church receive his life-giving, death-defeating, indestructible eternal power. Jesus Christ lives forever, absolutely Forever! And through him, we live!