Our Christian Roots - Are They Roman Catholic?

A good friend at church has been studying our Christian roots lately and came to the conclusion that "since the Catholic church was all there was for a long time, then this is where our true roots lie." It is commendable to seek to know our roots. History is important, and remembering it is important and we are also instructed to do so in the scripture. George Santayana once said that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." We also want to remember the good things from the past so that we can repeat them! When speaking of the roots of the Christian church, we are ultimately speaking of the church of Acts. We must be careful to base our theology upon an intimate knowledge of it, and not of churches proceeding it, many of which had become corrupted in various ways, the errors of which Paul was already addressing in his letters.

I want to point out the difference between the terms "Catholic" and "Roman Catholic." Catholic refers to something universal, and "Roman Catholic" refers to the Roman Catholic church which was after the apostles and was not the church of the apostles. The term "Catholic," when applied to the church, refers to the "universal Christian church" --or more specificaly in the context of which we are speaking, "the ancient undivided Christian church" (see http://dictionary.com).