I have been reading Scot Hahn's Catholic conversion story
http://www.chnetwork.org/scotthconv.htm, in which he goes into the reasons for his conversion to Catholicism.
Mentioned in his speech is the name of Doctor John Gerstner, with whom he had discussion during this cross-roads in his life.
I looked up Doctor John Gerstner and found an article of his on the topic of the True Church
http://www.the-highway.com/theology9_Gerstner.html. He admits that Christ Himself mentioned a True Church, in his words below:
"On the other hand, the true church is mentioned, too. Christ said: “I will build my church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16: 18). The powers of Hell not only stand against but they often make conquests of the visible church. It is only the invisible church of which Christ’s description is true. Another instance is Eph. 1:22-23: “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Surely nothing false or evil could be part of the body of Christ, in whom God is well pleased. In spite of this double usage of the word “church,” in and out of the Bible, we must remember that the true church, the saved church, the church in vital union with Christ, is the invisible church."
But, I note with some concern his apparent confusion over Christ's statement "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". He argues "The powers of Hell not only stand against but they often make conquests of the visible church. It is only the invisible church of which Christ’s description is true."
He seems to be trying to make a distinction between a "visible" and an "invisible" church, in order to further his argument. I have not heard these terms used before. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.
Regardless, the first part of his argument doesn't hold water because "stand against" does not equate to "prevail against".
Then, he adds that there have been occasions where the "visible" church has indeed been prevailed against by satan. If that were the case, the Catholic church would surely have been relegated to the history books and be a distant memory. Rather, despite the dark days of corrupt popes and the unauthorised reformation, it seems that the Catholic Church is still alive and well, true to the obvious wishes of Christ when he promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Does Christ lie? Surely we can rely on His promises.
In all honesty, do protestants truly believe that Martin Luther was justified in abandoning the Church that Christ founded. Did he think he could make a liar of Christ? Wouldn't it have been better for Luther to remain in Christ's Church and pray to God for its reformation, without abandoning it? Christ himself promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. Could Luther not have trusted Christ and seen that no matter what darkness stood against the True Church, that darkness would never prevail?
