The True Church - Protestant or Catholic?

These are questions that have divided Christianity since the reformation. Protestant Churches, particularly Evangelical ones, make many strong claims to hold to the pure Biblical form of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church claims that it has the true Apostolic teaching that represents the fullness of the Christian message. But what is the truth?

In the early 1500s teachings and forms of worship that had been the mainstay of the Christian Church for at least twelve centuries were replaced wholesale in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformers claimed that the Catholic Curch had corrupted the truth of the gospels. This led to the birth of hundreds of new Protestant denominations, all claiming to offer a purer, bible-based Christianity than that provided by the old church.

BUT IS THIS TRUE?

The leaders of the Reformation disagreed bitterly among themselves. Yet they agreed on several principles in which they opposed the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

The Bible Alone should determine doctrine.
The Catholic and Orthodox Churches had become corrupt and no longer taught the true message of God.
Salvation is gained through Faith Alone rather than with the help of Good Works.
The Priesthood and the Sacraments played at best only a marginal part in the work of salvation
Prayer to the Virgin Mary and the Saints was to be forbidden.

Many Protestant Groups also believe that:

Pictures, statues and images are forbidden by God.
Communion is a simple memorial rather than a true sharing of Jesus' body and blood.
Prayers for the dead are wrongful.
Human Free Will is an illusion.

But are these beliefs actually justified by the Gospels?

The pages below examine many of the disputed points.