[Anonymous]

It seems that lots of people here assume that the true Church was destroyed, overcome, or almost completely obscured from its very foundation. How does this square with Christ's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail? Matt 16:19

How can Christ let the Church be overcome or reduced to obscurity? Christ says that a city on a hill cannot be hidden, and that a candle is not put under a basket. It would seem like He did just that if the Church was destroyed or totally impeded after the apostolic era. (Matt 5:13-16, Mark 4:21-23, Luke 8:16-17, Luke 11:33-37)

Christ commanded His disciples to go and baptize all nations. Why would He command the Church to make disciples of and baptize all nations if He knew they were to be overcome in a generation or two? 

Isn't it more likely that Christ's Church would spread over the whole earth and not be overcome? 

In 2 Thessalonians Saint Paul speaks of an apostasy, but he speaks of it as a sign of Christ's imminent coming at the end of the world.

Why should we assume that the apostasy took place almost 2,000 years ago, almost immediately after Christ sent the Church out to do His work? 

If the Church was destroyed, overcome, or obscured for nearly two thousand years, how in the world can we hope to know the truth or restore it? 

The birth of Church was accompanied by the Ressurection and Ascension of Christ and the coming of the Holy Sprit in tongues of fire. How can anyone claim to restore it without an equal miracle?