Secret and disturbing Vatican agenda uncovered….

I’m confused then, because you say that Catholics don’t worship the pope as God. Whatever, the only Person I call “Holy Father” is infallible in every respect, not just on special occasions.

As far as structure goes, which is correct?

The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, teaches that a bishop must be married with children (1st Timothy 3:2–5).

vs.

The Catholic church says a bishop must not be married with children.

Still waiting for that answer…

The pope is man who has sinned. He’s not God, he holds of the Office of Peter on Earth.

As far as the Bible passage, it says that bishops should only marry once. That leaves room for intrepretation because Catholics believe bishops and priests are married to the Church, that is their vocation. It could also mean no polygamous marriages.

Also, I should point that for the first 1100 years or so, the Catholic Church did allow married priests and bishops.

Every Christian is a priest that offers spiritual sacrifices (1st Peter 2:9), and every Christian is the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1st Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1st Corinthians 6:19). So that does nothing to forbid being married.

The context of 1st Corinthians 7:32-33 is this:
1. it is addressed to all the Christians in Corinth, not just the bishops
2. Those verses addressed a specific time – “I think then that this is good in view of the [then] present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is” (7:26).

Being both a husband and a father, it is obvious why God requires a bishop, one who is to bring oversight to the church, to be a husband and father. Having these real life experiences teaches you a lot about leadership and self-sacrifice in a way that a single man cannot know.

And no, it is not a matter of opinion what 1st Timothy 3:2 means. In the original language, the word dei is used, which according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, means “it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper.” It is a necessity.

What is a necessity? mias gunaikos andra – literally a one woman man, that is, a one wife husband. A bishop must be the husband of one wife and a good dad to his children. A single man is a no woman man, not a husband at all.

If the Catholic church doesn’t let the inspired Word of God get in their way, why should a catechism get in their way? Especially when one can come up with spurious interpretations and then insist that their interpretation is the correct interpretation.

Celibacy was made official in 1132.

Jewish priests of the Old Testament were required to abstain from sex during the periods when they were serving in the Temple for spiritual reasons. Catholic priests serve in the Temple every day.

1 Corinthians 7:32-33
But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;
but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,

On April 22nd, 2008 at 9:53 am, Trollman said:
The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, teaches that a bishop must be married with children (1st Timothy 3:2–5).

The official response is that the “husband of one wife” part of Timothy means he cannot have remarried. It’s not a requirement to be married. Of course opinions will differ.

I am not a Catholic-hater, but I am a critic of the Catholic church.

Then you are a critic of God.

I’m confused then, because you say that Catholics don’t worship the pope as God. Whatever, the only Person I call “Holy Father” is infallible in every respect, not just on special occasions.

As far as structure goes, which is correct?

The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, teaches that a bishop must be married with children (1st Timothy 3:2–5).

vs.

The Catholic church says a bishop must not be married with children.

Still waiting for that answer…

5. the Catholic church has a long history of corruption. I sympathize with those Catholics who wish to reform the Catholic church, but given its hierarchical structure (which has nothing to do with N.T. Christianity and thus does not go back 2000 years), it will always be prone to corruption. Many of those things that struggling Catholics wrestle with are things that come where Catholic doctrine parts ways with the teachings of the Bible, anyway. The problem isn’t with Christianity, it is with Catholic tradition.

LOL…its STRUCTURE is what’s keeping it from melting like the Protestant Churches. Just watch over the coming decades as your churches in Europe are changed into museums and mosques.

I am not a Catholic-hater, but I am a critic of the Catholic church.

Then you are a critic of God.

see-dubya said:

Folks, I think this thread is about talked out, and this argument has been far from civil all around.

Sometimes a thread does run it’s course, see-dub and there’s really not much more to be said.

But instead of “stifling” any legitinate debate with an unceremonious shut-down, I might suggest just quickly noting the handles of the nasty folks and putting them on notice by name in a post. And tell ‘em yer not going to babysit ‘em – just stop it or get booted from commenting.

( Y’know, whenever I see “stifle” it makes me think of Edith Bunker. I rarely use the term, it makes me snicker.)

I think a problem with a thread shutdown is that it could be construed as a result of the few bloggers who wrongly blasted Michelle. They missed Michelle’s point completely and cast her as a bigot, e.g. “She’s Bill Maher, she’s Ann Coulter – shut her down!!!”

I believe it would be wiser to challenge such critics to attack what Michelle actually wrote: “Open borders; breaking Americas territorial laws – yes or no?”

Ahhh, the joys of modding comment threads, eh?

but to me, all this thread has shown is that the very people who are outraged about the anti-Christian biases and “War On Christianity” that is occurring in this country, have themselves shown the very same tendencies towards the Catholic Church. There is most definately an Anti-Catholic fervor in this country…and I am afraid it is brought upon by a great wealth of mis-information, dis-information, personal bias and bigotry.

I have a new view of many people that post here, and frankly, I am ashamed.