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To: WriteOn

There has to be Hierarchy in any organization or it fails miserably.

There has to be someone who says “Thus saith The Lord”.

As it is in “The Church” (meaning all of Christianity) there are many different versions of “Thus Saith The Lord” and they all say different things.

While I do not believe that Christ built His Church on Peter I do believe he left Peter in charge and left the Apostles as the ruling body to oversee the various churches through out the world.

This Hierarchy means that one person answers to Christ for the condition of The Church. One person speaks for Christ on earth. Through The Holy Ghost God can speak to all of us but on matters affecting the whole or even part of the church there can only be one voice.


7 posted on 01/13/2014 9:19:00 AM PST by JAKraig (Surely my religion is at least as good as yours)
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To: JAKraig
Seems like you are looking for a leader other than Christ. This is not unusual, but it is idolatry. Christ is the head of the Church. His Holy Spirit has given us all gifts such as evangelism and pastor. That doesn't mean he has anointed any one person as His voice on the earth. That idea is wholly human and always fails miserably. That's why the popes have been such a sordid lot over the course of history.

"Trust in the Lord [not the pope] with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding." This applies to everyone - even some guy who wears a lot of fancy robes and is obeyed by foolish people who can't cope with life without another human being telling them what to do.

8 posted on 01/13/2014 9:44:34 AM PST by Dr. Thorne ("How long, O Lord, holy and true?" - Rev. 6:10)
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To: JAKraig

I believe history show that the Church inherited hierararchy, long with schools, courts, hospitals, and infrastructure administration from the fall of Rome. Necessary functions a sent governments during the dark ages but not really part of the core mission. Most of what people who don’t like the RCS don’t like comes from this part of history, IMHO. Carrying Christ’s message and mandates has been pretty clear apart from the admin responsibilities mentioned. Even today’s Catholic s need to distinguish between the two. Francis seems to get it and will be helpful in deemphasizing the non-Christ cruft in the Church.


9 posted on 01/13/2014 9:44:46 AM PST by epluribus_2 (he had the best mom - ever.)
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