God ordained the Vatican and its all its fripperies?
That’s a structured they are policy makers not the religious system you think they are.
its a corrupted organization with many popes in recent memory dipping their toes in affairs of the United States or fully embracing liberalism/ progressividm.
Homosexual men find a “ life” beneath a cassock dressing as a woman would, their secret secure and free to abuse others.
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Go back to the Vatican’s banking scandal in the 80’s.
ago to the sexual abuse scandals of many parishes in the United States, specifically.
I’ve never gotten over the Archdiocese of Baltimore closing catholic run schools , and it wasn’t just 2 or 3, the closing of the schools destroyed parishes, close friends and even neighborhoods Churches closed all because of the many reports and lawsuits against the Archdiocese for the amount of past and present at that time of sexual abuse by perverted molesting priests.
Sick I tell ya’ sick.
No, God did not ordain the Vatican and all its fripperies.
He organized a church body with certain officers and responsibilities. For instance:
Christ has commanded us to not forsake the church (Heb. 10:24-25 ).
We are told to have elders and deacons administering the word and charity, within a church structure. The elders are set aside for the ministry of the word and prayer. This is not to be ignored:
“5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” Titus 1 Are you doing this in your house? This is church government.
We need to regularly take communion to deal with outstanding sin in our lives and keep short accounts with God (1 Cor. 11:27-30 ). We do not serve communion to ourselves or partake of it ourselves.
How can the elders manage the flock given to them if the flock is non existent? “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” We are entrusted to them! They are to watch over us! We are not handling things ourselves.
The church has been given the ordinance of discipline for the care of the wayward members (Matt. 18:15-20 ; 1 Cor. 5:1-13 ) and if I remove myself from the church, I also remove myself from God’s appointed system of watching over me when my soul desires to stray from the Lord.
What about taking behavior issues to the church as instructed? How can we do this without an actual church body?
“15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matt 18)
Scripture against says there are those who have the rule over us — as directed — “ Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.” Hebrews 13:7
Behaviors are set and followed in the church. “6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” (2 Thess 3) Just one of many examples where church elders are organizing behaviors and exercising discipline over the members there.
The church has been entrusted with the dual ordinances of Baptism (Matt. 28:19 ; Acts 19:1-7 ; Rom. 6:3-11 ; 1 Pet. 3:18-22 ) and the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:14-20 ; 1 Cor. 11:23-26 ). Baptism is a public identification with and commitment to Christ and the church - we don’t baptize ourselves!! and the Lord’s Supper as a continual proclamation of the resurrection of Christ and a continual reminder of dealing with outstanding sin and keeping short accounts with God. As the church regularly partakes in these 2 ordinances, the gospel is both illustrated and applied in the. . .church.
No, you should not have fellowship with works of darkness you mention like child molestation or homosexuality. No “church” does that, the Bible says there are such things as synagogues of Satan. Our responsibility is to find solid obedient churches and worship, serve, and minister there. A faithful church is our spiritual home in this sinful world.
Don’t wander solo and avoid keeping God’s instructions as to our place in the church and its purpose, many citations above but there are more, in the New Testament we were organized into a church body and so we should still be.