[Sig Sauer P220]

A pattern I’ve noticed is that there are many Catholics who link their identity more to their church than to Christ.

Yep. How about Christ's teachings? Read the bible and see what it actually says rather than letting a hierarchy of popes, cardinals, monsignors, priests tell you.

[Atlas Sneezed]

How about Christ’s teachings? Read the bible and see what it actually says rather than letting a hierarchy of popes, cardinals, monsignors, priests tell you.

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I’m no religious scholar, but didn’t Christ basically tell people to found a church, and teach his word, so that all future generations could be taught about it?

That gaggle of humans who comprise the Church today are simply doing their best to follow 2000-year old marching orders from Jesus. Moreover, Christ didn’t seem to intend Christianity to be a home-school experience. There are sacraments, and a community that are part of the plan.

The notion that religious officials are twisting the words in the bible to their own ends is an interesting one, but there is a mountain of scholarly work on the subjects dating back for ages. You can’t just throw that out there and expect anyone to be persuaded.

[EyeGuy]

“Read the bible and see what it actually says rather than letting a hierarchy of popes, cardinals, monsignors, priests tell you.”

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Personally, I find a great deal of clarification, expansion and historical and sacramental context in what these devoted scholars have to say. They have helped me immensely on my journey.

[fr_freak]

Yep. How about Christ's teachings? Read the bible and see what it actually says rather than letting a hierarchy of popes, cardinals, monsignors, priests tell you.

A couple of points:

1) The Catholic Church has been guiding people in matters of Christ since before the ability to read was common, and before printing presses. The system was set up long before the "read your Bible" mantra would even have made sense. The Church has brought more people to the word of Christ than all the Protestant churches combined, and they've been doing it for 2000 years.

2) While each person should certainly take the time to read and understand his own Bible, the creative interpretations of the Bible that we're seeing now from many (now apostate) Protestant churches shows the down side of having an interpretive free-for-all. The advantage that the Catholic Church has is theology rooted in 2000 years of intense study, which is not so easily changed according to the latest political or cultural fad.