"Baloney", eh?
"Dishonest?"
Neither.
Why don't we let you go ahead and demonstrate the truth of what I said. Please answer these questions (none of them are rude, insulting or hostile), and you will prove that I was perfectly accurate and perfectly true.
Question 1: Is the text of the Bible (we'll pass on arguing over WHICH text for the moment), the "Inspired Word of God"? Yes or No?
Question 2: Is ALL of Divine Inspiration in the Bible, such that EVERYTHING that God has revealed that man needs to know for his spiritual needs is in the text? Yes or no?
Question 3: Can a man, alone, read and understand the text of the Bible, and thereby fully understand what God demands of him, or does he need deeply learned scholars and experts of theology to interpret it correctly for him?
Question 4: Where the text of the Bible conflicts with itself, or directly contradicts itself, what is the proper interpretation and who says?
Question 5: Example for Question 4 - Matthew 16:18-19 says:
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Based on that text, did Peter himself have the power to use the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" to forgive men their sins, and by so doing, oblige God to forgive those sins? Yes or no? Does "Whatsoever" include the power, for Peter, to wipe away sins and eliminate them?
I say he did.
Cleary and unambiguously.
The text cannot be read any other way.
Questions 6,7 and 8:
Do you say otherwise?
How can you read that text to say otherwise?
How do we decide who is right?
Question 9: Does it matter in the slightest, from the perspective of going to Heaven when we die, whether one gets the right answer or not to Questions 6,7 and 8?
I can pre-answer the questions for you, but rather than being accused of being "dishonest" and "letting my imagination run wild" again, I'll just save the answers I know you will give in a side file, and post them once you have given them.
There's nothing remotely dishonest about what I wrote. The reason there are 6000 different Protestant churches and one Catholic Church is PRECISELY because of the central issue of authority.