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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas
Jesus commands us to “listen to the church,”...

That error has been addressed several times already.

If Jesus gave the command somewhere to *Listen to the church*, please provide the chapter and verse for it.

...and that those who “will not listen to the church, treat him as a pagan or tax collector.”

And again, that is in regard to dealing with disputes between individual believers where the issue has not been resolved at the levels before it.

Here is the passage in context.

This passage is not a blanket order to obey the leadership of any church which claims that it alone is the one true church.

It is at the end of a discourse addressing how to handle disputes in the body.

It lays out very specifically the steps one is to go through in resolving personal conflict within the body.

Matthew 18:15-20 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

NOWHERE does Jesus command us to "listen to the church".

The comment is *IF he does not listen to the church, then......*

That is a gross misinterpretation of the passage to claim or imply that it is a standing order of Jesus to listen to the Catholic church.

The clear meaning is here for everyone to see. It's dealing with disputes among believers, not absolute authority given to *the Church*.

133 posted on 02/11/2015 5:00:38 PM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: metmom
That error has been addressed several times already.

I predict it will be done DAILY on FR until the last trump!

186 posted on 02/12/2015 3:32:07 AM PST by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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