[BipolarBob]

Was not the Holy Spirit promised to ALL believers of Christ??

Hold on there! If God let every Peter, James and Paul be imbued with the Holy Spirit, they might not feel the dependency on the Catholic Church to guide their every step. If that happened, they may read the Bible (for themselves!!) and conclude some of the Only True Most Holy Catholic Church has strayed from its first teachings. That it is,in fact, in error! That would cause a cascade of calamities if people started reading the Bible without a Catholic priest to "guide" them. It's too terrible to contemplate.

[ealgeone]

Well, there certainly seems to be a very small contingency on these forums....say one....that has become judge and executioner of the current pope.

But here's the issue for the Roman Catholic and if they were to read the Bible for themselves.

Rome has only dogmatically defined less than 40 verses of the Bible...less than 40 in their claimed 2000 years of existence.

Even if a priest is there to help them the Roman Catholic cannot be assured what they are hearing from their priest is actually the correct interpretation of the Word.

[ebb tide]

Was not the Holy Spirit promised to ALL believers of Christ??

Last I heard, United Methodists are believers of Christ. Is the Holy Spirit telling them that homosexual marriages are valid but telling other protest sects that such "marriages" are not OK?