[JoeMomma]

According to the Scriptures, there is nothing that prohibits church leadership or preachers from marrying. In fact, II Timothy outlines the qualifications for elders and deacons (funny how the Scriptures do not mention a Pope at all) as being the husband of one wife.

Is the Pope just making up these celibacy rules because of a power trip, or does he have Scriptural basis for them? What would give him the right to impose rules where the Bible doesn't authorize him?

[Polycarp]

What would give him the right to impose rules where the Bible doesn't authorize him?

"I give you the keys to the Kingdom. What you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven."

[buffyt]

"The notion being: Separate yourselves from the worldly and focus on the transcendent. As the demand for the sacraments increased, these men were abstaining from sex all the time. Thus, like all things in the Church, a practice rooted in tradition evolved over time and eventually was codified into law."

....these men were abstaining from sex all the time. ..... GUESS NOT!!!! But it would have been a GOOD IDEA if they had!

[Steve0113]

does he have Scriptural basis for them?

Yes he does. The verse you cite in II Timothy is correctly interpreted to mean that elders and deacons are to have not more than one wife. Zero wives is fine.

To accept your interpretation would mean that single men and widowers could not be deacons or elders, an assertion with no historical basis.

[Conservative til I die]

Good grief. Are there really this many Fundie Droids posting the same thing, or is there one Fundie brain in a jar that makes these posts under different names?

Hey dude, the words Bible, Trinity, Fundamentalist, and Sola Scriptura don't appear in the Bible, either. Oops!

[Salvation]

You are referring to the Bible only. What about the long list of essays, letters, etc. (referenced above) and oral tradition in the Church? Are you ignoring them?

Does not the book, Acts of the Apostles, talk about Peter at the First Coucil of Jerusalem? What about that?