[where HE leads me]

The church that I used to attend (the one I spent the vast majority of my life in) was one that claimed "authority". How did they use (I should say, abuse) that authority? They used it to move the church into liberal Protestantism and to disfellowship those who didn't agree with their direction. Those who wanted to remain true to the word were told we were no longer considered brothers and sisters in the faith.

The only thing "authority" is good for is for keeping people squashed under your thumb and calling someone else a heretic, even if the person doing the name-calling is the one who is heretical.

[xzins]

A real church is both the spiritual descendants of the Early Christians and they are descended through the lineage of ordination.

They must ALSO be the spiritual descendants of the early Christians in my view.

Discounting brothers and sisters because they follow the inspired scripture is not in the spiritual lineage of the early church.

[RobbyS]

C. Wright Mills, the radical writer, said that power consisted of three basic types: Authority, manipulation, and force. Authority is the legitimate kind. It is not wrong to have captains and mates in charge of the ship; it is wrong for them to abuse their positions and resort to manipulation and force. This is certainly what has happened in the ECUSA. It has even happened occasionally in the Catholic Church. The devil's henchmen are everywhere.