[hosepipe]

[ I believe God ordained Christian denominations in order to keep us from having ONE church that would try to control everyone. Just like he tore down the Tower of Babel and scattered the people so they wouldn’t try to be Gods and build an edifice to heaven, he scattered religious people too. ]

Good insight.. I believe you have something there..

[Quix]

I’ve long felt that way.

And, to make a vivid object lesson about

IN-GROUP/OUT-GROUP SPIRITUAL/RELIGIOUS PRIDE issues.

Given that pride is such a root of so much evil.

[Quix]

I entirely agree.

He left Paul with his thorn.

He scattered folks through their human flaws as Scripture indicates in the NT.

He clearly—for those with eyes to see—was NOT interested in setting mortals up yet again in yet another flawed bureaucratic political power mongering idolatrous edifice to replace the one Christ railed against so fiercely.

God is NOT an idiot!

He rent the curtain between God and man. He did NOT set up some Magnificent Magical Earth-Mother Mary caricature to replace that 2 foot thick curtain with a Pike’s Peak pile of Mary’s hankies between man and God nor for man to scale the heights of to reach God.