Of course, that quote by Jesus from Matthew 18 is also taken out of context.
It was part of His discourse on dealing with an unrepentant brother, not to give any church absolute, totalitarian authority over every believer on the planet.
However, since Catholics like to quote that so much as non_Catholics, one has to wonder why they don’t actually enforce that within their own ranks. Between the liberal pro-abortion and pro-homosexual marriage politicians and the homosexual minor molesting clergy, they have plenty of opportunity to practice what they preach.
Instead they are too busy pointing out other’s shortcomings.
Jesus also had something to say about motes and beams.
St Thomas, you are by far and away one of the most courteous and reasonable Catholic posters and I appreciate that we can dialog without it degenerating into a spitting contest. However, it appears that you have a blind spot, as do many Catholics, to the shortcomings of your denomination.
I’ve never seen a group of people so reluctant to admit error by the leadership within their church.
IMO, ANY church is fair game. Find me a non-Catholic church that is off in morals or teaching and I will point that out too, and I have. If you’ve ever seen my posts regarding the charismatic movement, you’ll know that that is true.
-— It was part of His discourse on dealing with an unrepentant brother, not to give any church absolute, totalitarian authority over every believer on the planet -—
Many conclusions follow from Jesus’ statement with logical necessity.
First, Jesus could have issued the command, “take it to Me.” But He chose to say, “take it to the church.” So this church must discipline, adjudicate and teach with His Authority.
Secondly, the church could only be His church, the Church that Christ founded.
This church must be visible, since one cannot take a dispute to an invisible church.
Fourth, this church cannot be any gathering of believers, since for a church to authoritatively settle disputes regarding sins amongst Christians, it must possess a unified, non-contradictory body of doctrine. Otherwise, disputes would never be settled, rendering Christ’s command void.
So we know that in Christ’s lifetime, His visible Church, possessing a non-contradictory body of doctrines, existed and taught with Christ’s Authority, apart from Him.
We must presume that this visible Church still exists, since history bears this out, and there is no evidence in Scripture that the gates of hell would prevail against it.
Finally, while the Church teaches with the authority of Christ, it does not possess the Mind of Christ, but it infallibly interprets divine revelation.