[[I find it deeply disturbing that just about every proclamation/comment the current Pope has made regarding important issues of faith and morality are in direct contradiction to what we were all taught by John Paul II and to what I was taught by the nuns in the 50’s and 60’s.]]
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
It’s the importance of following truth in what his word says instead of what someone in power says .
That’s why you believe scripture and not the words of men.
At Jesus first coming a lot of Jews missed him because they held their tradition above God’s word (which even told them that their Messiah would be coming 490 years after the decree was given to rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem they ignored it , they ignored Isaiah too when he stated their Messiah would die for them and bear the sins of many )
Look up my tag line ,that’s the Gospel.
You either trust him to save you or you don’t.
The pope saves no one , Mary saves no one , the Catholic church saves no one , you can’t be saved once your dead since it is appointed to man to die once and then the judgement
(Hebrews 9:27) And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
(Hebrews 9:28) So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
It’s only the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from our sins.
(1 John 1:7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
No earthly priest can cleanse you from sin . Only Jesus blood does.That is why he died .
The pope is no high priest . The bible says Jesus is the high priest that makes intersession for us .
(Hebrews 6:19) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
(Hebrews 6:20) Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
You either trust Jesus or you don’t
(John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(John 3:18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Spot on. It’ about trust in Christ....not an institution.