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Christ gave us a direct line to God the Father

Christ, through his apostles, also set up a hierarchical church with a real, visible organization. If you don't believe that, I suggest you read the later Pauline epistles (what do you think "appointed overseers in every city" means?) and then read the writings of the very earliest church fathers, many of whom knew the Apostles personally.

Your "direct line to God the Father" doesn't excuse you from following the way that Christ actually prescribed, which leads directly to the organization that Christ himself set up. "If you love me, keep my commandments" comes into play here.

Too funny - how about when He said that if we loved God with all our might (which he knew was flawed and is backed up by Paul, specially chosen by God to carry the lion's share of the Word, lamenting he found himself doing things he knew he shouldn't and not doing things he should) and loved our neighbor as ourselves, we were in fact satisfying the dictates of the Law because where there is love, there is o harm and that in and of itself satisfied the intent of the Law?

Jesus walked the earth as 100% Man and 100% God ...took the Man form so He could establish a personal relationship with Him....also, don't forget that while He still lived as a Man, He was under the constraints of the Old Covenant and had to be true to it....He is the only "Man" to have walked the earth and not broken a Commandment.

So, what was your point? When mortals get their hands on things, they necessarily tint it...if you don't believe that, then take a hard look at all the "fallen" Priests and a lot of their superiors...not to mention that the Catholic Religion considers the Pope to be "infallible" yet so many here also bad mouth him instead of just accepting their own religious teaching.

Men are needed to carry the Word, not to personally save souls - that's a personal choice between the sinner and his Savior.