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Throughout the world, some people have been tempted to look upon religious leaders who are mere mortals as if they were an individual’s supreme source of spiritual instruction, nourishment, and protection. The tendency to turn mere men into "gurus" is worldwide.

This perfectly describes your religion...

I love the way God does things...He makes you work for those pieces of meat...Paul could just as well written verse 9 as he did 10...And what does 10 say???

Mat 23:10  Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 

He could just as well have said, 'Neither by ye called fathers, for one is your Father, even God'

And then he drives it home with the next verse...

...Mat 23:11  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 

You may have a Spiritual father, or a bishop but you don't address them as bishop, or father, or cardinal...

Job 32:21  Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. 
Job 32:22  For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away. 

I don't know what you are talking about there but I DO know what the bible is talking about...

Rom 3:24  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 

Rom 3:25  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
  Rom 3:26  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life (right now), and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 

There wasn't any asphyxiation...He died of a drug overdose..

standing on 'home plate'...

Your made up concoction “I’m not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.”

Paul will not be acquitted because he won't be on trial...
Paul was justified in Damascus...And there was no doubt in his mind...He was filled with the Spirit...If Paul would have been on trial he certainly would have been acquitted...The Lord had already judged Paul's heart and found him to be just/justified...

That's why Paul wasn't concerned with others judging him or even him judging himself...He was already standing on the plate...

Douay Rheims bible...
[1] Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. [2] Here now it is required among the dispensers, that a man be found faithful. [3] But to me it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man's day; but neither do I judge my own self. [4] For I am not conscious to myself of any thing, yet am I not hereby justified; but he that judgeth me, is the Lord. [5] Therefore judge not before the time; until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God.

My bible
1Co 4:4  For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 

Catholic Douay Rheims bible
1Co 4:4  For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 

 Your made up concoction
“I’m not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.”

You might pull this off in a Catholic Church but not here...

1Jn 2:12  I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 
1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
  1Jn 2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 

In I John 2:13-14, St. John refers to the leaders of the church in Ephesus to whom he is most likely writing as “fathers” twice. And notice he gives them the title “father.”
Notice, he does not say they are “fathers” because they are married with children. They are “fathers,” spiritually speaking. And they are presumably “on the earth".

And you are trying to be serious, aren't you...You must think you are talking to a bunch of Catholic parishioners who have never seen the inside of a bible...

Jesus came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law of the Old Covenant (Mt 5:17).

And he did...That's why we aren't required to fulfill the law...We couldn't do it, God knew it and sent his Son in our place...

If in Matthew 23:9 he literally forbids us even to acknowledge our natural fathers as our fathers, how can we keep the fourth commandment (“honor your father and your mother”)? Taken literally, Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:9 contradict his claim in Matthew 5:17, but we know that the Son of God never contradicts himself.

Jesus never forbid anyone from acknowledging their father...He forbids people from calling anyone in the clergy Father...You seem to have trouble understanding this stuff...

The role of leaders in Christ’s Church is faithfully to hand on Christ’s teaching received through the apostles (Mt 28:19).

And that we have, in the scriptures...

Paul condemns in the church at Corinth “these slogans you have, like ‘I am for Paul,’ ‘I am for Apollos,’ ‘I am for Cephas’ (1 Cor 1:12).

This is rich coming from a Catholic...Thru you entire history you put 'Cephas' as the head of your religion and then post the scripture that condemns it...

Incidentally, both Old and New Testaments associate priesthood with fatherhood (cf. Jgs 17:10, 18:19, and 1 Cor 4:15)

HaHaHa....

Jdg 17:10  And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. 
Jdg 17:11  And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. 

Sorry Charlie, no kewpie doll for you today...Here's your father/priest...

Jdg 18:18  And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? 
Jdg 18:19  And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?
  Jdg 18:20  And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. 

Possibly you're thinking of a different chapter and verse???

1Co 4:3  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 
1Co 4:4  For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified:

That's a question and a statement all in one...And the answer is, 'of course Paul is justified, and he knows it'...

but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 

And Paul's already been judged by the Lord and found to be just...

Job_1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job_2:1  Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
Job_38:7  When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Who/whatever thy were, they apparently hung around with God and Satan...

What's interesting is that there were giants in the earth in those days...And after every one died in the flood, except for Noah and his immediate family, there were still giants in the earth...(food for thought)

So according to the ghost of mary, most Catholics didn't/don't make it to purgatory...Including a large number of its 'ordained' clergy....

So Mary says your religion is pretty much a failure...Most of the Catholics who were baptized as babies and eat Jesus are still going to hell...And the crazy thing is, you live your life as a devoted Catholic and never do find out if you go to purgatory or hell...Yet you want the rest of us to join you...

Au contraire grasshopper...Knowledge of the Rapture inspires us to always be ready...

You guys get out there and party and think when it's close you'll see some signs and then quickly clean yourselves up...Hunt for some oil...

That's one of the ways we know this isn't the 2nd Coming...At the 2nd Coming many of the evil ones will again be taken away...

Different people see different things in the bible...You know what always stuck out at me in those verses in Galations???

Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 

You open that book and look in it and that book and it's looking back at you...

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

That book will cut you to pieces...You ought to know something about that...
And then that book looks inside you and detects with a sense we are not aware of at your motives AND what you intend to do...

Man, what a book...There's not another like it...

That reminds me of the oath I took when I became a Mason...

Hey, you finally made your way to Galatians...But c'mon man, what about all the ones who are NOT in Christ Jesus???

So I guess all these gender benders got it right then, eh??? My wife is an it...And so am I...

Well she can't even be a wife...Marriage is for a man and a woman...The Catholic gender benders one-upped us...

Just so you'd quit whinin' I looked up your man Ribera...He hung arund in the 16th Century...Catholic...Although he believed in some sort of Rapture, because of his Catholic upbringing he couldn't piece the scriptures together enough to make sense of it...

But that's as far back as your history books go??? Many of the early church fathers spoke of the Rapture...You ought to check them out...

1 John 2
3And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Hey I didn't ask you if you could find a verse that you think might cancel out what I posted...I asked if you trusted God's word in Romans 10...Guess you don't like to deal with Romans 10, eh???

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 

The coming of our Lord could be the Rapture or it could be the 2nd Coming, except,

Are we going to be gathered onto the Lord at the 2nd Coming??? He will be landing on the Earth and people will be scattered all over the Earth...
Where we Christians will be gathered onto him is the Rapture, not the 2nd Coming...

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 

That day will not come until the Anti-Christ is revealed...We know he will be revealed at least three and a half years before the 2nd Coming and probably seven years before...So the events in these verses can't be the 2nd Coming...

Who are doing the falling away and what are they falling away from??? Is this the Pre-Trib Rapture itself???

Are these Christians who have kicked out God/Jesus/Holy Spirit from indwelling them???
I don't happen to believe that's possible...

Christians who are leaving their Joel Olsteen type churches???

Massive groups of Catholics who are leaving the mother church???

If the Rapture doesn't happen, there's going to be millions upon millions of Christians running around the Earth pointing at the Anti-Christ and banging people over their heads with their bibles...

I'm pretty sure it's the Rapture...

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed,

This one isn't hard at all...There's only one thing that has power over Satan...And that of course is God...When the church is gone, there's no need for the Holy Spirit to hang around...And the Devil certainly isn't going to run things while God is around...

Don't know...But one thing's for certain, if we do nothing that's what we will get in return...