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Prooftexts not enough

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

The clergy/laity distinction: a help or a hindrance to the body of Christ? (RTC)
Re:

The bible did show some how............. (Emmanuel)
Date: 2001, Jul 26
From: RTC

I tell you, in the bible, there is full of contradictions. ++Contradictions are usually apparent rather than real. I believe such "contradictions" come about because the Bible does not give exhaustive details to satisfy our every query. Many times such "contradictions" are dispelled when more information come to light. You can find 1 verse to support your view and in return, I am back with another countering verse to disagree. ++Finding one verse is one thing, doing a coherent and consistent exegesis of that verse and its relationship to the entire Bible is another. Matt 16:17-19, the authority of Peter as a head is supported. I will give you keys of the Kingdom........Acts 15:20, instruction by the leader, Peter was given out........... ++Here you must define what you mean by authority and head. Authority for what and over what? What kind of authority are you talking about? What is the nature of this headship you are talking about? Did Peter acted like he was the head of the church? Did he or the other disciples act as though he had certain authoritative privileges? Moreover, later in Matt 18 Jesus told his disciples, not just Peter, that whatever they bind or loose on earth would be done in heaven. So how? Is the binding or loosing only restricted to Peter or for the church as a whole? If this is the only verse you have to support the mammoth papacy institution, you are on rocky (pun intended) foundation! Jesus always assign a leader in this humanly world while he teaches the world thru' the leader. ++Where did you get this idea? How many times did Jesus do what you claimed he did to warrant you saying that he "always assign a leader in this humanly world while he teaches the world thru' the leader"? Unless you can tell me, Jesus spoke thru' your ears in English or languages know to you, then I shall have no say. ++What kind of a reasoning is that? I suspect that even if I claim that Jesus did in fact speak to my ears that the papacy is an unbiblical notion, you would fall back on your church tradition to discredit my claim. But I do not need to rely on a personal revelation what the Bible has clearly revealed. A bible is enough for itself contains all roots to salvation? ++Exactly. The Bible tells us sufficiently what we need to know to enter into the Kingdom of heaven. But when the bible is indicating that all churches formation should be united as ONE big universal Church, which is the body of Christ, why aren't the churches all doing that? ++You are confusing spiritual unity for organisational unity. The church IS one. There is ONE body of Christ on earth. Being fallen, we have sadly failed to express that unity by proliferating the man-made denominations. The key to unity is to understand the true the nature of the church. It is we, who should unite all, not just in a similar Sola Scriptura belief, but all interpretation and connection. ++Church life is not centred on a creed but in Christ. Once believers understand what it truly means to be in Christ, they will understand unity. Unity and truth is inseparable, and truth does not simply tolerate all interpretation and connection. Even some of their own churches listed under Protestantism do squabbles around with their own words, Orthodox Eastern and Western. ++Squabbles are inevitable. Even Paul and Barnabas had their own squabbles and disagreement. It is not the existence of conflict that is the issue, but the issue is having a divisive spirt. One can stand firm for biblical truth without having a divisive spirit. Jesus never teaches us to do prayers in tongues everywhere! Prayers should be done in a solitary place, a love conversation between God and you. ++Jesus never taught us to pray in tongues simply because the Holy Spirit has not yet been given! But don't we have the mind of the Lord in Paul's words to the Corinthian church? And who said prayer must be done in a solitary place? What Jesus was saying is that we should not pray for show to people, which was what the Pharisees were doing so well back then. Regarding the Sola Scriptura above, I myself as a convert to Catholicism don't really subsribe to that. ++I know, you have that church tradition thing. But with what do you evaluate church tradition? What is the final standard for what is from God or not?