T
trogiah
Guest
Your reasoning makes a certain amount of sense but if we read just a little further in scripture we see this:
"From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
It would seem that, whatever Jesus intended by giving Peter the keys, it wasn’t that from now on Peter would be free from serious error. (We haven’t even reached the point where Peter denies knowing Jesus).
Despite finding serious flaws with Peter, Jesus didn’t take the keys back.
I believe this church that we (most of us?) are part of; the one that believes that Jesus is the Promised Messiah, the Son of the Living God; the one whose human leader is the Bishop of Rome (pope) , this church will not be destroyed by attacks from without or by dissent or corruption from within. It has made mistakes and it likely will make more mistakes but by the grace of God it will correct those mistakes and continue to be the best if not the only human institution that can help lead humanity to God’s kingdom.
I believe a good Catholic can think and even say to a priest, bishop, or pope that they are in error. (Assuming they really are.) I think the real problems with “dissent” are generated when such dissent is so public that some who are not as strong in their faith are negatively impacted, and also when the dissent becomes dismissal of the Church itself - when a person actually leaves the Church.
I think the insistence some people have on the Church’s “infallibility” can contribute to some leaving the Church unnecessarily. If a person feels very strongly that the Church is wrong on some issue, (regardless of who really is right or wrong) then they may feel like there is no reason to stick around in the face of unyielding refusal to consider other sides of an issue.
God doesn’t require any of us to “stand up in defense of the Church”, or to “prove that the Church is right.” God can take care of those things. I think those of us strong in our faith do the best service by simply living the faith and perhaps by patiently explaining it to those who don’t see it clearly.
I have learned somethings following these threads and hope to continue.
-Jim
, I am distressed a little about your saying he had “wild thoughts”. He did say some things that were rather odd, but nonetheless I believe they were accurate. The fact that you don’t think he always wrote the truth is disturbing to me. This would raise the question of inerrancy of Scriptures. What he wrote was the truth as is the rest of the Scriptures.
. But, I don’t claim that it is forbidden food either. I believe that many things must be taken into consideration when looking at Scripture. Who is speaking? Who are they speaking to? When was this? Where was this? Basic stuff. If you apply these basic questions to passages, you come up with alot better understanding.
