I said they were neither ignorant nor short-sighted. For whatever reason it was, there were no more Apostles, which is a fact.
Please listen to yourself. You can’t even imagine a reason why leaders would not appoint successors.
Again, this belief is absurd. We differentiate between those who were hand-picked by Christ to be His Apostles and those the Apostles themselves picked and likewise trained (overseers ; that is, Bishops).
Now, you imaginatively and ficticiously claim that the bishops were somehow simply “leaders of their congregations,” and not successors to the Apostles ; however, Holy Scripture denounces you when it calls these men overseers (bishops), which is not only a position of leadership (
seer) but also authority (
over).
You agree that they were appointed by the Apostles to the undoing of your own argument. It is so utterly inimical to the purpose and mission of the Apostles to at once labour so hard and train scrupulously chosen men to be overseers, and then to miserably and utterly fail to insure that the next generation would not be utterly deprived of any real leadership or authority. You essentially charge the Apostles with gross negligence, even to the point of willfully attempting to effect the destitution and destruction of Christ’s Church on earth.
Of course they made it a matter of important priority to ensure that the gospel would continue to be taught and spread by worthy, elect men, and that those souls won to Christ would have good shepherds that would look to their souls. This defamation of the Apostles - and by proxy Christ Himself - is unsufferable to Christian ears.
In sum, Christ did not appoint incompetent imbiciles to establish His Church on earth ; he selected and trained certain men who would continue His work on earth and ensure His Church would spread over the earth, thus ushering in His Messianic Kingdom. The results of Christ’s Apostles can be shown throughout the world in the countless Churches and Cathedrals scattered yet united over the entire superfices of the earth. The Apostles laboured, and their labour bore much fruit, as reality attests to and only the most willfully blind of men cannot clearly perceive.
Pax,
Tim
