excellent question …
I do not believe I separated myself away from Jesus Christ
I have separated myself from the Catholic Church with no desire to return
I do not believe the Catholic Church is the body of Christ
The body of Christ is made up of all the church believers in Him, inclusive of the Catholic Church
We all have an important role in witnessing and winning souls to Jesus Christ
I’m sure you don’t believe you separated yourself from Jesus Christ when you broke from his church, but that doesn’t mean you are right.
Let’s investigate the concept of the Body of Christ for a while.
St. Paul came up with the concept of the Body of Christ to describe how the Church had to work together like a body for the common good and that every member of the church is important. Here is his discourse from 1Corinthians 12:
12 As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
14 Now the body is not a single part, but many.
15 If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body.
16 Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended.
19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20 But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.”
22 Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary,
23 and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety,
24 whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it,
25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. 26 If (one) part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.
27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.
28 Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; 6 second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds?
30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
This is what he says in Ephesians 4:
1 I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,
3 striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:
4 one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore, it says: “He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men.”
9 What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended into the lower (regions) of the earth?
10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
11 And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
12 to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.
15 Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love.
So whereas St Paul clearly preached the Body of Christ as one Church unified in purpose by the head, Jesus Christ, you are claiming that you can leave the body and still be a part of it. This makes no logical sense. You have been greatly decieved if you believe that you are still a member of the Body that you have in fact left and are in the process of trying to tear down by trying to convince others to leave
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I reckon there’s so much truth in that!
