Why is it so hard for many........?

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Why is it so hard for many (both outside of the Catholic Churhc and sadly, for many ‘inside’ the Catholic Church) to accept the reality of one supreme Pastor of the whole Christian church , the Pope?
 
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Cephas:
Why is it so hard for many (both outside of the Catholic Churhc and sadly, for many ‘inside’ the Catholic Church) to accept the reality of one head Pastor of the Whole Christian Church , the Pope?
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I can only speak for myself and when I find myself having a problem with it I have to goto confession and ask forgivness for my PRIDE issues.
 
It would seem to me that it is human nature to buck authority, especially what people perceive as merely “human” authority. If you don’t subcribe to the notion that the Holy Spirit is speaking thru the magesterium, then the Pope and the other bishops are merely “preachers” who are only trying to impose upon you that which is (in their opinion) only conjecture or personal opinion. I, for one, take comfort in knowing that those truths revealed by infallible pronouncement are guaranteed free from error.
 
There is another factor at work, especially in America.

Here, we have this wonderful and potentially dangerous notion called freedom. We have free speech and are free to disagree. We can say our former president is an idiot and not fear a midnight knock at the door.

I think Americans confuse religion and politics. Since we so stubbornly defend our freedom to dissent, we consider it an inalienable right. Really, it’s a right to dissent from the government, not God’s church.
 
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Cephas:
Why is it so hard for many (both outside of the Catholic Churhc and sadly, for many ‘inside’ the Catholic Church) to accept the reality of one supreme Pastor of the whole Christian church , the Pope?
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Because there were some Bad Popes and “some” people don’t believe that the Holy Spirit could protect the church from the evil acts of mere human.
 
Slow Burn:
It would seem to me that it is human nature to buck authority, especially what people perceive as merely “human” authority. If you don’t subcribe to the notion that the Holy Spirit is speaking thru the magesterium, then the Pope and the other bishops are merely “preachers” who are only trying to impose upon you that which is (in their opinion) only conjecture or personal opinion. I, for one, take comfort in knowing that those truths revealed by infallible pronouncement are guaranteed free from error.
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Amen to that! 👍 One of the main reasons for the Protestant revolt… 😦
 
when I was younger I had different views concerning the papacy.
To me it seemed so out of date - and oppressive.

I now realize this was my upbringing in American values.
We treasure “modernism” and we assume that those values we hold today are superior to values held by people in history.
That is not true (and is becoming less and less true)

Another American phenomenon I fell victim to.
We are told it is our right to express our opinions.
We often confuse “opinion” with true knowledge.

Just because I can express my opinion on a subject does not make me an expert - or anywhere near capable of speaking the truth. If I do not have corresponding education or experience in the topic of which I speak, my opinion is pretty worthless despite my freedom to speak it.

There are many people expressing their opinions concerning the papacy (as I once did) and really - most of them know nothing of which they speak.
 
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Cephas:
Why is it so hard for many (both outside of the Catholic Churhc and sadly, for many ‘inside’ the Catholic Church) to accept the reality of one supreme Pastor of the whole Christian church , the Pope?
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Two words:

Non serviam.

Blessings,

ZT
 
Jealousy
Envy
Pride
Covetousness

People don’t want another human being to have a better relationship with God than they do. And when you tell them that the Pope’s decrees are infallible, that’s what they are hearing.

Everyone’s relationship with God is different, and everyone’s journey is different. But humility is difficult, requires constant intercession and constant prayer, and is what it takes to subvert your individualism to God’s Truth.

Another point, and maybe I am pointing this out ad nauseum, but answering the call comes first, believing each of the points of faith comes from obeying the call.

We can charitably answer why we believe what we believe, but if we argue too harshly we come across as zealots who are merely dogmatic but not any more right than the next denomination over. There are 30,000 protestant denominations out there that think they are right and get rabidly anti-catholic to prove it. We do not need to be rabidly anti-protestant if we are right. We can do as my friend did… believe it so deeply and live it so truly that it causes a person to stop short and pray. Believe it so truly and express it so charitably and put the burden of proof so gently back on their shoulders that they begin to study. And they will come home.
 
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Cephas:
Why is it so hard for many (both outside of the Catholic Churhc and sadly, for many ‘inside’ the Catholic Church) to accept the reality of one supreme Pastor of the whole Christian church , the Pope?
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It’s not hard, it’s very easy not to accept a so-called pope! Why? Because it’s not Biblical! 👍
 
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Ric:
It’s not hard, it’s very easy not to accept a so-called pope! Why? Because it’s not Biblical!
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It is, but then, you have to accept that on your own, not because I say it is… You know the arguments and you choose to interpret them differently than the church does. Whether you know that or whether you are being used against your will I cannot say, but either way I will pray for you.
 
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Ric:
It’s not hard, it’s very easy not to accept a so-called pope! Why? Because it’s not Biblical! 👍
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Simon, you are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

Or, if you prefer why not count up the number of times Peter is mentioned in the Gospels compared to the other Apostles. He far exceeds any of the others.

Or, ever noticed how Andrew is so often refered to as “Andrew, brother of Peter”. This is another indication of the importance of Peter among the Apostles.

Or, how about Jesus telling Peter three times to “Feed my sheep/tend my sheep”.

Or, how about the obvious role of the Apostles, especially Peter in Acts 15 at the Council of Jerusulem?

How about John defering to Peter before entering the empty tomb?

Obviously, the primacy of Peter is very Biblical.

Now, the succession that took place after Peter’s martyrdom is not in the same time frame which the Bible covers, but it is still pretty significant that the early Church somehow understood that this authority was not supposed to disappear when Peter died. They knew that it was to be given to successors, so they did this and we continue to do it today.

Now, why do you think you know better than the Apostles and the early Church?
 
Could it be becasue it is easier to say God told me? where one is subject to the subjective experience and we are left to accept or reject him or her…

The pope is visible what he says satys in the phisiscal realm and is nit subjective (No matter what disident Catholics say:rolleyes: )
 
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Ric:
It’s not hard, it’s very easy not to accept a so-called pope! Why? Because it’s not Biblical! 👍
Click to expand...
By that do you mean that the concept of the Papacy is in direct contradiction to the teaching of Sacred Scripture or that the Papacy is insufficiently testified to in Sacred Scripture? If the former, how so? If the latter, by what criteria does one decide whether the testimony of Scripture is considered to be adequate or inadequate? And where are those criteria taught in the Bible?

Also, please give evidence from the primary sources that your Scriptural interpretation is consistent with the interpretation of the Early Church Fathers.

Justin
 
One of the eariler remarks in here mentioned – freedom. Another word can describe the ‘bucking the system of the Papacy’ is democracy.

Of couse as Americans, we have the freedom to VOTE for changes in our country, (Yet, our type of government is a repubic). Anyway, some in our country want the same type of system for the Church. That just WON’T WORK. :eek:

Remember in the OT, The Israelites wanted a King instead of God himself leading his people, because the countries around the Israelites had kingships. We know what happened, God let them have what they wanted and years later after mixing of paganism and the religious practices, the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms were taken over and scattered.

A lesson for us? It sure is!
Pray for JP2 and his successors when that time comes.

Edwin
Glory be to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him Forever!
 
I agree with the previous post. People, especially in the west are so steeped in democratic principles, especially the concept of vox populi, and the idea of public accountability, that many people find the idea of a supreme and infallible Papacy somewhat quaint and anachronistic in the so-called “modern” age, and thus seek to make it up-to-date by having the Church transformed into an interminable debating / voting assembly, much like what we see in Parliaments and Congresses today. The reality is that it simply won’t work. Spiritual truth just cannot be determined by a 51% majority vote.

Gerry 🙂
 
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Cephas:
Why is it so hard for many (both outside of the Catholic Churhc and sadly, for many ‘inside’ the Catholic Church) to accept the reality of one supreme Pastor of the whole Christian church , the Pope?
Click to expand...
Some people want to worship God on their terms, not His.

Some people want a religion where they are in charge and not someone else.

“When I fight authority, authority always wins” - John “Cougar” Melloncamp.

Ego.

'nuff said.
 
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Ric:
It’s not hard, it’s very easy not to accept a so-called pope! Why? Because it’s not Biblical! 👍
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I beg your pardon Ric. Do you believe the Book of Matthew? For a start read Matt 16:v 17 - 19. Was Jesus just kidding around?
Peter: Origins of Peter as Bishop of Rome. Pope is a Latin word, the original Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew! So of course “pope” is not in the Bible.

The New Testament contains five different metaphors for the foundation of the Church (Matt. 16:18, 1 Cor. 3:11, Eph. 2:20, 1 Pet. 2:5–6, Rev. 21:14). One metaphor that has been disputed is Jesus Christ’s calling the apostle Peter “rock”: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).

Some have tried to argue that Jesus did not mean that his Church would be built on Peter but on something else, even though the Greek word for “this” (touto) means “this very.”

Some argue that in this passage there is a minor difference between the Greek term for Peter (Petros) and the term for rock (petra), yet they ignore the obvious explanation: petra, a feminine noun, has simply been modifed to have a masculine ending, since one would not refer to a man (Peter) as feminine. The change in the gender is purely for stylistic reasons.

These critics also neglect the fact that Jesus spoke Aramaic, and, as John 1:42 tells us, in everyday life he actually referred to Peter as Kepha or Cephas (depending on how it is transliterated). It is that term which is then translated into Greek as petros. Thus, what Jesus actually said to Peter in Aramaic was: “You are Kepha and on this very kepha I will build my Church.”

The Church Fathers, those Christians closest to the apostles in time, culture, and theological background, clearly understood that Jesus promised to build the Church on Peter, as the following passages show.

Tatian the Syrian

“Simon Cephas answered and said, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah: flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee also, that you are Cephas, and on this rock will I build my Church; and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it” (*The Diatesseron *23 [A.D. 170]).

Tertullian

“Was anything withheld from the knowledge of Peter, who is called ‘the rock on which the Church would be built’ [Matt. 16:18] with the power of ‘loosing and binding in heaven and on earth’ [Matt. 16:19]?” (*Demurrer Against the Heretics *22 [A.D. 200]).

“[T]he Lord said to Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]. . . . What kind of man are you, subverting and changing what was the manifest intent of the Lord when he conferred this personally upon Peter? Upon you, he says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the keys” (*Modesty *21:9–10 [A.D. 220]).
 
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