I think the Pope is panicking right now(smells like it)...
(media.greatawakening.win)
PANICO in Vaticano!
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Please read through your ENTIRE Bible, and see if you STILL believe Jesus intended for such a thing as the "Catholic Church"! That there was one, single, verse, taken out of context, that the Catholic Church used as justification for it's formation is pretty amazing to consider! Jesus spoke in parables. When he referred to Peter as "rock", and what His church would be based on, it was FAITH, not Peter, that Jesus was referring to. The first communion, where Jesus was with His disciples, and He referred to the bread and wine as "My body, and My blood", was OBVIOUSLY, a symbolic reference to Himself! Why is that so hard to comprehend?
Follow your own advice. 'Read the ENTIRE Bible', including the second half of John, Chapter 6, where Jesus says (several times) to eat his body and blood.
The 'audience' at the time was made up of three parts: 1) the 'crowd', 2) a large group of disciples, and 3) a hand-picked core group of disciples (the apostles). (Read the chapter - it's quite clear)
In that day and age, a disciple was someone who followed the teacher 24/7, learning everything that person spoke about. A disciple gave up their work, their family, and everything about their previous life to follow the teacher for years on end.
When Jesus first started saying that they needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood, they started to murmur, and then members of the crowd walked away. Unfortunate, but completely understandable. They had no long-term commitment to Jesus.
But when they left, Jesus increased the intensity, and starts to use a more aggressive word for 'eat' (trogo). At that point, even the disciples start to grumble, and then walk away. Only the hand-picked apostles remained.
Remember, the disciples that walked away were men that had given up everything to follow Jesus. They had heard him speak countless times. They had looked into his eyes and they knew his speech patterns intimately. Yet they abandoned him for what he had just said.
So, if (as you say) it is so 'OBVIOUSLY' just a 'symbolic' reference, why would disciples walk away from their teacher for the crime of using a 'bad metaphor'? The answer: they didn't. They recognized that Our Lord was speaking literally, and it was too much for them.
Yet somehow you believe that people living today - 2000 years later - are better able to discern that Jesus was 'speaking metaphorically' than those who were literally standing in his presence and had heard him speak in person countless times.
I could go on (about this topic and others you raised), but this is already quite long.
No one who has dedicated their life to someone walks away for a 'bad metaphor'.
So when Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again, He was saying that Nicodemus should be biologically born again? Almost everything Jesus said was spoken in parables, but why are these two fundamentals of Catholics (Peter is the first pope, and communion involves actual eating of Jesus flesh and blood), to be taken literally? I understand it's hard to realize and accept that a set of beliefs a person has had their whole life are wrong (it's what this site is about, right?), but if you break free, you will find great relief! No more wondering if you are saved. No more wondering if you "did enough to earn your way to Heaven". Etc., etc.
You said it, not me. 'Almost everything Jesus said was in parables.'
In John, Chapter 6, Jesus directly and explicitly states that he is the true manna from heaven. This creates a direct 'typology' link from the 'type' (the manna from Exodus) to Jesus, the fulfillment of the manna.
In every single other typology set in the entire Bible, the fulfillment in Jesus is greater than the original hint/foreshadowing (type) in the Bible.
The manna in the desert was a supernatural event (to sustain natural life), and Jesus directly and explicitly says he is the fulfillment of that event. So how does this fulfillment end up being a simple 'metaphor'? Answer: It doesn't, otherwise it would mean that Jesus' fulfillment was less than the original event.
Jesus was speaking of a supernatural event (to sustain our spiritual lives). It is a difficult teaching, which is why the crowd and many disciples walked away (And, as long as we're back to that - Why did the disciples walk away for a bad metaphor?)
With regard to Peter as the first Pope, look to the very beginning of Acts (1:12-20), where they had to replace the office that Judas had vacated. 'His office, let another take.' They knew - and followed - the structure that Jesus had set up for the Church. Apostolic succession.
Has this structure been abused? Yes, and often!
Has the structure of our government been abused? Yes, and often!
I don't give up on what is good because of the abuse of the few.
And, to clear up a misconception that you have -- I don't 'wonder if I am saved', nor do I think I 'earn my way into heaven'. I follow Paul's teaching. I have been saved, I am being saved, and I hope to be saved in the end - to 'finish the race well, lest I lose the imperishable crown'. If you have a problem with that theology, then argue with Paul, not me.
I just don't understand the desire to follow a church, rather than Jesus. What is the draw to follow a bunch of traditions of the Catholic church, rather than what is plainly written in the Bible? And while you're here, where does praying to Mary come from? I'm on my 10th or 11th read through the Bible now, and have yet to find where any scripture refers to praying to Mary. And just so you know (apparently many Catholics don't), Mary had other children. Why do you think the Catholic church only in the past few decades (if that long) had services in English, rather than latin? And why has there been, perhaps only until recently, an apparent avoidance of reading a Bible? Is it because the Catholic church was worried people would see how far the teachings of the Catholic church digress from what the Bible states?