Why celibate bishops are a big deal?

2PhiloVoid

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Bishops have plenty of work to do overseeing local churches and dealing with their problems, have to travel a lot. So they don't have time to have a family.

Do you understand my rationale?

Yes, but what with all of the pitfalls that can be cited regarding this or that priest, bishop, elder or other leader in various churches............. maybe those Christian males who feel that they don't have time for a family and want to be able to spend all of their waking moments serving the Lord, spreading the Gospel message and ministering to untold hundreds or thousands, then they might consider becoming ........................eunuchs for the kingdom? I mean, if they're REALLY that serious about serving the Lord in celibate capacity to the utter fullness of their person, they might consider undergoing surgery for this spiritual and ministerial advantage.

Do you understand my rationale? :dontcare:[ .... I just thought I'd throw wrench into this whole thing since I happened by.]

Peace.
 
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Kaon

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If they dont have a family with children they cant be bishops. Word of God.

More or less; how are there to be more Levites, or priests of they don't marry/produce children?

The holy men were definitely having sex with their wives in the times before and after the Redeemer.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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Bishops have plenty of work to do overseeing local churches and dealing with their problems, have to travel a lot. So they don't have time to have a family.

Do you understand my rationale?
However scripture mandates marriage for Bishops,AKA overseers and Elders.
1 Timothy 3
3 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; 4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
 
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Not David

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Not necessarily, doesn't say he cannot become a widower and remarry.

Look, I just stumbled upon your thread by accident. Your original post very much gave away that you are unfamiliar with scripture and the reason why celibacy was introduced.
So let me help you: It was introduced because of financial reasons. Cause: if you have children they have a right to inherit whats yours. If you don't it will stay !in the church. As easy as that! It's no secret.
That happened on the Roman Church.
 
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Not David

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Yes, but what with all of the pitfalls that can be cited regarding this or that priest, bishop, elder or other leader in various churches............. maybe those Christian males who feel that they don't have time for a family and want to be able to spend all of their waking moments serving the Lord, spreading the Gospel message and ministering to untold hundreds or thousands, then they might consider becoming ........................eunuchs for the kingdom? I mean, if they're REALLY that serious about serving the Lord in celibate capacity to the utter fullness of their person, they might consider undergoing surgery for this spiritual and ministerial advantage.

Do you understand my rationale? :dontcare:[ .... I just thought I'd throw wrench into this whole thing since I happened by.]

Peace.
Self-mutilation is wrong and sinful.
 
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2PhiloVoid

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Self-mutilation is wrong and sinful.

Not necessarily. And I would dearly love to see what our fellow Christians have to say in weighing in on what I just stated above, specifically, David.

Because, let's face it, pedophiles or adulterers or sado-masochists, or whatever sexual or other dysfunctions exists, have no place in the church leadership, and IF they're there, it's not "ok." It's not just something that God's "grace and mercy" covers over.

Moreover, it might just be that these problems can be curtailed in the church, even if just a bit (?)---maybe quite a bit----if a false notion of required celibacy can be done away with. Besides, if for some reason unnecessary celibacy is expected by the (or "a") church hierarchy, then it seems sensible for those males who are supposedly committing themselves in a leadership capacity to do their god-given best to follow through in that endeavor.

And I think Christians today, whether they are Catholic or belong to whatever segment or denomination may be out there, need to more seriously consider all of these things.

I'm sorry. I'm probably sounding like a "Magneto" to your Cyclopian ears at this moment. But no worries. I can assure you I have no power over metal. ^_^

Peace.
 
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Not David

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Not necessarily. And I would dearly love to see what our fellow Christians have to say in weighing in on what I just stated above, specifically, David.

Because, let's face it, pedophiles or adulterers or sado-masochists or whatever sexual or other dysfunctions exists, have no place in the church leadership, and IF they're there, it's not "ok." It's not just something that God's "grace and mercy" covers over.

Moreover, it might just be that these problems can be curtailed in the church, even if just a bit (?)---maybe quite a bit----if a false notion of required celibacy can be done away with. Besides, if for some reason unnecessary celibacy is expected by the (or "a") church hierarchy, then it seems sensible for those males who are supposedly committing themselves in a leadership capacity to do their god-given best to follow through in that endeavor.

And I think Christians today, whether they are Catholic or belong to whatever segment or denomination may be out there, need to more seriously consider all of these things.

I'm sorry. I'm probably sounding like a "Magneto" to your Cyclopian ears at this moment. But no worries. I can assure you I have no power over metal. ^_^

Peace.
Not saying celibacy should be a cover for sexual issues. A lot of people forget that it originates in the mind/brain.

Also this:
source.gif
 
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Bruce Leiter

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Bishops have plenty of work to do overseeing local churches and dealing with their problems, have to travel a lot. So they don't have time to have a family.

Do you understand my rationale?
Is the same rationale for priests? I think that it should be left up to the individual ministry person whether to marry or not. The Bible does not prohibit marriage for the apostles.
 
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Not David

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Is the same rationale for priests? I think that it should be left up to the individual ministry person whether to marry or not. The Bible does not prohibit marriage for the apostles.
In my Church, the local church can have married priests.
 
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GingerBeer

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I think celibacy should be a choice rather than mandatory
Celibacy is a choice. No one is compelled to be celibate. There are hundreds of millions of men who are Catholics and are not celibate.
 
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☦Marius☦

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If they dont have a family with children they cant be bishops. Word of God.

Not necessarily, doesn't say he cannot become a widower and remarry.

Look, I just stumbled upon your thread by accident. Your original post very much gave away that you are unfamiliar with scripture and the reason why celibacy was introduced.
So let me help you: It was introduced because of financial reasons. Cause: if you have children they have a right to inherit whats yours. If you don't it will stay !in the church. As easy as that! It's no secret.
Actually Paul says that those who can be celibate should. The word "Bishop" in the NT had a slightly different meaning then it became once the Church grew. At first it was just the local elder or priest. We still allow Priests to marry in Orthodoxy.

The reason our Bishops are celibate is because in modern times Bishops are selected only from amongst monastics. It's it not dogmatic, it is just a practice. Why? Because the Bishops job is to pray 100% of the day for his flock. Monastics spend their lives training to pray unceasingly, and therefore Bishops have the ability to do this while lay people and Priests can often be distracted by their families and parishes. It should also be noted that the Apostles themselves nominated some celibate men to be the first bishops of the main patriarchal sees.
 
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Tropical Wilds

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Bishops have plenty of work to do overseeing local churches and dealing with their problems, have to travel a lot. So they don't have time to have a family.

Do you understand my rationale?

I understand it but I don’t agree with it. If one wants a family, I hope they have it.
 
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☦Marius☦

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1 Corinthians 7
1
Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. [1]
2
But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
3
The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.
4
The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.
5
Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6
I say this as a concession, not as a command.
7
I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
8
Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am.
9
But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
 
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Strong in Him

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Bishops have plenty of work to do overseeing local churches and dealing with their problems, have to travel a lot. So they don't have time to have a family.

Do you understand my rationale?

Not really, to be honest.
In our Methodist circuit we once had a Superintendent who had 2 churches of his own and oversight of 6 churches, was studying for a Phd, which he started in America, and had to travel there every so often. Later he gave up one of his churches and became Assistant chair of the District (like a bishop), had oversight of 10 more churches, and was acting Superintendent for another circuit.
He was married with 2 small children at the time.
Now, he is chair of a district, which means he has overall oversight of 30 churches. His kids are teenagers and his parents are elderly.

All of our Ministers have more than 2 churches - one has 7 - and they nearly all have children. Personal family life and professional workload are two different things. Priests/Ministers will eventually retire; will they then regret putting their work before their own lives?
 
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☦Marius☦

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chill with the doctrines of demons...

1 timothy 4:1-3
Oh so celibacy is demonic now? That was specifically aimed at the outwardly spiritual who were hypocritical. It clearly says those things in themselves were from God.
 
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