SLStrohkirch said:
I always wondered why they didn't consider Paul the first Pope. For that matter Peter probably would have cringed at the title and declined as it wouldn't have made sense considering his personal experience with the Lord.
And Peter wrote two tiny epistles in broken Greek, and Paul wrote almost all the epistles in eloquent Greek.
While not a Catholic I know why they call Peter the first Pope.
And, I know why they think Mary was sinless perfection, too. But, anyone with one year of seminary outside of their propaganda camp can plainly see that someone has created a religion out of snippets from the Bible. The fact that they have priests called "father" should make anyone run for the hills after reading their Gospels, but they stay their as loyal sheep being led to the slaughter of false dogmas. Lent. Rosary. Praying to the saints. Weird!
"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven." Matthew 23:8 -9 niv
I was born a Jew. I see a great parallel between Catholics and Jews, as far as the approach to God. Ritual and tradition. No living experience with God. It all depends on the authorities for one's so called relationship to God.
He was the first one to declare among the disciples that Jesus was the Messiah and Christ said to him that upon this confession I will give you the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven in which the gates of Hell will not Prevail.
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So what? Peter was used only to write a tiny part of the NT. Paul was used of God to reveal the mystery of the Church. Peter even had a hard time understanding certain things Paul wrote, for Paul had great depth and understanding of knowledge. Peter was an impulsive person that Christ needed to reign in. Paul was a spiritual genius that many today do not even begin to understand, though anyone led of the Spirit is made able to by grace.
"He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:16 niv
Paul was light years ahead of Peter in understanding the spiritual realities of the Church age. Peter was the Apostle to the Jews! The Catholic Church is a Gentile church!
Mary was not sinless as some Catholics try to claim!
Luke 1:46-47 niv
And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
If Mary was sinless, she would not need a Savior! Only sinners need a Savior!
Peter did spend time in Rome preaching to the Gentiles as well as the Jews who followed Christ.
And, Paul chewed him out from reverting back to his Jewish roots! Peter was withdrawing from the Gentiles out of fear of the legalistic Jews.
Galatians 2:11-13 niv
"When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray."
Peter died in Rome on an upside down Cross. This is but some of the main evidence they use to make him the first Bishop of Rome.
Paul died in Rome, too!
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As for Confession. 1 John 1:8-9 says If we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 niv
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
The confessing to one another in James had to do with fractions and friction between members of that church while they were going through corporate testing. Some were grumbling against one another. They were to confess to one another and to stop the anomosity, and make up with one another. It had nothing to do with confessing personal sins to one another. Its none of their business that soemone lusted for a woman down the street.
Personal sin confession is to God alone. You are your own priest!
What happens when we sin and will not be attending Church for a few days? Stay out of fellowship all that time? Since we are our own priest before God, we have been given the nauthority to confess (name/ acknowledge/ admit) our sins as we find and see them. Its to be instant recovery back into fellowship. No wasted time! What would happen if someone was on vacation and sinned? He would not be back in church for three weeks? He is in a country with no churches of his denomination? Spend his whole time out of fellowship? NO! 1 John 1:9 was intended for our personal priesthood! We have the right to name our own sins to God. And, its no one elses business what our sins may be! None of their business! We are accountable to God, not men!
In the Lutheran Church we also confess our sins. Most often it is part of the liturgy up which the congregation says in unison:
No good. We can sin at any time of the day. Its right after we see our sin that we confess it to God. We are all priests. In the OT economy only certain men were assigned to be priests. You had to go to them to confess your sin, and only with a sacrifice. Jesus has been sacrificed forever! We have the blood of Jesus always with us. We name our sins, then move on! None of this waiting for a certain time to confess. That keeps people locked out of fellowship with God. In other words, a trick of the devil!
I a poor miserable sinner confess unto thee all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended thee and justly deservery thy temporal and eternal punishment, but I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them and I pray thee of they boundless mercy to the end that by thy Grace I may come to everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Greek words in 1 John 1:9 does not require we feel sorry for our sins. It requires that we recognize them, accept the blood of Christ, and move on! Feeling sorry for our sins is a form of self punishment. There are Greek words to "feel sorry" but they do not appear in 1 John 1:9.
Jesus took the full brunt of all the punishment for sin on the cross. He did it all. If you want to feel sorry, that's your business, but is is never asked for by God. God wants us to become objective about our sins. Not subjective. The issue with God is no longer our sins. The issue is staying in fellowship and to be constantly growing in Christ. Not feeling sorry for sins is full acceptance that the saving work of Christ is complete and total. He paid for it all. Feeling sorry is like saying we could have done something in ourselves not to sin. That is a lie. We are sinners saved by grace. The more objective we become, the less guilt we feel. It would be like a diabetic feeling soory and apologizing everytime he needed to take insulin.
The Pastor says in return: Upon this your confession, I as a called and ordained servant of the word announce the Grace of God unto you and in his stead and by his command I forgive you all your sins.
He has no right to do that. He is getting in the way of God. He is trying to get in the middle. Who does he confess his sins to? He is a sinner.
We are to confess his name and confess that we are sinners and while we deserve eternal hellfire for our sinful actions we humbly ask his forgiveness. The pastor does not on his own forgive us but in the place of Christ and by the command he gave to the disciples we hear absolution for our misdeeds so that we can continue with the help of the spirit.
Distortion. Did Luther teach this himself? Or, was this a hold over from the Catholic days?
Though if one wanted to he could confess to his Pastor in private specific sins but most often we confess together as a congregation that we are sinful and we receive his forgiveness.
You are your own priest! We no longer confess to other people. Its YOUR relationship with God. We do not need a chaperone in confessing our sins. We are now Sons of God in Christ. No longer little children.
1 Peter 2:5 niv
"you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
This notion of confessing before another comes from the Jewish law. That's when there were specialized priests who offered sacrifices for named sins. Now, we offer our own spiritual sacrifices by confessing to God. We are now our own priest!
Grace in peace, GeneZ
Redemption doesn't come by faith? Without faith, you could not know you have been redeemed. You make no sense to me. 
