He did set it up upon himself. But the visible Church on Earth is what he put Peter as head of.
Except He didn't. Paul puts it plainly. We are the body and Christ is the head.
There's a lot of ways to guide someone without force. The Holy Spirit does it all the time. As an analogy, how could we stop someone from falling into a hole in the ground? We could put a sign in front of it, we could put a rope around it, we could fill the hole so it doesn't exist anymore. We can build a path that goes so far around the hole that we don't notice there's a hole at all. Lots of ways to guide...when the spirit is willing.
Indeed. However, if said individual ignores the sign and goes around the rope you'd have to put your hands on them to keep them from going in. That's force. If you fill it with sand, you invalidate your point. The Spirit has His way, it's a collection of 66 books. How did Christ put it "If they won't listen to Moses..."
He still succeeded Judas. Prayer and casting lots is an equivalent of asking the Holy Spirit to guide our decision.
Not a point worth arguing. Your selection process is part of your tradition which is fine. The office that you're filling however is not.
Was Timothy the head of a local Church? Yes, and Paul considered him his son. Paul taught Timothy.
Matt 16:18-20.
Paul thinking of Timothy as a son doesn't make Timothy Paul's successor. How did John address the congregation in his letter? Didn't he say "My little children?"
And again, scripture says nothing about Timothy being head of any local church. You're appealing to your churches teaching for that.
Where does Scripture say that the Church is Christ's representative on earth?
2 Cor 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
That would all be fine if Christ was speaking Greek. But he was speaking Aramaic. Kephas was Peter's Aramaic name. Translated into Greek, it's Petra. Male is Petros.
It doesn't matter if it's Greek or Aramaic. You're clinging to a language barrier in hopes to establish a weak point. Peter is not the rock upon which Christ would be His church. Even if we just took it for what it was and didn't bother trying to use the Petra Petros argument, Christ is still the Rock spoken of in scripture. He is the Cornerstone, and the Stone of offense that causes men to stumble. If you think about the church being built upon a rock you can't help but admit that you visualize a stedy, firm, unmovable
foundation. Peter was not firm, or unmovable. He had a lot of growing that he had to do. Christ on the other hand was immovable, and is a firm foundation. It doesn't take much to realize He is the Rock upon which He built His church.
It could refer to Christ, but that's not the only meaning. Scripture has many senses. Or didn't you know that?
Not that it could. It does. It just makes it hard for you because the prophecy can't refer to Christ
and Peter. If Matt alludes to Isa 22 and Christ confirms in Revelation that He is the One that the same prophecy speaks of, than Peter isn't an option. That goes back to the whole "not sharing His glory" thing I was telling you about.