All those in Christ are the church, including those who are married.Priests are the church, so they are married to Jesus?
Then married Christians are bigamous while celibate Christians are faihfull?All those in Christ are the church, including those who are married.
NoThen married Christians are bigamous while celibate Christians are faihfull?
Jesus is not celibate, He us engaged to His bride and will unite with her when He returns.Jesus was celibate; was his celibacy an evil thing?
Priests are, by the same reasoning, not celibate they are engaged to Jesus and will unite with him when he returns.Jesus is not celibate, He us engaged to His bride and will unite with her when He returns.
I appreciate the understanding but it does contravene the spirit of Pauls intructions to Timothy.Priests are, by the same reasoning, not celibate they are engaged to Jesus and will unite with him when he returns.
Bishops would rarely be making any kind of decisions on marriage issues. That is the issue of the local priest.
You say it's wrong when celibacy is a requirement, but no one chooses to be a bishop. Bishops are selected from among the faithful. Monastics are a good pick as they are going to have the most knowledge about the liturgies and dogmas as they study and perform them every day. All of these things came through trial and error.
We are supposed to imitate the Lord.
Yes, obviously, a priest or pastor, should not date someone under his pastoral care.
However, it is not the priest that might cause the pastoral issue. It is the women looking at the priest as sexually desirable and a possible husband. I recall, even in the Catholic Church, a priest being called "Father what a waste". This priest had a following that went out of their way to try to do favors for him, and even followed him when he moved to a different church. Obviously, this could be a much more serious issue if the priest could actually date and marry.
Hereditary ministry is what the Most High God told us to follow
Priests are the church, so they are married to Jesus?
Firstly Bishops don't just "make the rules". No one Bishop can make any rule.Marius: "Bishops would rarely be making any kind of decisions on marriage issues. That is the issue of the local priest."
The Bishops make the rules that are applied by the priests. This is particularly true in confession.
Marius:"You say it's wrong when celibacy is a requirement, but no one chooses to be a bishop. Bishops are selected from among the faithful. Monastics are a good pick as they are going to have the most knowledge about the liturgies and dogmas as they study and perform them every day. All of these things came through trial and error."
You can say that monks are experts on icons and the Orthodox liturygy. That doesn't make them experts on the Christian life.
Honestly, this is a problem no matter the marital status of the clergy. There are "groupies" with some rather disordered relationships to their clergy even when those clergy are married. This is very common and a well known phenomenon which I was taught to watch out for in seminary.
I don't think requiring celibacy, requiring marriage, or allowing freedom in these matters according to the conscience of the priest, really changes that, because it's not the marital status of the clergy which causes it.
For the Jews. Not for Christians.
Priests are only part of the Church. Every baptised person is part of the Church. Priests on their own are not "the church" any more than one leg is a table.
However, none of the early Church leaders (the disciples were Hebrew believers) suggested a disregard for the Law of God.
Firstly Bishops don't just "make the rules". No one Bishop can make any rule.
Secondly I have lived among monks and I can guarantee you that at least all the older ones I've met were indeed experts in the Christian life. You want to see humility so profound that it makes you feel a spiritual child? Go talk amongst the monastics. I particularly recommend Hermitage of the Holy Cross. Those men were other worldly unlike anything I've ever seen. Holiness was everywhere to be found and miracles were in our midst.
Do you have experience with either?
Priests have a choice, they exercised it and chose to be celibate.
Paul instructs Timothy and Titus about choosing elders and bishops. Husband of one wife and so forth is the relevant material. That is not the same as saying that an elder or bishop must be married. It reads more like "do not pick anybody with many wives." or maybe "pick no one who married several times." but it is a matter of interpretation isn't it rather than an explicit command "an elder MUST BE MARRIED" ...I appreciate the understanding but it does contravene the spirit of Pauls intructions to Timothy.
But I am a person who believes that anybody who follows Yeshua is a Priest. The Bishop is simply the sheep in the flock who is closer to Him on the path than I am.
Nevertheless priests are the church every bit as much as bishops and lay persons so the line of reasoning that I addressed applies to priests.Priests are only part of the Church.
To become a priest there are a few preliminariesYou are wrong here. One has to choose before becoming a priest.
The Jewish law, outside what is specified here, is not for Christians. That includes regulations for the Aaronic priesthood.
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