There has been some discussion in the Southern Free Times about various church teachings and their abuses over the centuries. Corrupting truth, abuses and murder of dissidents who challenge religious leaders to prove from the Bible where the church teachings come from is a common policy of all religions. They are all being cajoled or forced into a worldwide unholy alliance against the advocates of truth.
Every church, religion, creed or atheistic thought, has their own doctrines that they hold as superior to Bible truths. For example, the priests had a law, still practised today, that allowed them to gain the assets of a deceased estate even if it left the surviving spouse destitute, Matthew 15:4, thus breaking one of the Ten Commandments. Many other church traditions still prevail that most people hold to be superior to the Ten Commandments.
As for Peter being the first pope, the Bible records that Christ healed Peter’s mother-in-law, Matthew 8:14, 15, so Peter was married. If you want to know the origin of the church law that prohibits marriage, read 1 Timothy 4:1-3. The claim that one church was built on Peter, quoting Matthew 16:18, can be read to be correct if you read the verses 22 and 23 of the same chapter, where it says Peter is called Satan, do they unwittingly boast that their church is the church of Satan? Christ does not build His church upon a fallen dead saint. Christ builds His church upon Himself the author of life. Christ is the Rock that gave the Israelites water in the wilderness 1 Corinthians 10:4. Christ is the Rock that will destroy all earthy kingdoms, Daniel 2:45. We can be small pebbles, like Peter, in Christ’s church shining lights likened to jewels reflecting the light of Christ to a darkened world, Malachi 3:17, 1 Peter 2:5.
Truth is found by its honest seekers from across all religious borders; few there be that find it, treasure it or preach it. Error is embraced by millions and even as they die in their sins they force it upon others. It is not any religious organisation, its rituals, its creeds or its leaders that guarantees entry to heaven but Christ the Saviour and His Word to guide us.
Charles Gaitskell,
Stanthorpe