handed the authority to forgive sins to Peter only? He was addressing all of his disciples that were there, yet the Catholic church still insists that all authority was given only to Peter? And was the authority to forgive sins actually passed on to the disciples? I thought the bible taught that only God can forgive sins. If that is true and only God can forgive sins, what was Jesus actually telling his disciples?
I think that we, as believers, can bind and unbind or forgive sins because it is not through our own power and authority but because as believers we can confidently say “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) If we don’t accept his free gift of salvation, we will all die in our sins, so as a disciple or follower of Christ we can declare that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved and that your sins are forgiven.
Wikipedia says this about binding and loosing. “To bind and to loose simply means to forbid by an indisputable authority and to permit by an indisputable authority." We as believers aren’t actually doing the forbidding and permitting, or the binding and loosing, but by an indisputable authority. It is upon Peter’s divine revelation and confession of faith in Christ that “thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” that he, Jesus, will build his church, not upon Peter himself. I am not a scholar, but I believe I am interpreting this correctly. But whether I am or not, I do know that Peter is not our rock and no man on earth is infallible, including the pope.
We could reference many verses telling us who our rock is, and not one refers to Peter as our rock. Psalms 31:3 says “For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.” Psalms 18:31 says “For who is God save the Lord? Or who is a rock save our God?” Isaiah 44:8 “is there any God besides Me, or is there any other rock? I know of none.” Jesus didn’t say “Upon you Peter, I will build my church," but said "Upon this rock I will build my church.” It is upon the confession of thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, upon recognizing the Messiah and his belief in Him on which He builds His church.
In 1 Peter 5:1 Peter refers to himself as a “fellow elder,” not regarding or placing himself in any authority. Peter is translated as "stone". As the body of Christ we are all little stones that make up the foundation of His church upon our acts of faith. Peter tells us in Acts 4:11-12 "Jesus is the stone you builder rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."
Peter himself tells us that Christ is the head of the corner. Then he reminds us that there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. This can't be repeated enough to actually get us to think about what he is saying. There is only one name we should be calling upon and none other. Let that sink in.
The following two verses illustrate the importance of building our lives on the right foundation:
Luke 6:46-49 “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears My words and does not act on them is like a man who built his house on ground without a foundation. The torrent crashed against that house, and immediately it fell and great was its destruction.”
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the torrents rages, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was its collapse!”
In order to test the truth of teachings, we need a solid foundation of His word. If you know His word, you won't be fooled into believing error. So what do you say, do we build our houses on sand like a foolish man, or like a wise man, on an immovable solid rock? Do we build on a solid foundation that can’t be shaken, which is His word, or man's word, which will cause us all to fall with great destruction? He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He has not changed his mind like the Church always seems to be doing. I need to pose the question yet again so it sinks in: Who is our rock save our God? Is He the one of the Catholic church's making or of what scripture clearly tells us?
On the front cover of this book is a picture of the Pope’s Audience Hall at the Vatican. What does that look like to you? Why would they make such a design? It looks to me like the pope is speaking from the mouth of a snake sitting right between his fangs, scales and all. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what to think of that.
The pope, thereby the church, has left all the basic tenets of Christianity and it’s all cloaked behind global peace, love, and unity. To make matters worse, he labels Christians that adhere to the basic principles of Christianity or the Bible as violent. The dictionary defines fundamentalism as ”strict adherence to the basic principles of any subject or discipline." Apparently the pope has spoken up quite a bit about fundamentalism. He has said, among many other comments, “A fundamentalist group, although it may not kill anyone, although it may not strike anyone, is violent. The mental structure of fundamentalists is violence in the name of God.” Did you get that? If you believe in the exclusive basic fundamental principles of, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me,” you are a violent person and a threat to humanity. I say if we don’t have a strict adherence to faith in Jesus as the only way to eternal life, we’ve followed the lie in one way or another and have let someone or some organization snatch away your only opportunity for eternal life.
One article I read in response from the Church was that Pope Francis is simply trying to point out that we don’t know everything as if we have the corner on truth. What truth is he talking about?" That Jesus is the only way to eternal life? Are we to agree with the Muslims, that Jesus was only a prophet? Or maybe with the Jews, that the Messiah hasn’t come yet? Or maybe with the Mormons, that say we can become like God? Or how about with the Jehovah's Witnesses that say that Jesus was Michael the Archangel before he came to earth! We can come up with any twisted doctrine we want when we add or even change God’s word as they do. I have a really difficult time understanding how people who truly set aside their own preconceived misconceptions and, of course, above all their pride can be misled into believing so many false doctrines. I was one of those blind followers until I woke up to the outright contradictions the Catholic church was teaching me. It’s there in black and white, and sometimes in red! Read it for yourself. That’s what He wants you to do. That’s why He wrote it.
In Matthew 23:10 God tells us that “None of you should be called leader. The Messiah is your only leader.” That is completely opposed to what the Catholic church teaches about Peter being handed over the “keys to the kingdom of heaven." Jesus would not designate Peter as our first pope or leader of the church opposing his own teaching. Designating Peter as our first pope is made up out of thin air and there is no scriptural support for this claim.
What about the infallibility of the pope? The following is a direct quote from Catholic answers.com. The article titled “Papal Infallibility” reads as follows: “The Catholic church's teaching on papal infallibility is one that is generally misunderstood by those outside the church. In particular, Fundamentalists and other Bible Christians often confuse the charism of papal “infallibility” with “impeccability.” They imagine Catholics believe the pope cannot sin." Further on it reads, “Given these common misapprehensions regarding the basic tenets of papal infallibility, it is necessary to explain exactly what infallibility is not. Infallibility is not the absence of sin. Nor is it a charism that belongs only to the pope. Indeed, infallibility also belongs to the body of bishops as a whole, when, in doctrinal unity with
