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I don't think it daft. I think it is half the picture.

"I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other God beside me." Are about the greatest words in any language. It makes us invunerable to all kinds of silly or evil movements and trends.

The two sides of the coin are how you reconcile "Christ is king." With "Submit to those in authority over you." It is actually quite easy. Christ delegates authority to his church and we submit ourselves to it in turn.

The state, in turn, is valid if it submits itself to Christ and to his Church. All throughout the Old testament God promises the restoration of the Davidic Kingdom. At no point does He promise a return to the time of Judges.

The mistake that the Jews made was in thinking that it was going to just go back to the way it was. A human king and Kingdom. But God had other plans. He did give us a human king, but it was himself. But now if we have a king we need a Kingdom. He delegates his authority to his ministers.

Look at Matthew 16:19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom.."

That is a king handing authority to his representative.

You can complain about his choice but you cannot deny that he did it. He gave Simon a new name just like he did for Abraham and Israel when he confirmed that they would be Fathers of his nation. He gave him his authority.

The part you miss about Catholics is that we don't remotely think of the Pope as a king. He is the successor of Peter, the chief Steward of the king. The other bishops are in a similar position. This is why the Orthodox still have some authority. But the rock is Peter and those bishops that remain with him have a unique position in the kingdom.

That is how God guaranteed that we would be able to find the appropriate authorities to submit to. You can claim to follow Christ alone, but to reject the Kingdom is to reject the King.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 8mo ago

the king's words were pretty clear and his deeds even clearer

samuel, samson, job, daniel, noah, the list goes on and on of the patriarchs of the Church who opposed corruption, and in many cases, corruption within the earthy congregation

and the modern stories such as the woman who threw her chair at the priest over the church leaders obeying the king's mandate to see him as the king is another example

the modern papacy is a corrupt organisation with leaders now who are literally whitewashing the crimes of the abuser priests among them, which means their real king is not the same one who hung on the cross

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Discussion

Daniel Wigton 8mo ago

The Abuse scandal and other crimes are Millstone material. Better for them to be cast into the sea than to lead people from God. But in spite of evil leaders, God's promises, God's kingdom, and God's people remain. Just like I. The Old testament, no matter how the Israelites sinned, including idolatry, God maintained His end of the bargain. He never took his covenant from them.

Likewise he literally and plainly gave his New Covenant to his church. That they have at times done badly does not remove the promises. He cannot withdraw them. He is the King! It is his Kingdom, He can punish his own but he won't renounce it.

The Beave 8mo ago

We are the church, the ecclesia, the assembly of believers, NOT "The Catholic Church." The arrogance of that name pisses me off.

Any organization that hides child abuse needs to be ripped out at the root and burned, nevermore to let evil fester in dark corners, or even in the wider halls of the institution.