Priesthood
Men of the Roman Catholic faith who wish to become priests are forbidden to marry. This doctrine goes directly against what Scripture says: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith,.. forbidding to marry” (1 Tim. 4:1-3). God’s first chosen priests, the Levites, were married and had children (see Lev 10:8). Likewise, all newly appointed overseers of the church are to be “husbands of but one wife” (see 1 Tim 3:8-13; Titus 1:5-9).
The Apostle Peter (the first supposed “pope”) was married (see Matt 8:14) as were other Apostles (1 Cor 9:5). There were married bishops (1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:6).
Therefore, this Catholic rule about forbidding priests to marry is a “doctrine of men”: God forbids no one to marry. Indeed, marriage was instituted and blessed by God (Gen 1:27-28 and 2:24-25) so that man could have a suitable companion to help him (Gen 2:20). Marriage is the only lawful way for humans to obey God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply [have children]” (Gen 1:28).
I have learned that God, through His Son, Jesus the Christ, has abolished the need for “priests” to serve a special role, separate from the rest of God’s people. The whole church (people) of God are now called to be a “royal priesthood”.
Now the Apostle Peter calls all believers to be a “royal priesthood”. As he wrote to the early Christians:
“[Jesus] Coming to him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Pet 2:4-10).
And again in Revelation, the Apostle John greets the seven churches, and tells them that Jesus Christ “loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father” (Rev 1:5). Was he speaking only to Roman Catholic priests? It does not appear so from the scriptures.
Paul calls all followers of Christ “brothers” and “sisters”. He did not give himself a title of Teacher or Priest, or Father: “Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as Apostles of Christ,” (17 Thess 2:6). This is in keeping with what Jesus told His disciples:
“But you, do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted,” (Matt 23:8-12).
When I read this with an open mind, I can come to no other conclusion than that I sin when I call a priest “Father”. Paul says that Jesus:
“gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, [no priests are mentioned here] for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph 4:11-12).
Even though the original twelve Apostles of Jesus gave themselves “continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word,” (Acts 6:4), preachers of the gospel are told to work (outside of preaching) to earn their food. Paul himself was a tent maker, and used his skill to earn money to pay his own expenses. He wrote:
“nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labour and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thess 3:8).
Because we are all “brethren”, overseers of the church are called elders, deacons, and pastors. According to God, they are not called priests. Paul writes to Titus, a young pastor, advising him to appoint elders (bishops, deacons), men of proven spiritual character in their homes and businesses, to oversee the work of the church. “appoint elders in every city as I commanded you — if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination” (Titus 1:5-9; see also 2 Thess 2:15). Paul writes the same thing to Timothy (see 1 Tim 3: 8-13).
We are told to confess our sins in order to be forgiven by God (Psa 32:5; 1 John 1:9). But who are we to confess our sins to? Since we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and are all part of his holy priesthood, James tells us to “confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16).
According to Catholic doctrine, a priest is needed during the memorial celebration in order for Christ to be there. However, Jesus spoke to his disciples/ followers and said, “for where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20). This Catholic doctrine, then, clearly opposes what Jesus said, and is therefore wrong.
Thus, in Christ’s church, there is no hierarchy, as is set up by the Roman Catholic Church (Pope, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, etc.). “But Christ is all and is in all” (Col 3:11).
Death, and the immortality of the soul
In many Christian religions, we are led to believe that all good people (or at least all good people who believe in Jesus Christ) go to heaven as soon as they die. They don’t have to wait until Christ’s second coming, when he judges the living and the dead.
However, the Holy Scriptures tell us a different story: we are told that the dead are unconscious of anything, that they “know nothing”, that “there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Eccl 9:5,6,10). We are told that King David “did not ascend into the heavens” (Acts 2:34) and in fact, no man had until the Jesus did (John 3:13). We are told that all the dead in Christ are “asleep” in the earth, waiting for judgment at the second coming — they are not alive in heaven. We are told that “each one will be raised in his proper order: Christ, first of all; then, at the time of His [second] coming, those who belong to Him” (1 Cor. 15:23).
Some people quote Luke 23:43 to confirm the belief that righteous people go to paradise as soon as they die: “And Jesus said to him [the robber], ‘Assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise.” In the original Greek language of the gospels, commas were not used. However, in the translation to English, a comma was inserted between “you” and “today”. If, on the other hand, one inserts a comma between “today” and “you”, a different meaning emerges: “I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus told the robber that day that he would be in paradise, but he did not say when this would occur. Where was Jesus going that day? He was going to the grave: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40). Note he did not say “my body” will be in the grave, but his whole being, or soul will be in the grave.
Gen 2:7 states, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Soul is the English translation of the Hebrew word “nephesh”, which means “a breathing creature”; it has also been translated as beast, body, breath, and creature. We can see that for man to have his being, or to be a living soul, he needs both “dust” and the breath of life.
Paul clearly explained that at Christ’s triumphant second coming, the faithful who are dead will be raised and given immortality. They are not immortal souls waiting in heaven for Christ’s coming and judgment — we are all mortal and all die, but if we are judged worthy, we will become immortal.
“This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is mortal; when raised, it will be immortal. When buried, it is ugly and weak; when raised, it will be beautiful and strong. When buried, it is a physical body; when raised, it will be a spiritual body. There is, of course, a physical body, so there has to be a spiritual body. For the scripture says, ‘the first man, Adam, was created a living soul [being]; but the last Adam [Jesus] is the life-giving Spirit’. It is not the spiritual that comes first, but the physical, and then the spiritual” (1 Cor 15:42-49).
The doctrine that humans have an immortal soul has its roots in Egyptian and Greek (pagan) philosophy:
“William Tyndale, heroic translator of the Scriptures into English, and martyred on that account in 1536, wrote: ‘And ye in putting them in heaven, hell and purgatory, destroy the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul prove the resurrection. What God doth with them, that shall we know when we come to them. The true faith putteth the resurrection, which we be warned to look for every hour. The heathen philosophers, denying that, did put that souls did ever live. And the Pope joineth the spiritual doctrine of Christ and the fleshly doctrine of philosophers together, things so contrary that they cannot agree, no more than the Spirit and the flesh do in a Christian man. And because the fleshly minded Pope consenteth unto heathen doctrine, therefore he corrupteth the Scripture to establish it’
“The Swedish scholar Anders Nygren, in his work Agape and Eros, wrote: ‘The ancient Church differs most of all from Hellenism in its belief in Resurrection. Christian tradition affirmed the “Resurrection of the flesh”, which the Apologists opposed to the Hellenistic doctrine of the “Immortality of the soul” ’… One who believes in the ‘Immortality of the Soul’ shows thereby that he is not a Christian. As Justin says: ‘If you have fallen in with some who are called Christians… and who say there is no resurrection of the dead, but that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians.’ The idea of the immortality of the soul causes offence primarily because it is an expression of man’s insolence towards God. For Christian faith, salvation from death is a mighty act of God; in the Platonic, Hellenistic view, immortality is a native possession of the human soul. But such a doctrine from the Christian point of view, is in line with the Fall; it is man’s attempt to make himself like God, to make himself God; it is an assault on God’s divinity. When God through Christ awakens the dead to life on the Last Day, there can no longer be any doubt that eternal life is His gift. By setting the Resurrection faith over against the Hellenistic doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul, the Apologists maintained a position of the utmost importance for Christianity.”1
We are clearly warned in the Bible that some early Christians “have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past” (2 Tim 2: 18). The Bible plainly states that only after Christ’s second coming will the resurrection of the dead take place, and then Christ will judge the living and the dead. The righteous will rise to everlasting life here on earth (not in heaven).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One