I said that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. You responded, “No.”
I sincerely don’t understand. Are you saying that I am not a disciple of Christ? Or are you saying that there are no longer disciples of Christ? Or are you saying that Jesus treats His disciples now differently from the way He treated them then? Is “disciple” a particular “office” according to your denomination?
His answer was spot on
You wrote:
“I said that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. You responded, “No.””
Correct.
“I sincerely don’t understand.”
True enough.
“Are you saying that I am not a disciple of Christ?”
Yes, I am saying that you are NOT a disciple as the early disciples were. They were chosen by Christ. They were trained by Christ. They walked with Christ for three years and learned from Him directly while He was on earth. You have done none of those things nor will you ever do any of those things on this earth.
“Or are you saying that there are no longer disciples of Christ?”
Not in the sense that they appeared alongside Christ in His earthly life, no. And the way of making disciples after Christ’s ascension is that those who were sent by Christ made others disciples. If you are a Protestant, then you are not a disciple made by Christ nor another disciple after Christ’s ascension. Someone made a follower of Christ by a heretic, or a schismatic, or a Protestant, is not truly a disciple of Christ in the fullest sense. It cannot be any other way. When someone calls himself a disciple of Christ, but embraces a heresy, he cannot be a disciple in the fullest sense simply because he has a distorted view of the one faith taught by Christ.
“Or are you saying that Jesus treats His disciples now differently from the way He treated them then?”
Christ sent His Church to make disciples after His ascension. The Church still makes disciples. Only the Church has that duty or the moral right or the ability to make disciples in the fullest sense now. Christ acts through the Church when it comes to making disciples. This is why the Apostles had that name. It means they were “sent”. Those who were sent by Christ had the authority. Those not sent by Christ had no authority.
“Is “disciple” a particular “office” according to your denomination?”
According to scripture, clearly some of the disciples had an office - the Apostles. Also, the seventy of Luke 10 were selected by Christ. Certainly there mission is indication of an office even if only temporary.
In today’s society, a consumerist society that likes to tailor even Christianity to individual desires, people like to imagine they are disciples of Christ even if they were not sent. I don’t doubt that Christ is important to them, but Christ did not create Lone Ranger sort of followers of Himself. All men, if they want to be full disciples of Christ, are to share the same faith, the same baptism, the same Lord.