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To: boatbums
it was changed in the twelfth century

That's just plain false. It was reiterated in the twelfth century, but was taught since Apostolic times. A detailed history of the topic exists here.

Paul, in describing the different qualifications required of pastor/teachers/deacons, specifically said they were to be men who WERE married.

No, he said they were to be "husbands of one wife". That's not a circumlocution for "married," it means that he was not interested in remarried widowers or those who had pagan wives whom they had divorced. There's a perfectly adequate Greek word for "married," if that was what he had meant.

Of course the assumption, in a church full of adult converts, was that candidates for the offices of elder or overseer would be married. That was not the ideal, as Paul himself proves in the passage you quoted:

The unmarried man is concerned about the work of the Lord, how he can please the Lord. But the married man is concerned about the affairs of this world, how he can please his wife, and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the work of the Lord, how she can be holy in both body and spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband.

He is here making a general comment, not one limited to a specific time or place, and not one conditioned on expecting the end of the world in the next couple of years.

17 posted on 10/15/2019 2:41:45 PM PDT by Campion ((marine dad))
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Placemarker


18 posted on 10/15/2019 4:54:38 PM PDT by 2nd amendment mama (Self Defense is a Basic Human Right!)
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To: Campion
You're obviously ignoring:

    I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you committed to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you free of commitment? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who weep, as if they did not; those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase, as if they had nothing; and those who use the things of this world, as if not dependent on them. For this world in its present form is passing away. I want you to be free from concern.

I guess by using your logic, nobody should ever get married, cry, be joyful, buy anything or use anything? In Catholicism's striving to prove it is superior in the matter of celibacy to everyone else they totally miss the whole point! Do you know what the point is?

19 posted on 10/15/2019 5:38:44 PM PDT by boatbums (God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6))
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