But the people who would seek the Kingdom do read the Bible and do understand it, and the teachings of Jesus were to individuals, about individuals and for individuals. I pointed out the two main teachings a few posts ago.
You do not make a disciples of a nation. If it were true that you could, then making disciples of the officials (individuals) would bind all people in that nation.
Malarkey.
Those who are illiterate today have the Gospels read to them, and hearing, they understand, if they are of that heart. The more, especially in the greater nations, read it themselves. It is up to the individual that he seeks God or not, not to a corporate organization.
This is the stone upon which those churches who claim dominance are broken.
There are indeed as many opinions as there are people but there is only one opinion in the Gospels and it is clear; the authority for the salvation for each man is the responsibility of that man. The only men that pledge their souls to the church are those who refuse that responsibility, and reasonably enough, it is those people and peoples that would let a despotic tyranny to persist in their nation.
All churches are man made, man run and for the purpose of man. The Catholic church is no different, even though it try mightily to impress interpretation on the scriptures to rule over men.
America was founded against the divine right of kings. The notion that the Israelite Davidic royal line was passed to non-Israelites is foolish, and is only found as an impressed interpretation on one passage in one Gospel. The other Gospels are different.
It would have been better if there were some twistable passage that passed the royal line to Paul, since Paul brought the Gospels to the non-Israelites. But there wasn't was there? The church had to make do with Peter thereby causing a scriptural crisis.
The notion that the Catholic, or any, church is the gatekeeper of spiritual salvation itself causes a scriptural crisis.
The only way the church has been able to pass it over was because it taught to ignorant people and babies that believe anything you tell them, unable to read and think for themselves.
The impulse to rule is the foundation of evil in all of history because it is the leadership of people or nation that cause evil to come upon the people. God gave the Israelites over to kings because that is what the people wanted and He would show them the nature of rule by men.
The Catholic church is the legacy of that impulse. But it is fading. The church, being the leader of the unthinking and slavishly accepting man, is the giving way to the thinking man.
You can cite your traditions and clumsily interpreted scripture all you like, but the die is cast.
You can argue with me all you want to, but the scriptures are crystal clear.