“The laity simply participate.”
The Catholic Church: Wrong for 2000 years and still going!
Sigh.
Exactly. There is ONE mediator between God and man: Christ.
Go join the Russian old believers.
so Catholic Church has been wrong for 2000 years,
just how long has your sect, schismatic or splinter group been right for a year, twenty years, two hundred years?
I assumed it was formed by a man or men what makes them so right? how do you know that for a fact?
or are you the type of protestant who can’t be bothered with a sect or schismatic group?
Do you just stay home on the Lords Day and ‘church yourself’??
Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam
Here is where the "priesthood of all believers" first came up (v 3) along with exactly how God The Father Himself reacted to that idea and those who advocated it.
Numbers:16:1 And behold Core the son of Isaar, the son of Caath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, and Hon the son of Pheleth of the children of Ruben,
Numbers:16:2 Rose up against Moses, and with them two hundred and fifty others of the children of Israel, leading men of the synagogue, and who in the time of assembly were called by name.
Numbers:16:3 And when they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said : Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them : Why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord ?
Numbers:16:4 When Moses heard this, he fell flat on his face :
Numbers:16:5 And speaking to Core and all the multitude, he said : In the morning
the Lord will make known who belong to him, and the holy he will join to himself : and whom he shall choose, they shall approach to him.
Numbers:16:6 Do this therefore : Take every man of you your censers, thou Core, and all thy company.
Numbers:16:7 And putting fire in them to morrow, put incense upon it before the Lord : and whomsoever he shall choose, the same shall be holy : you take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.
Numbers:16:8 And he said again to Core : Hear ye sons of Levi.
Numbers:16:9 Is it a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath spared you from all the people, and joined you to himself, that you should serve him in the service of the tabernacle, and should stand before the congregation of the people, and should minister to him ?
Numbers:16:10 Did he therefore make thee and all thy brethren the sons of Levi to approach unto him, that you should challenge to yourselves the priesthood also,
Numbers:16:11 And that all thy company should stand against the Lord ? for what is Aaron that you murmur against him ?
Numbers:16:12 Then Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab. But they answered : We will not come.
Numbers:16:13 Is it a small matter to thee, that thou hast brought us out of a land that flowed with milk and honey, to kill us in the desert, except thou rule also like a lord over us ?
Numbers:16:14 Thou hast brought us indeed into a land that floweth with rivers of milk and honey, and hast given us possessions of fields and vineyards ; wilt thou also pull out our eyes ? We will not come.
Numbers:16:15 Moses therefore being very angry, said to the Lord : Respect not their sacrifices : thou knowest that I have not taken of them so much as a young ass at any time, nor have injured any of them.
Numbers:16:16 And he said to Core : Do thou and thy congregation stand apart before the Lord to morrow, and Aaron apart.
Numbers:16:17 Take every one of you censers, and put incense upon them, offering to the Lord two hundred and fifty censers : let Aaron also hold his censer.
Numbers:16:18 When they had done this, Moses and Aaron standing,
Numbers:16:19 And had drawn up all the multitude against them to the door of the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord appeared to them all.
Numbers:16:20 And the Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron, said :
Numbers:16:21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may presently destroy them.
Numbers:16:22 They fell flat on their face, and said : O most mighty, the God of the spirits of all flesh, for one man's sin shall thy wrath rage against all ?
Numbers:16:23 And the Lord said to Moses :
Numbers:16:24 Command the whole people to separate themselves from the tents of Core and Dathan and Abiron.
Numbers:16:25 And Moses arose, and went to Dathan and Abiron : and the ancients of Israel following him,
Numbers:16:26 He said to the multitude : Depart from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins.
Numbers:16:27 And when they were departed from their tents round about, Dathan and Abiron coming out stood in the entry of their pavilions with their wives and children, and all the people.
Numbers:16:28 And Moses said : By this you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all things that you see, and that I have not forged them of my own head :
Numbers:16:29 If these men die the common death of men, and if they be visited with a plague, wherewith others also are wont to be visited, the Lord did not send me.
Numbers:16:30 But if the Lord do a new thing, and the earth opening her mouth swallow them down, and all things that belong to them, and they go down alive into hell, you shall know that they have blasphemed the Lord.
Numbers:16:31 And immediately as he had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet :
Numbers:16:32 And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance.
Numbers:16:33 And they went down alive into hell, the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people.
Numbers:16:34 But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing : saying : Lest perhaps the earth swallow us up also.
Numbers:16:35 And a fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.
Numbers:16:36 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying :
Numbers:16:37 Command Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers that lie in the burning, and to scatter the fire of one side and the other : because they are sanctified.
Numbers:16:38 In the deaths of the sinners : and let him beat them into plates, and fasten them to the altar, because incense hath been offered in them to the Lord, and they are sanctified, that the children of Israel may see them for a sign and a memorial.
When God enters into a Covenent He raises up leaders and has them appoint and anoint shepherds for His sheep. He doesn't have the sheep elect whichever sheep they like best as their shepherd, nor does He approve of sheep being a self-appointed shepherd to however many fellow sheep with itching ears follow the self-appointed head sheep of the Church of Itchy Eared Sheep.
Jesus Christ put the authority for selecting shepherds in the hands of the Apostles who have passed that authority down to us in an unbroken chain to this day. We are no more our own shepherds than ancient Israel that Scripture called a nation of priests was a nation without a priesthood.
And don't even try to pretend the New Testament changed that approach since Christ selecting Apostles who chose and appointed Bishops who in turn could ordain priests is an example of the fact that God is indeed the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, not an example of deviating from the will of Jesus Christ.
And contrary to what heretic propagandists dreamed up to rationalize their heresy may say, it was Peter, not Constantine, who established the hierarchy and roles within that hierarchy that the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church Jesus Christ Himself founded continues to this day.
I prefer to believe Scripture rather than excuses for following the heresy of Core.
We, as Catholics, are commissioned by Christ:
Matthew 28
18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."
If the catholic church was wrong for 2000 years that would leave you in a precarious situation. For 1500 years there was only the catholic church. The council’s, the Bible, the deposit of faith has been preserved for 2000 years by the catholic church which you claim is wrong.
Even Luther questioned himself asking if he made a mistake because now every milkmaid would be interpreting scripture to ones own purpose.
That’s what the fruit of the protestant revolt brought, everybody interpreting scripture to suit their own purposes. Today Christian’s believe in, and Christian churches are marrying sodomites. Abortion is accepted by people claiming to be Christian, including apostate catholics.
There is either one truth or there is no truth.