A Heart Like Magdalene

In part II of this series we will speak of what it means to have the Keys to the Kingdom as it is understood in Ancient Judaism. To say that Jesus is devaluing Peter flies within the face of the context. Jesus is positioning Peter as a type of chief steward under the King of Kings by awarding him the keys to the Kingdom. As it is seen in Isaiah 22:22, kings appointed a chief steward to serve under them in position of tremendous authority to rule over the citizens of their Kingdom. Jesus quotes almost verbatim from this passage in Isaiah, so it's clear what he has in mind. He's raising Peter up as a father figure to the household of faith (Isaiah 22:21), to guide them and guide the flock (John 21:15-17). This authority of the prime minister under the king was passed on from one man to a different man down through the ages by the giving of the keys, which were worn on the shoulder as an indication of authority. In the same way, the authority of Peter has been passed down for over...

For 20 years, I would have said to all Catholics, “If you're so smart and you know your Bible so well, why don't you show me the Pope in the Bible! Come on right here chapter and verse.” I would have said the word Pope is not there. There's no vatican and Cardinals and infallibility doctrines in the Bible. So why do you believe that when we have the Bible? Why do you let some dictator in Italy tell you what to do and believe?  I wasn't saying that to be facetious. I believe that I thought it was ridiculous. First of all there's a big problem with that because I assumed everything had to be found in the Bible. You're smarter than that. You know that that's not true at least explicitly stated. The first thing I ask people now is “where do you find in the Bible that I have to find everything in the Bible?” If everything has to be in the Bible then why don't you show me in the Bible where it says everything has to be found in the Bible because that's not...

Want to know more about what the Catholic Church actually teaches? Here are some of the sites and books that have helped me with my conversion back to the Church. When I started searching for ways to refute Catholic teachings, I wanted actual Catholic resources to grab a hold of and prove wrong. If you want to prove something is wrong, you always go to the source. It is the only way I could prove their beliefs and traditions were anti biblical. Here are some resources I found very useful and explain all Catholic teachings clearly: Online Resources My go to online resource for all Catholic questions is Catholic Answers . They have live Q&As on Facebook, YouTube and their app. Both Catholic and non Catholics can call in with their questions and Theologians answer them clearly and directly. www.catholic.com www.facebook.com/catholicanswers www.instagram.com/catholicanswers www.youtube.com/user/catholiccom United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has all the information on Belie...