What is "The Authority Bomb?"

A couple years ago a friend asked me a question about the structure of the Catholic Church.  It went something like this:

Why do you need to listen to bishops and the pope?  Why can’t you just use the Scriptures to have an unmediated personal relationship with God?

Did the Early Church Have a Pope - Part I - The Keybearer

In my previous note series I tried to show how the early Christian church was structured.  It began with Jesus ordaining the Apostles to teach and govern the Church in His name.  These Apostles then passed their doctrine and authority on to successors, called the “bishops”.  And on it goes.

But if this is all there was, I would argue it would still be an incomplete system for delivering of Christian unity and truth. 

What happens when these bishops come to a protracted disagreement over something they all feel is important to the faith?  What happens when factions grow within that college of bishops?

In order to preserve unity AND truth, what is need is a final decision-maker who serves as a living standard-bearer. 

How Was The Early Church Structured? - Part II

Last time I began by asking two questions.
 
1) What means did Jesus establish for the conveyance of the Christian faith? 
2) How was the early Church organized and governed?

I started with some Biblical evidence, but conceded I could have been twisting things out of context.  So today we look at testimonies from the people who were there.

How Was The Early Church Structured? - Part I

Today I wanted to continue looking at various aspects of the early Christian Church.  Specifically, let’s examine two interrelated questions: 

1) What means did Jesus establish for the conveyance of the Christian faith? 

2) How was the early Church structured?

We’ll begin by looking at the Biblical data.