In your response to a question about calling clergy “father”, you once again led the reader to accept your personal, fallible interpretation of Scripture. Unless you are claiming your interpretations are infallible?  Why not give your reader a more complete picture of what Scripture has to say on this subject?  Why not point out that Jesus Himself used the term “father” in a spiritual sense?  Unless you are saying that the rich man was Abraham’s physical (biological) son (Lk 16:24-25)?

Why does Paul refer to christians in Corinth as his children? Are they all his biological children (1 Cor 4:14-15)?

What about the apostle John? Are they all his biological children (1 Jn 2:1)?  What about the Old Testament?  Joseph tells his brothers, “So it was not you who sent me here, but God, and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt” in Genesis 45:8.  Job has a similar statement, “I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know” (Job 29:16).

I think you guys know better than that.  I think you know Jesus, John, and even Paul all used the term “father” in a spiritual sense.  Again, I find it interesting that you leave these verses out in order to “hit a home run” against a faith system you disagree with.  The Catholic Church is not, nor ever has been “wrong” concerning this issue.  How could they be?  If every christian is meant to search the Scriptures and determine doctrine based on the Scriptures, why are your interpretations correct and my interpretations incorrect?  I see the term “father” used in a spiritual sense all throughout the Bible.  Thus, if I am interpreting Scripture the same as you are, who are you to tell me I am wrong?  You even admit in a previous response to a question ("Trust No Man"): “We aren’t infallible here at AYP; we are just men.”  You might want to consider your previous statements before going and making an “infallible” proclamation concerning the practices of others.
Sincerely,
Swiss Guard

Dear Swiss Guard,

First off, we have dealt with the way that Peter, Jesus, and John used the term ‘father’ – feel free to read the post from January 13^th, 2011 entitled “Parental Paradox” for an explanation of all those verses that you say we leave out.  We’ve handled this concern before.  We don’t avoid verses – we just keep them in context… unlike the Catholic church.

As far as Lk 16:24-25, the rich man was a Jew, and he would have considered Abraham his biological ancestor – just like all the Jews did (Jhn 8:39).  And Job 29:16 is literally saying that Job treated the poor like they were his children.

Now lastly, let’s deal with the idea of interpretation.  The Bible tells us that it isn’t a matter of private interpretation (2 Pet 1:20).  What you think and what we think doesn’t matter at all – what matters is what God said.  That is why we always give lots of verses to back up our answers, so readers can check the Scriptures for themselves.  People are fallible, but the Bible never changes and we encourage people to double-check for themselves.  But that doesn’t mean that we can each believe whatever we want and all be okay – if that were the case, there would be no such thing as right and wrong at all!  Instead, God’s Word is right though every man be found a liar (Rom 3:4).  Just like a roadmap or an instruction manual – it says what it says... not what you want it to say.

In the end, Catholicism is a false religion because it isn’t built upon the Bible.  Any religion that doesn’t use the Bible as its standard of measure is false (Gal 1:8).  The Catholic church tells people that they can’t eat certain foods, and it tells their priests that they can’t marry – which is wrong (1 Tim 4:3).  The Catholic church teaches that the Pope is directly in contact with God and that people should follow him… once again, wrong.  Christ is our direct connection to God (Heb 1:1-4), and the Bible is what we should follow (2 Tim 3:16-17).  Everything about the Catholic church’s organization is in direct opposition to the Scriptures.  The question isn’t how old a church is; the question is whether or not Christ is its head (Eph 5:23).  There is only one pattern for the church (Eph 4:4-6), and the Catholic church is not it.  But, don’t take our word for it – take His.   SB