reply to post by badmedia
What is with all these people lately that have such a problem with Paul???!!
I figure you must be reading something from the gnostic gospels or something, I'd like to know what it is so I can read it for myself.
BUT anyway, you have taken what he said out of context, and misinterpreted it.
He is not stating he is god, he is stating that no one should favor one teacher of Jesus Christ's gospel over another, the whole thing starts in
Corinthians Chapter 3 where he states:
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet
ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are
you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his
task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who
makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are
God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he
builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation
using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be
revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is
burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
Then in Chapter 4, which you quoted, he is talking about the fact that he is teaching them the things he learned from Jesus Christ, that he thinks of
them as sons, and that they should regard him as a father, to learn from him, the way sons learn from their fathers.
It's obvious if you actually read Corinthians, that Paul is explaining and giving the answers to some questions that have arisen, such as, he is
explaining that no one should be saying that Paul was better than Apollos, because they were both trying to do the same thing. An example is Paul
saying he laid the foundation (which came from Jesus), and others were building on it.......but regardless of what each did, they were building upon
what Jesus gave us, from God, as God is the ultimate builder, or the Architect, if you will.
As far as the Catholic church goes, I can say, as a former Catholic, that in my opinion, the Catholic church has gone very far from the original
gospels of the New Testament.
The pope basically claims to be God by saying he is infallible, and church documents say anyone who doesn't believe this, is "anathema" which means
cursed.
Documents within the church say that anyone who believes that Jesus is the only mediator between man and God, are "anathema" which means cursed.
But, JESUS DOES SAY that HE is the only mediator between man and God.
That means using a priest to confess your sins to, is not a Biblical practice.
Jesus says, call no man Father (except your own parent which is stated in the commandments to honor your father and mother, and other places in the
Bible) because we have one Father, our Father in heaven.
Paul says the leadership of the followers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, should consist of apostles, deacons, teachers, administrators, with every
member of the church being a valued member, that the leaders act more like servants than leaders, and that the leaders if they so wish, be married to
one wife, acting godly, and their family members should reflect the fact that the head of the family is a godly man that follows the gospel.
One of the greatest reasons I can't be a Catholic any more, though, is the disturbing way the Catholic church is using Mary to replace Jesus as the
means of our salvation by His death on the cross.
The church has basically come close to calling Mary the co-mediator, and co-redemptress with Jesus in recent years, also calling her "Queen of
Heaven" which in the Old Testament God strictly forbids and punished the Israelites for making cakes for and worshiping the queen of heaven.
The Bible says Jesus said the following about Mary:
"And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare
thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea RATHER, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." -Luke 11:27-28
Mary herself even said:
"His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever HE SAITH unto you, do it." -John 2:5
[edit on 10-3-2009 by sezsue]
) might be able to shed light on the origins of theses said "crimes"
and therefore put them to rest. 
