The Catholic Church vs. The Organization
A History Of Christianity, Paul Johnson, pages 59,60 (ISBN 0684815036)
Cyprian reasoned as follows. The Church was a divine institution; the Bride of Christ; Mother , the mediatrix of all salvation. It was one, undivided and catholic [universal]. Only in association with her could Catholics have life. Outside her holy fellowship there was nothing but error and darkness. The sacraments, Episcopal ordination, the confession of faith, even the Bible itself, lost their meaning if used outside the true Church . The Church was also a human, visible community, found only in organized form. The individual could not be saved by direct contact with God. The carefully graded hierarchy, without which the organized Church could not exist, was established by Christ and the apostles. . . .the only unambiguous instruction [the Scriptures] contained being to remain faithful to the Church and obey it’s rules. With Cyprian, then, the freedom preached by Paul and based on the power of Christian truth was removed from the ordinary members of the Church ; it was retained only by the bishops [overseers], through whom the Holy Spirit still worked, who were collectively delegated to represent the totality of church members.
Replacing “Church” with “Organization”, you get an idea of the similarities:
Cyprian reasoned as follows. The Organization was a divine institution; the Bride of Christ; Mother Organization , the mediatrix of all salvation. It was one, undivided and catholic [universal]. Only in association with her could Catholics have life. Outside her holy fellowship there was nothing but error and darkness. The sacraments, Episcopal ordination, the confession of faith, even the Bible itself, lost their meaning if used outside the true Organization . The Organization was also a human, visible community, found only in organized form. The individual could not be saved by direct contact with God. The carefully graded hierarchy, without which the organized Organization could not exist, was established by Christ and the apostles. . . .the only unambiguous instruction [the Scriptures] contained being to remain faithful to the Organization and obey it’s rules. With Cyprian, then, the freedom preached by Paul and based on the power of Christian truth was removed from the ordinary members of the Organization ; it was retained only by the bishops [overseers], through whom the Holy Spirit still worked, who were collectively delegated to represent the totality of Organization members.
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*** Watchtower 1981 February 15 p.19 Do We Need Help to Understand the Bible? ***
Do We Need Help to Understand the Bible?
OUR VIEW OF THE "SLAVE"
"No question about it. We all need help to understand the Bible, and we cannot find the Scriptural guidance we need outside the "faithful and discreet slave" organization." -ithinkisee
