“Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Ron, you are looking at this verse and denying what any honest person would ever say about it. You see this and somehow come up with this idea that God was NOT giving them the power to forgive sins. That is nonsense.

You are twisting things to fit your pre existing notions–and it is not working. Why is it that every time we run into a Bible verse you have to explain it away? How come you have to explain away John 6, the entirety of James, Jesus’ exhortations to listen to the Apostles as if Himself, His pronouncement of Peter as the rock, the obvious Church hierarchy in Acts 15, etc. etc. etc…

Why? How come there are never any problematic verses for anyone’s beliefs but YOURS? Why don’t you start conforming your beliefs, instead of trying to interpret the Bible in such a way that you can maintain what you want to maintain.

The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth; the Bible never even claims to be sufficient for our salvation, much less provide us with a list of its books; for that matter many books never even claim to be inspired, and yet you act as if you have some authority to bellow and shout from on high?

Where is your authority, Ron? And why do twenty thousand protestant denominations disagree with you, while claiming to read the “plain wording of Scripture” just as you do?

You can try to twist such obvious verses as this until your eyes bulge out of their sockets, but in the end, you don’t even know why you attempt to interpret the Bible.

Why should I listen to you, Ron?