Dong, all these quoted statements never point to the biblical basis for roman catholic priestly celibacy. These are all interpretations and per se never contain any direct biblical citation that Jesus indeed willed that the ministers of His church should be unmarried. Precisely, the whole context of Matthew 19:10-13 was on Jesus' exhortations on marriage. It was not a text focused on celibacy. The mention of celibacy was just corollary to the whole theme of the sanctity of marriage hence issue on priestly celibacy could not be deduced from such text. Remember that our topic here is biblical foundation of priestly celibacy not how the church interprets it. I was asking for a direct, obvious, clear mandate from our Lord that...His ministers should be unmarried. We'll just be going around in circles because, in reality, no such text exists!
Don't get me wrong, dong. I believe and I adhere to the sanction of priestly celibacy. "To be able to serve the Lord with an undivided heart". This is what celibacy is all about. But whatever merit or credit this principle contains, we can never pick out a biblical passage that commands priestly celibacy. That just proves another fundamental truth about our faith dong. We don't rely only on Sacred Scripture. We have our Sacred Tradition...
Both go hand in hand and are inseparable. Where sacred scripture is found wanting, sacred tradition completes. One thing our protestant brothers would find very difficult to understand. As to the issue at hand, foundations for priestly celibacy fall under Sacred Tradition and not on Sacred Scripture. Be it so, it is still equally valid and all-out divinely willed truth as much as sacred scripture is.
I rest my case...
This is impressive, 'leth.
May I add that some of the Apostles were themselves married. Peter for one.
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