Catholic Religion?

Question

Where in the bible does it say that a man of God must be celibate to believe or teach the word of God to the world????? Please enlighten me........

Apparently it does matter, that it why so many priest are lead astray... I used to be Catholic and I see the misery that exsist among the priest. You know it is easy for a believer to say that you should not abuse drugs, but until u have been under the hold that drugs has can u become a person to tell others that drugs are bad. If u have never been married how can u tell someone what God expects of a marriage. If u have never been an alcoholic how can u truely sympathsize with alcoholics????? If u have never lived life as a sinner how can u lead others to Christ, ONLY Jesus had the capacity to know our hearts not man.....U have to live life to know life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can priest now that an argument can arouse over a simple thing like a toothbrush or what side of the bed is mine. Do they truely have bills pressing them; or kids yelling I can go on and on.... Thier life experiences are truely limited!!!!!!

Answer 1

It doesn't, they follow men not GOD.

Answer 2

The bible does NOT say that a man must be celibate to believe or teach the Word of god to the world. Nor does the Catholic Church say that. We have many lay-ministers and deacons who are married.

Currently the Vatican asks that men who become priests take a vow of celibacy so they can be 100% focussed on the work of the Church and not torn between the demands of a wife and kids and the demands of the parishioners. This is only a DISCIPLINE, it is not a DOCTRINE. In other words, it can change at any time, whenever it is determined that priests would not be in danger of burning out, emotional struggles, divorce, etc. if they had both a family and a parish to manage.

Priests are NOT led astray because they are celibate. They are led astray because they are sinners and they don't have enough support from other people to avoid sin. Nobody can do it alone -- the Bible says we are all supposed to shoulder one another's burdens and help each other avoid sin.

You say you used to be Catholic and you saw miserable priests. Well, I'm Catholic now and I see joyful priests. I also see miserable priests. And I used to be protestant and I worked for one of the 12 men who led a major evangelical denomination, and you know what? I watched HIM have a nervous breakdown and I watched his staff of 6 other pastors struggle with the needs of their family and the needs of the church. I was there when THREE, count 'em, THREE youth pastors in our town molested kids and got transferred to other states...and those guys were all married.

All this to say, NEITHER WAY is perfect.

You have some outlandish belief that a person has to use drugs in order to help somebody else stop using drugs. That's just ridiculous. Do you expect cops to be former criminals? Do you expect brain surgeons to all have experienced surgery on their own brains? Do you think the only good marriage counselors are the ones who have had marital trouble? Give me a break!

Celibate priests grow up in families. They have married parents, married siblings and married friends. They also receive a lot of education about marriage. They are just as qualified to help a married couple overcome any difficulty as any person -- married or not -- who has never had marriage troubles but have had the benefit of training and observation.

You also seem to think that priests aren't sinners, for some reason. Priests DO sin. They aren't perfect! They struggle with overcoming sin, same as anybody else, but more is expected of them so they have a longer list of sins to overcome. I greatly value the advice I've been given by priests since I became Catholic because it's very realistic. The current pastor of our parish converted to Catholicism at the age of 30 and didn't become a priest until he was 40 -- he had plenty of time to experience a "regular" life. I know another one who was a doctor for years before he became a priest. I know many priests who dated girls before they went to seminary, one who was even about to get engaged. Yes, they know what it's like to handle bills and family strife (from their own childhoods) and male/female misunderstandings and everything else.

You also seem to think that priests can know our hearts like Jesus does -- no, that's not true. They're just men. They can only know what we tell them.

Answer 3

Priests, religious brothers and religious sisters (nuns) as part of their vocation choose not to marry following:
+ The practice recommended in the Bible
+ The example of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Paul.

+++ Scripture +++

In Matthew 19:12, Jesus says, "Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it."

In Matthew 19:29, Jesus says, "And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life."

Matthew 22:30 - Jesus explains, "At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven."

In 1 Corinthians 7:1, Paul writes, "It is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman."

Then in 1 Corinthians 7:7, Paul says, "Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am."

In 1 Corinthians 7:27, Paul writes, "Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife."

In 1 Corinthians 7:32-33, Paul teaches, "I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife." And in verse 38, "So then, the one who marries his virgin does well; the one who does not marry her will do better."

Paul recommends celibacy for full time ministers in the Church so that they are able to focus entirely upon God and building up His kingdom. He “who refrains from marriage will do better.”

See also 1 Timothy 5:9-12, 2 Timothy 2:3-4, Revevation 14:4, Isaiah 56:3-7, and Jeremiah 16:1-4.

+++ Scriptural Examples +++

Biblical role models of a celibate clergy came from John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul.

John the Baptist and Jesus are both believed to have been celibate for their entire lives. Some scholars believe that the example of the Essenes influenced either or both Jesus and John the Baptist in their celibacy.

WWJD? What would Jesus do? Jesus did not marry.

The Apostle Paul is explicit about his celibacy (see 1 Cor. 7). There is also evidence in the gospel of Matthew for the practice of celibacy among at least some early Christians, in the famous passage about becoming “eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12).

The concept took many twists and turns over the years and will probably take a few more before Christ returns in glory.

A priest is "married" to the Church. Some people think that a priest who takes his duties seriously cannot take proper care of a wife and family.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

I am not familiar with all the "ins and outs" of the Bible. I do not believe the Bible explicitly states that one must be celibate to believe or teach the word of God to the world.

However, in order to be a good priest, and minister to one's congregation, Catholic priests remain celibate. This comes from a long tradition dating back to the Council of Trent in the 1500s. Part of the idea of celibacy is prevent corruption among the clergy. There were many problems with the Church, and this is one of the ways the hierarchy felt would be important in order to keep the teachings of the church in focus.

I know there is more to celibacy than what I have written. I have given a 'basic' background of why it is so.

Anyone- including women (imagine!) can preach the word of God. One does not have to be a celibate priest to do it. However, if one wants to minister many of the sacraments, one needs to be a priest.

Answer 5

They don't explicitly have to be and the Bible doesn't explicitly say they have to be. There have bee and still are Catholic priests that were once ministers in another religion and converted that are married.

Its a custom of the Church because it is very difficult for a man to give his all to both the Church and to a wife and family - one or the other winds up getting the short end of the stick. Therefore, to simplify things, priests aren't usually married and cannot become married(or remarry if their wife dies) after they become a priest.

Answer 6

“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation” 1st Peter 2:12-13

For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage Or have made themselves eunuchs because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it. ~Matthew 19:12

SImple fact all religions have what is termed as the "higher" way in which people take vows of celibacy to serve God. Christianity (Both Catholic and Orthodox), Buddhism (monks), Jews (Nazerenes), Islam (Sufis), HIndu (monks). Only the Protestants have ever truly denied celibacy and religious order as an option.

While I disagree with it being mandatory (but there are married Roman Catholic priests(and permanent deacons are married) there will always be some who chose that option.

Answer 7

What does it matter to you if the Roman Catholic Church requires its priest to be celibate...it has nothing to do with the Church not following the Bible. A deacon in the Catholic Church can preach and can be married. Also, a priest can be married if he becomes a Roman Catholic priest while married as a priest. It is a custom and has nothing to do with Catholic religious belief.

Answer 8

It's not Biblical and we Catholic church should allow marriage for priests.

It would prevent a lot of sexual abuses that's going on behind the alter. For centuries, sexual misconducts were going on behind the curtain for vast majority of clergymen in Catholic church and Catholic church has turn their blind eyes to them for centuries. Priests in midevil ages had bastard son and daughters from there housekeepers, servants and midwives.

Plus, the dimishing number of new priests is due to modern technology and fast moving information technology. Clergies cannot hide their shame as easily as they did in the 15th century. Perhaps it would do well for some discilpline of Catholic Priesthood be opened to marriage.

Furthermore, a celibacy is not Biblical at all. Paul said that it is good for men to be married but for himself if chose to be celibat. The celibacy was enforced during the early church to control the church's wealth. If bishops and priests, who were in possession of a lot of wealth, had heirs, the church would lose wealth due to inheiritance. They wanted to control this and mandated all clergies to be celibat so that vast wealth of the church remained with the church.

Answer 9

Not in the Bible. In fact, the Bible teaches the opposite.

1 Timothy 3:2
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach.

1 Timothy 3:12
Let deacons be the husbands of one wife...

Luke 1:5
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

Answer 10

It doesn't.
The apostle Paul did suggest that you could do more for god if you were single, but it was only his opinion and not a law. and he made this point very clear,
god invented marriage to populate the earth. Paul would have said nothing against this.

Answer 11

It doesn't. They might use 1 Corinthians Chapter 7 to back it up. But the only thing God says about celibacy, is it's for each individual to decide. It is appalling that the Church would deprive the men who do mass the beautiful gift of marriage.