First, let's talk some more about Matthew 16:16, now that I am at a keyboard instead of a phone.
Your argument - the Catholic argument - is that Christ gave Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind on earth whatever, and declared him the rock upon which He built his church. If we stick with a strictly English reading that's an easy mistake to make. Christ used the word "Petros" (Strong's 4074) to rename Simon to Peter and the word "petra" (Strong's 4073) to describer the rock He was building His church on. Petros is a masculine noun meaning a small stone or pebble. Petra is a feminine noun that means large, massive rock such as a cliff face or boulder. When Christ said "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." He was not saying "Simon, I'm building my church on you." He was saying "Simon, you are a small stone, and upon this massive cliff of a mountain I will build my church." So what is the mountain? It is the confession of Christ as the Son of God that Simon made.
The confession of Christ is the rock upon which Christ builds His church. Peter is not the rock upon which Christ builds His church. Christ builds the church. Peter does not. Peter is not the rock. The confession of faith in Christ is the rock.
Now, 1 Timothy 3:15 is easier to dispense with. The church is not the pillar and base of truth. God is. This should be self-evident by simply comparing the actions of the Catholic and the words of the Pope to the Bible. See his support for same sex civil unions as an example. For more examples, see the matter of indulgences, the persecution of people who actually read the Bible and challenge the papal authority, etc.
With respect to papal authority, it is not biblically supportable. We are to have a direct and personal relationship with Christ. There is no earthly intermediary to whom we are to go through, nor are we to pray to angels or saints. We are to pray to God and Christ directly. See the Lord's Prayer as an example. See also John 14:21-23, there is no mention of an earthly intermediary. Your pope says otherwise in one of the links below. I don't know how a pope who supports same sex civil unions can act as an intermediary with God.
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/16.htm https://biblehub.com/greek/4073.htm https://biblehub.com/greek/4074.htm https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54627625 https://biblescienceforum.com/2017/07/18/pope-warns-against-direct-personal-relationship-with-jesus-christ/
Your exegesis is incorrect, and it's a personal interpretation, not everyone interprets things the same way as Protestants. What authority do you have to claim your interpretation is more correct than mine? I have 2000 years of saints behind me and the early Church fathers and history and apostolic succession. What do you have? 40,000 different Protestant sects (probably more now) who can't agree with each other, two of which are only 500 years old (Lutheranism, Anglicanism), the rest are much younger. Read the early Church father's interpretation of those two passages. Read any Saint's writings prior to the 1500's, and you'll see pretty quickly that the Church never interpreted those the way you're interpreting them. Why do you even believe the current canon of scripture is inspired? I'll tell you why, because you implicitly accept the Catholic Church's authority, we codified it, we put it together, otherwise you wouldn't believe scripture is inspired. Without authority, Christianity is meaningless.
https://www.scripturecatholic.com/qa-peter-rock/ https://www.scripturecatholic.com/the-primacy-of-peter/
Look, I've heard all these Protestant arguments before. I'm not even going to debate them with you because you can easily go find the Catholic position online if you were truly interested, which you aren't.
https://www.scripturecatholic.com/catholic-faith/
Every objection you bring up is answered there. Read each one with it's biblical defense and early church fathers defense if you like, there are thousands of citations going all the way back to the early Church. If you don't then you're not really interested in the truth, you're interested in being right.
It's clear you gave authority over your soul to an earthly organization. It is also clear you fight to bring others under rule of that organization. That your organization is false and acts contrary to scripture and even its own past teachings is of no mind to you. You have submitted to an earthly, human organization and not to Christ. I submit to Christ.
The best thing you could do for yourself is actually read the Bible. Read it from front to back. See what Christ had to say about religious authorities during His time in the flesh. Then ask yourself what your own church does that parallels the scribes and Pharisees.
>It's clear you gave authority over your soul to an earthly organization.
The Church which Christ established is the authority. "He who hears you hears me." "Upon this Rock Peter I will build my Church." "The Church is the pillar and bulwark of truth". Do you think the Church doesn't exist or something? It obviously does, you just don't like it.
It is also clear you fight to bring others under rule of that organization.
"I came not to bring peace, but the sword."
That your organization is false and acts contrary to scripture and even its own past teachings is of no mind to you.
Catholic teaching has never changed.
You have submitted to an earthly, human organization and not to Christ. I submit to Christ.
The Church is scriptural and the Church put scripture together. Read again. https://www.scripturecatholic.com/the-biblical-church/
I'm giving you plenty of resources of scriptural citations of my position.
The best thing you could do for yourself is actually read the Bible.
Best thing you could do is admit you have no authority to interpret the bible for yourself. We put it together, not you. We have the authority, not you. Christ gave the Catholic Church the authority, not you. Scripture didn't fall out of the sky.
Read the link https://www.scripturecatholic.com/the-biblical-church/ plenty of scripture there supports the true position, which is Catholic.
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