I used to think the same thing about Paul. It took a few years of pretty diligent study to finally understand what he was talking about.
Also, I don’t think that the church ever had anything to do with Paul or the apostles. It was a hybrid of pantheism and the grass roots movement that followed Christ, but only in that it used biblical names to distort their polytheism so that more people would accept it. Jesus never bestowed his power to Peter and their church wasn’t a brick and mortar type establishment; that’s what the Jews had made, and corrupted. God is the creator of all, Jesus is the King of kings, and guys like Peter and the apostles were given the gift of the Holy Spirit to expel demons and preach the good news about the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It would make no sense that Jesus appointed Peter as in a hierarchal type system that the church has always been; he wanted a congregation of priests, which would be equal. The church is a top down control structure that changes dates and times of God, and exalts themselves above the word of God.
So what religious belief do you stick to? Catholicism is essentially masked paganism. Protestants are wrapped around the gospel of Paul. Neither seems to directly serve/worship Christ despite their differences. And then there are dozens of offshoots in between. It's a genuine question, I'm not bashing your religion. I'm not an atheist, I do "feel" like there is a higher power, but at the same time my established ancestoral belief in Odin seems just as credible as Christianity. or Buddhism.
I just read and follow the Bible. The Protestants were right for leaving the Catholic Church; but kept basically all their corrupt traditions like Sunday worship, Easter, Christmas etc. as well as making up things like going to heaven or hell as soon as you die, or a pre tribulation rapture etc.
Catholicism definitely worships the old pagan gods and holds their own traditions above the word of God. Protestantism twists the scriptures, especially Paul, to give a prosperity doctrine that is scripturally baseless. They’ve essentially created a Jesus force field that allows them to live like the pagans without worry of consequence.
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