Granting Roman Catholic Priests Immunity From the Law is Not Taught in the Bible

The Roman Catholic institution's history is one full of dirt. Roman Catholic priests may have the tendency to think that they are exempted from following secular laws especially if they're in a predominantly Roman Catholic country. Why do these priests think they have immunity? Here's some reasons that I think may explain why they believe that some may call as "priestly immunity". It's because they teach that they save the souls of people through the sacraments which they believe are Peter's keys. If you've got people believing that the priest is "another Christ" then you've got them afraid for their lives and that the priests may condemn certain people to Hell as they please.

But does the Bible really grant priestly immunity? Not if you continue reading through the Old Testament. Although both the Jewish Temple and the monarchy were to work side by side but it didn't mean that the priests had any immunity. One good example is the priest Abiathar. 1 Kings 2:22-26 declares that Solomon had to depose of Abiathar for supporting Adonijah's treasonous act. Before that, we should know about the House of Eli. Both Hophni and Phineas abused their authority as priests and sons of their father the high priest Eli. They had no immunity and it was God Himself that delivered judgment upon them (1 Samuel 2-4).

The idea that a Roman Catholic priest should be granted immunity from following laws is contrary to apostolic doctrine. To say that the Pope should be bowed down by kings is also contrary to Peter submitting to authority (1 Peter 2:13-25). Peter never declared any authority should bow down to him so why would his supposed successor claim otherwise? The Roman Catholic priests themselves if they claim to succeed the apostles instead teach others to rebel.

There's a difference between godly disobedience towards evil authorities and rebelling against government. Paul and Peter wrote their epistles during troublesome times. Rome was ruled by Nero and Jerusalem was under Roman rule. They was not one single epistle that encouraged people to overthrow the evil Nero. One could also consider Daniel and his three friends in Babylon. They disobeyed the king but they did not plan to overthrow the king. The only time overthrowing an evil authority was ever done was in Judges when God raised up judges to liberate Israel from illegitimate dictators. Most of the time, you are required to submit and to politely disobey authority when you're told to do something contrary to God's Word.

What the Roman Catholic institution has been doing has been meddling whenever it's convenient or a threat to their power. Right now, certain Roman Catholic organizations around the world move to get rid of death penalty not because they think it's wrong but because it could harm those sexually immoral priests. They are also going against the death penalty to hide the ugly truth of the Inquisition from the public or to prove they are sorry for the brutal past. Worse, they think that they have every right to meddle in politics and that politicians must follow their word as if it were God's Word. They think they could also influence judges to drop the charges against guilty priests who were caught in criminal acts. This is really nothing more than doing evil in the name of God.

See also: