The Amputated Member

The Amputated Member...

Attention all non-Catholics who "claim" to follow the teaching of Holy Scripture!
Have you ever read 1Corinthians 12:1-31 before?
Have you understood the message written therein?

(1) "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed.
(2) You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have been moved.
(3) Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!"
and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
(4) Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
(5) and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
(6) and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.
(7) To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
(8) To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom,
and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
(9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
(10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
(11) All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
(12) For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
(13) For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
(14) For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
(15) If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
(16) And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
(17) If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
(18) But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
(19) If all were a single organ, where would the body be?
(20) As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
(21) The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
(22) On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable,
(23) and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
(24) which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part,
(25) that there be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
(26) If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
(27) Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
(28) And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.
(29) Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
(30) Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
(31) But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way."
1Corinthians 12:1-31

"...and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all."
Ephesians 1:22-23

Elucidation:

1. There is but one Body of Christ (vs 12).
2. The Body of Christ is the Church which He founded, Ephesians 1:22-23
3. Therefore the Church which Jesus Christ founded IS Christ.
4. Therefore those who reject His Church, reject Him. Matthew 12:30
5. Since there is but one Christ with one Body, so there must be but one Church. Psalms 127:1, Matthew 16:18
6. The Body (Church) consists of not one member, but many (vs 14).
7. The many members of the one (Church) Body are all part of the same Body but each with his own function (vs's 15-20).
8. The Body of Christ cannot be separated from His Head.
9. Since the Body consists of members, individual members of the Body can be separated from the Head.
10. GOD has said that there must be no discord within the Body (vs 25).
11. However, there was great discord within the one Body, and it was a clear violation of verse 25.
12. It is called the Protestant Revolt.
13. Leaders and members of the Protestant Revolt Amputated themselves from the one Body (Church) (vs 21).
14. Each member of the Body has his own function, by analogy, an eye, ear, hand, foot (vs's 15-18).
15. Can a hand live by itself, disconnected (Amputated) from the Body, or can an eye, an ear, or a foot?
16. What happens to a member which is Amputated from the Body?
17. The soul does not go with the Amputated member, and thus the member dies.

"For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." Romans 12:4-5
These verses clearly do not leave room for Amputated members.

"Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." 1Corinthians 10:17
Show me where Amputated members partake of the "one bread"?

Here is a very interesting observation from Saint Augustine (354-430)...

"What the soul is to man's body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church. The Holy Spirit does in the whole Church what the soul does in all members of one body. But see what you must beware of, see what you must take note of, see what you must fear. It happens that in the human body, or rather, off the body, some member, whether hand, finger, or foot, may be cut away. And if a member be cut off, does the soul go with it? When the member was in the body, it lived; and off, its life is lost. So too, a Christian man is Catholic while he lives in the body; cut off, he is made a heretic; the Spirit does not follow an amputated member."
Sermons, 267, 4, 391-430 A.D.

Elucidation:

1. The Holy Spirit is the Soul of the Body of Christ which is the one Church.
2. The Holy Spirit does in the whole Church what the soul does in all members of the one Body.
3. When a member of the Body is Amputated, the soul does not go with it*, and thus the member dies.
4. The Amputated member, when cut off from the Body of Christ, is made a heretic.
5. The Holy Spirit does not follow an Amputated member (heretic).
6. Therefore the Holy Spirit, not following an Amputated member, is only guiding the one Church which Jesus Christ founded.

*Unlike the body which has many parts and can be divided, the soul has no parts and thus cannot be divided.

Now for all of those who think that all they need is a one on one relationship with Jesus Christ, the Head of His Church, and have Amputated themselves from His Body, they had better heed the teaching of Holy Scripture, as shown very clearly above. A hand detached from the body has no life and cannot exist for very long on its own. How could a hand alone, divorced from the body, be in any way attached to the head? Nowhere in Scripture is it said that parts of the one Body may separate themselves into individual Amputated members.
However, Holy Scripture clearly does say that unfruitful members can be Amputated by GOD.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned."
John 15:1-6
Clearly, those who have Amputated themselves from the Body, are not bearing fruit for the Head or the Body.
"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters", is what the Head has said, Matthew 12:30
With more than 35,000 Protestant sects in the world today, are those who are doing the scattering bearing fruit for the Vine?
Are they still attached to the one Vine? Aren't they the dissenters and dividers spoken of in 1Corinthians 1:10 and 11:18-19?
Aren't they the ones who violated Hebrews 13:17?
"Obey your prelates and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render an account of your souls: that they may do this with joy and not with grief. For this is not expedient for you."
Haven't they illegally Amputated themselves from the vine, or have they been Amputated by the vinedresser?

To the contrary, the Body of Christ is commanded by GOD to be one...
Jesus said, "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." John 17:20-21

"May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 15: 5-6

"I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment." 1Corinthians 1:10
For, in the first place, when you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized." 1Corinthians 11:18-19
All who are not joined to the one Body and one Church of Jesus Christ are in violation of those verses, and of others .
United in the same mind? United in the same judgment? No dissensions? No divisions? No factions?
You certainly cannot say any of these things about Protestantism with its 35,000+ denominations can you?
It is interesting that there must be factions (Amputated members) so that the true members of the Body of Christ are made manifest.
Those who have the truth shine like beacons

among the heretical Amputated members.
They are those who fit this verse, "You are the light

of the world", Matthew 5:14

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel," Philippians 1:27

In verse after verse in the New Testament, it is stressed that it is only the one true Church:
1. Which has the final authority on earth, and not any other outside of it, Isaiah 22:21,
Matthew 9:8, 18:15-18, Luke 10:19, John 20:21-23
2. Which is the Pillar and Foundation of Truth, and none other, 1Timothy 3:15
3. Which alone is guided by the Holy Spirit, John 14:15-17, 16:12-16, Acts 15:28

"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." Matthew 12:30
What with the undeniable evidence of 35,000+ Protestant sects* in the world today, just who is doing the scattering?
*World Christianity Encyclopedia, a Protestant publication.