Thank you so much for that concession metis....but please let me make one thing very clear.....those who support an organization known for its corruption are just as complicit IMO.
Paul wrote at Romans 1:32...after mentioning the things that God detests.....
"Although these know full well the righteous decree of God, that those practicing such things are deserving of death, they not only keep on doing them but also consent with those practicing them."
Those who consent, even if they never do the bad things themselves, are as guilty as those who practice these things.
Have you ever asked why the church could ever have done what they did in the first place if they were following the example set by Jesus? Do you see that they created a false god with three heads who tortured people alive in flames forever. They were imitating the god that they themselves had created. They still promote that same god to this day.
The RCC is an old institution with an appalling record of cruelty and abuse over many centuries. The corrupt Catholic hierarchy were at the base of all of it, not only leading people down the wrong path spiritually by incorporating pagan dogma into "Catholic" belief, but demonstrating in a real way that they were never serving the one they claim to represent. Who could imagine Jesus ever being complicit in their activities?
You know what is wrong with that analogy metis? People can't help being black....but people can help being racist. Its all in the justification. What's the difference with someone saying "I hate JW's, but I don't have a problem with Deeje". It happens all the time. We get over it. (John 15:11-18) We can't be good individuals in a bad organization and still expect God's favor, especially when he has told us to remove ourselves completely from false worship. You can't do that unless you know what false worship is. Popular consensus has never been a good guide in this, as the first century Jews demonstrated. You can't mix true worship with false worship and expect God to accept it. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
In the matter of judging, Jesus was speaking about judging fellow believers on a personal level by assuming that because someone did not live up to a standard set by themselves, that a person was not "saved". The Pharisees did this. They incorporated so many 'hedges' around the Law that it ended up being a complete farce. Collecting a few seeds of grain whilst walking through a field on the Sabbath became "harvesting"...killing a flea became "hunting".....a speck in a chicken egg was "consuming blood". The letter of the law taken to a ridiculous degree, killed the spirit of it and completely negated why the law was given. (Matthew 23:23-24)
Because the religious leaders all held to the same standard, Jesus judged them collectively. That did not mean that individuals could not break rank and vote with their feet, leaving that corrupt system and throwing their lot in with a very unpopular minority in Jesus' day. The honest-hearted ones did....but they were "few".
Ask why they were few.
It is acting immorally NOT to expose the lies that were first introduced by Catholicism and carried on at the Reformation to Protestants. They did not 'protest' enough apparently. Now look at what "Christianity" has become...? A bigger farce than what Judaism became under the leadership of the Pharisees.
History is repeating....ask why?
The Bible says that the devil rules this world (1 John 5:19) He has three aspects to his power over humanity.....politics, commercialism and false religion. It is not difficult to see his stamp on all of them. I have faith in the scriptures, metis....not in those who think their words and actions are above them. Self-justification is as bad as self-righteousness. Being confident about your beliefs does not make you self-righteous....unless you think that Jesus and the apostles demonstrated that quality.....? Truth needs no apology.
It is not dishonest to tell the truth. When have I lied? What are these false narratives I have supposedly invented? History speaks louder than I ever could.
You can claim that I have not told the truth, but I don't see where you have ever refuted a thing I have said. Does the history of this "mother" church inspire you with confidence? The history of the Jewish religion under its corrupt leaders didn't inspire Jesus either. No one could cling to that religious system and remain in God's good books. No one can remain in "Babylon the great" and do so either. (Revelation 18:4-5)
You cannot separate the church from the people. The church IS the people. The leadership is what makes the difference and when the leaders are corrupt, the people follow. That is the entire history of Israel if you care to check.
In this "time of the end", according to scripture, God is having a warning sounded in all the earth. "Just like the days of Noah" Jesus said. Everyone has a choice to listen and respond to that warning or to do what the people in Noah's day did......nothing.
Jesus said....(Matthew 24:32-33; 37-39)
“Now learn this illustration from the fig tree: Just as soon as its young branch grows tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near.33 Likewise also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near at the doors.......For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be."
They took no notice of Noah's warning....why? Because they simply didn't believe that what he said was true....if no one took him seriously and chose to ridicule him, that just fostered their confidence in rejecting what he said as nonsense.....by the time it became apparent that he was right, it was too late. Why do you think Jesus said it would happen again....and for all the same reasons?
People's experiences with individual Witnesses are not necessarily indicative of the whole organization as you have said regarding Catholicism. Some have had very bad examples in people they know....that is unfortunate but nothing new. Humans are imperfect. When we understand that carrying God's name is a huge responsibility, none who bring reproach or who misrepresent God will go unpunished. Israel proved that. Following a bad lead never took anyone to a good place.
Everyone has choices metis....they just need to be informed choices.