NOM

Pardon me Bishop, I have a small grudge
When did Christ die, and leave you my judge?
I understood that He must atone
That He was my advocate, and He alone.

Who appointed you to be our confessor,
To give absolution to the wayward transgressor?
Why do you decide when repentance is done,
When the course of penitence is sufficiently run?

Who are you to guide God’s child,
And decide when with the father they are reconciled?
Who are you to hear all their sin,
Your impertinence leaves me completely chagrined!

Do you believe you are better than these?
I struggle to believe this leaves Jesus well pleased.
So how did you become so overbold
As to presume to tell me to do what I’m told?

Perhaps you are lost, you were following a man:
A president? A prophet? A charlatan?
Of false leaders and men, Christ himself rightly warned,
Only He, Himself could be so adorned.

He is my prophet, my priest, and my king!
It is His name only, His praises I sing.
So Bishop, I understand that you have been given a role
But only Christ, is my redeemer of soul.

Do not be so brazen as to act in His place
It is prideful, shameful, an utter disgrace.
Walk with your members, follow Christs guide
Not in the front, but right by their side.

-lost

I feel similarly. As I continue to age, I continue to be increasingly put off by people telling me what to do.

I feel similarly. As I continue to age, I continue to be increasingly put off by people telling me what to do.

Well put, lost. In the Old Testament the judges were leaders, prophets- and a prophetess- who inspired the people; Gideon, Deborah, Sampson. When did the "bishop as a judge" idea start? Hmm...