BreadOfLife
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This is absolute Biblical and historical fairy tale.The elders of the local church have authority in matters of discipline.
When different local assemblies disagree- if they cannot work it out- they go their spearate ways hopefully as brethren with a disagreement.
The church has no central head. In the 1st Century James led the Jerusalem wing and Paul was the defacto head of teh gentile wing. But Paul taught men who appointed elders throughout the region, to run the local assemblies
The concept of a centralized authority did not begin until after Constantine legalized Christianity and the Bishop of rome became the first among equals later on.
In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas went to the APOSTLES to deal with the issue of the Judaizers. They didn't "handle" this on their own. This is a perfect example of how the Early church made sure that they were ALL on the same page doctrinally.
And remember what they wrote as their unified decision:
Acts 15:23-29
“The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled youd with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to US, having come to ONE ACCORD, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the SAME THINGS by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.
This is the very PICTURE of a centralized hierarchy within the Church.
Your nonsense about Constantine is the usual anti-Catholic manure that has ZERO basis in historical truth.