You don't seem "mean spirited." You speak the truth. I know from experience because I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, but I left when I was a young man. I learned the truth in the word of God and never looked back. The Pharisees may have thought Christ was "mean spirited" when he condemned them for invalidating the word of God, but he simply spoke the truth. We are fortunate to now have the inspired written word of God for which the church has a history of torturing and killing people just for reading. The church has never wanted the common people to know the truth of scripture because it wants to control the access to God with its worldly power. We don't need the church. Christ is our mediator, and we are the ecclesia, the body of Christ. We are one in spirit with Christ and the Father. From the beginning it has always been the word of God that gives us knowledge of God. God is spirit, the imperceptible power of action, life, and intelligence. His only begotten son, the word become flesh, gave us the perfect example of how to live our lives. He died for all of us so we could be reconciled with the Father, and he was roused from the dead never to die again so we could all experience the same when our time comes. We are blessed to have the complete history of God dealing with humanity from the beginning written for us in scripture to give us light in this world of darkness. No institution or tradition of man can replace or supersede the word of God. I belong to no church or religious organization, but I study the word of God daily. The word of God inspires me and gives me peace in this troubled world. I joined this site a couple of days ago to communicate with fellow Christians even though I expected to be persecuted for my unorthodox beliefs. I'm not here to recruit anybody to my church, just to share God's love with my brothers and sisters. I've said I don't care about "sola scriptura" because that Latin phrase brings to my mind the Latin manuscripts which I've learned are an adulterated version by the Roman church. What I say is I believe scripture suffices when it is translated concordantly literally from the ancient Hebrew and Greek languages. In other words, the word of God is enough for me. I don't need any other middle man trying to get between me and God. I have a direct connect.
"For the word of God is living and operative, and keen above any two-edged sword, and penetrating up to the parting of soul and spirit, both of the articulations and marrow, and is a judge of the sentiments and thoughts of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)
"All scripture is inspired by God, and is beneficial for teaching, for exposure, for correction, for discipline in righteousness, that the man of God may be equipped, fitted out for every good act." (2 Timothy 3:16,17)
God bless you.
