This is crazy talk. This is logic.
You presented a passage which does not talk directly about those in ministry, In an effort to spare the repetition of listing them, I gave you four sources that referenced not only several of your objections, but covered pretty much all of the bases when it comes to married clergy.
We can't interpret the Bible using ONLY our own consciences, we must have an external source that confirms the Truth. Why?
I answered this. This was the entire point of my comment. I hope you didn't skip to the end...that's not cool..but whatever.
The Bible cannot affirm it's own truth, an external source needs to do that. It would be like a piece of paper reading "This paper is true because this paper says it is true." It's circular reasoning and a logical fallacy. The source that affirmed the Bible's Truth was the Catholic Church in the 4th Century at the Councils of Laodicea, Hippo, and Carthage.
deliberately ignoring a good number of passages that explicitly refer to the topic in exchange for plumping one passage which has a general application
The Protestant Tradition frequently ignores John 6:51-58 (A blatant depiction of the Eucharist), John 20:23 (confession) and James 2:24 (rejecting Sola Fide, a pillar of the Reformation.) You can't pretend to interpret scripture without blemish and claim that that ability cannot belong to the Church
Anyone can misinterpret the Word and morph it to their own agenda. It becomes harder to keep that interpretation when a second person comes along to check your interpretation. It becomes nearly impossible when millions of people check your interpretation over the course of 1700 years, and it becomes actually impossible when you add the divine guidance and authority given to the Church by God. The same authority that allowed the Church to compile the bible in the first place.
The Holy Spirit that allowed the fallible writers of the bible to write infallibly allows the Church to do the same.
Well, I can tell you I am certain that this is the Biblical position, You assert this without claiming any divine knowledge of the truth; simply that you were 'lead by the holy spirit.' The same Holy Spirit that I claim to be leading me.
The Catholic church has little credibility. Compared to the vast ocean that is the Church's credibility, yours, sir, is a hydrogen molecule. Even if you are 40 you probably have 30 years of 'training' in the bible learning only what you want or what you happened to pick up, interpreting it your way while juggling the chaos that is life in the 21st century. Compared to the TWO THOUSAND YEARS of non-stop praying and discerning of millions of clergy guided by the Holy Spirit, your experience is nothing.
the first Pope being married I don't know if I forgot to mention this, but I know Peter was married. I know. I know. However, the priesthood is the emulation of the unmarried Jesus and not Peter.
The priesthood continues because the Church is responsible for continuing Christ's mission on Earth, and we need people dedicated to that. Christ's mission didn't end with His Ascension and He certainly didn't leave us without a blueprint.