God designed one family for Himself when He created Man. The Creator's design is timeless as the LORD is timeless and does not design something to be redesigned at a later time. After the fall of man, sin entered the world and separated us from the LORD. However, those who abide by the Creator's design by the time of their earthly death, continue to remain part of the Creator's one family design and they are distinguishable from those who reject the Creator's design. We notice in reading the Sacred Scripture that those who disobeyed the Creator's design of the one family were ousted from the one family if they didn’t repent. Those ousted from the one family are traitors and are disloyal. Although subsequent generations may not be aware that their ancestors rejected the one family of the Creator, nevertheless, they could suffer the fate of their ancestors. The reason is that as one family, most of what shapes one's thoughts, belief, and actions is learned from the parents and society close to the parents.
However, even the one family of God had disloyalty issues with the LORD. The Creator sent the one family His own Son to die and rise to return us to the Creator's design of one family. The salvation plan gathers the one family of the LORD. However, the one family of God rejected the Son by choosing the outsider, unfaithful Caesar, as their King. They rejected the Son of God as the True King shouting, “So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15). This is gross disloyalty and treachery against the one family. Thus, the one family design moved to the Christians who were armed with Christ to combat sin as never before. This one family design is timeless and cannot be negotiated because it is the LORD's desire to sacrifice His own Son to uphold His timeless design.
Thus, when we approach the Creator’s one family design, we should realize its utmost seriousness. Therefore, we should honor the Creator's one family design and remain loyal to her all the days of our lives and we should seek remedy as soon as we drift away from her. Christ made this one family design unified in a marital covenant. Thus, the result is that we no longer hope in vain to unite, but actually possess the means to achieve it. The one family design is a marital vow between Christ the groom and all of the one family blended together to form the full stature of the Bride of Christ. This one family becomes the Church and the Body of Christ and Christ becomes the Head and Groom. Thus the marital vow is, as the LORD designed, “and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2: 24). Each person who remains loyal in mind, heart, and will to the one family design becomes a child of God and a brother of Christ. Collectively each person who is loyal in mind and heart and will to the one family becomes part of the Spouse of Christ. This will of the LORD is praised and called by the one family to become, “Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 5:10). Thus, all the one family of God is united with the same will, mind, and heart as the LORD's. The reflection of this kingdom on earth is illustrated physically in Peter and his successors who stand as the Groom for the Spiritual Christ and is illustrated by all the children together who unite in mind, and heart, and will to stand as the Church – the actual Bride of Christ. Recall that the design is for the man and woman, “the two becomes One Flesh.” (Genesis 2: 24). Furthermore, Christ prayed to the Apostles, “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” (John 17: 20-21).
A marriage is not committing thoughts and heart to someone seen in a magazine. That is not called a marriage even when the love and feeling for the other is so intense. Christ left us Peter’s successor, the Pope, to stand for the invisible Christ to unite to us in visible marriage. Therefore, just as the marriage vow has outward celebration and written vows, likewise, our vow to become Roman Catholic in Baptism and confession is our outward physical sign of our vow to Christ. In a marriage the spouses wear rings to proudly testify of the marital vow. Likewise, we may wear a cross and confess that we are Roman Catholic as some external signs of our marital vow. But, we know that external signs are not sufficient for a committed marriage; likewise, our marriage requires us to surrender totally in heart, mind, and will to our invisible Christ by our love and commitment to the visible in-persona-Christi the Pope, the visible of Christ. As you notice, any argument that claims that any denominations are as good or that claims that one does not need the Pope to be loyal to Christ, is insufficient. These arguments resemble saying that one has great love for the person he or she is dating, but that he or she is unwilling to commit to the marital vow or unwilling to be loyal or one in heart, mind, and will with the spouse. Furthermore, the Creator's design is to form a one family inseparably bonded in the same manner as a marital bond; thus there must be a visible one father of the family who is also the visible one groom. Additionally, as in any marriage, loyalty is important and that necessitates obedience of the bride to the groom which means you or I must be obedient to the Pope. St. Paul explained this hierarchical marital obedience to the husband, stating,
Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5: 22-24).
Peter teaches the same obligation of the wives to submit to their husbands as a sign of hope in the LORD and called such wives “Holy Women,” “For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children.” (1 Peter 3: 5-6).
Divorce, separation, and betrayal are awful and hurtful. In the Creator's design divorce and separation mean refusing to obey the visible Christ in the Pope or refusing to become loyal to the teaching of the Catholic Church. Regardless of how sincere a separated spouse claims to be for the separated husband, it is a betrayal of the marital vow; likewise, separating from the Catholic Church is a betrayal and a separation from Christ.
A separate denomination, even one that keeps all the teaching of the one family (the Roman Catholic Church) except rejection of the authority of the Pope, forms a spouse or even part of the same spouse, but lacks the one visible husband, the Pope. And that missing element will make the marriage of forming one flesh lacking and will result in a betrayal of the marital vow as the Creator designed it. Spouses who are faithful Christians marry to live together, be loyal to one another, and grow together until death do us apart. Likewise, the marital vow to Christ must be visible loyal loving with submission to the one visible groom in the Pope. Although the Pope’s teachings may appear hard on us, realizing the countless Popes who willingly shed their lives for the Church in imitation of Christ, assures us of their unconditional love for us.
Peter was married, and to me that communicates the visible design of one marital family that Christ is expressing as the design of the Church. What Christ asked of Peter is to become a visible groom; therefore, Peter left everything he had for he is now married to all the loyal believers of the Roman Catholic Church. Once the Church clearly understood the Creator's design, popes were celibate and so were priests who stand for the Bishops who stand for the Pope who stands for the visible Groom Christ. Therefore, every time we attend Holy Mass and receive the Holy Eucharist, we renew our marital vow, standing as brides united together to reach full status. In Heaven, Christ is the Groom and the Virgin Mary who is, “Hail favored One!” stands on behalf of the Church as the full stature that all the faithful ultimately unite together to form, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4: 23). This growing to maturity in our faith is almost impossible to achieve while being disloyal to the visible groom in the Pope. We must listen to their teaching and the examples of the saints before us as each one has various talents, but all must be loyal and united to be considered a faithful, loyal, and holy spouse.