To Randy:
My complaint was not your content.
My complaint was a remark that was entirely uncharacteristic of you, in that it seemed unloving.
And this is uncharacteristic because I respected your posts very highly in the thread on authority.
And the reason I have not really replied to it is because I don’t know what to do with it.
The quotes will not work, as nice as they are. For I have seen just as many quotes for both sides, and both sides explain the quotes away in different ways. I need more context.
To another:
It is not wrong for the Orthodox to accept IC dogma (how could it be? the first seven councils, the Gospels, and Church Tradition have not blatantly spoken against it). But, as the Orthodox would assert, it is wrong to accept IC as dogma.
To all:
I believe in the primacy of Rome, but that this primacy is one of the first among equals; as has been said, the servant of servants. In my heart of hearts, I cannot reconcile this with the magisterial teaching about the magisterial teaching of the Church. And it cannot be clear, because if it were so clear from the Church Fathers, so clear that no one would deny it, there would be no need to address it in a council.
That certainly doesn’t make the papal claim wrong. It just makes it harder to determine what is right or wrong.
So I am going to read the Church Fathers in context. I am going to find out how to get a hold of the original documents, and I am going to devour the Fathers.
And I am also going to carefully read through this thread.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for taking me seriously, and for your many loving and very intelligent and knowledgeable responses.
I am now on a Christmas holiday, with my family, and so will not be messaging here until the fifth of January.
If something strikes you as urgent to tell me, PM me, and I will try to get back to you.
God bless and Merry Christmas!