Are these men popes who speak for the entire church at the time?
The pope does not only teach or speak on his own, but also in union with the college of bishops. The bishops themselves have an individual pastoral responsibilty to teach, but non-infallibly. The pope may eventually confirm and define with infallibilty reiterated teachings concerning faith and morals of preceding popes in union with the bishops of many generations.
huh? How would you define truth?
Truth is not something only explicitly contained in the Bible.
Nonsense. i know very well what it ism composed of etc.
What isn’t the Bible composed of? What you refuse to believe?
Do you claim that all the fathers said and taught everyting that was true and believed by the catholic church?
What the Fathers taught was certainly true and believed by the Catholic Church. Of course, there were heretics and a few members who had piously dissented from accepting every little detail when regarding true doctrines concerning the person of Christ. So much was still undefined in the first three centuries. We have no written records by any notable Church figure condemning Marian beliefs and devotions in the Church. We know for sure that Christians were already invoking the Blessed Virgin in prayer by 250 A.D., so the Christian community must have already believed in the Assumption. We do not pray to dead people, but to the saints who are alive in Heaven.
Does you church offically consider luther a heretic? If so, can you point me to the source in your church where this is stated?
The papal bull ‘Exsurge Domine’ of 1520 excommunicating Luther reflected the Psalm: “Rise, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered, for a wild boar is ravaging the vineyard of the Lord.”
I work very hard to understand the scriptures and listen to men that teach it in context. However, this thread is not about my being a heretic but about the claims your church makes about Mary. So far it has failed a number of tests for being true.
The Protestant reformers took much of the scriptures out of context when they presumed they could interpret the scriptures without apostolic authority. The Holy Spirit was not with them, since they radically differed on many key doctrinal points, i.e, justification by faith. Martin Luther clearly misunderstood Paul’s Letter to the Romans when he defined ‘sola fide’ according to his own fallible notions. Likewise, the pope, outside his official teaching office, and Catholic bishops and theologians are fallible in their private theological speculations.
The Catholic Church may have failed a number of tests -whatever theses tests are- but only by your erroneous criteria. Our standards for discerning the scriptures are correct with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Pax vobiscum
Good Fella