How powerful is satans infulence?, and Church Fathers text

[Fatima-Crusader]

I was debating a fundamentalist and whenever I bring up the early church fathers he says A that they where proably corrupted or forged by Rome or B where written by satan himself. Is there anything I can bring up to refute him or should I just end the debate there?

 

[Camehome4john6]

he says A that they where proably corrupted or forged by Rome or B where written by satan himself.

Really, if his thinking is that weird I doubt he would listen to facts. Sometimes, and I say this as someone who spent 20 years doing the. Calvinist thing, I’m astounded at the mental gymnastics one has to go through to deny history and facts… like God intended for.all those poor Catholics to go to Hell for 1500 odd years before Luther and Calvin came along.

We’re I you, I’d tell him to do some research, walk away and keep him in your prayers.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I think “were written by Satan” is pretty much the equivalent of bringing up Hitler on the Internet and it’s time to walk away when somebody resorts to that. They have left the bounds of intelligent thought. Especially since their own Christian religion was part of the church originally built by the guy operating on documents allegedly “written by Satan” for well over 1500 years.

 

[Mary888]

Why would God allow these religious figures be interpreted by people smitten by the enemy? Why would He do that? I am not talking posessed people but high profile hierarchs whose images and words have lasted 1600 years +.
Why would He allow His church be led from its roots by people deceived? Were the Apostles deceived? The Prophets? Etc.
So the conclusion is we know nothing as of now because they may have been deceived. So we can pretty much say anything in Jesus’s name since nobody knows, right?
How does your friend just know he or she isn’t the one being deceived?

 

[po18guy]

Same contrived, survival-driven pseudo-argument used by Islam against both the bible as well as early Church writings. Tell him he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslims worldwide, then let him put that in his pipe and smoke it.*

*Figure of speech used by oldsters to indicate pondering information received.