R
Randy_Carson
Guest
I don’t think I used the word “attacked” did I? “Swarmed” means “overwhelmed” by a large number of opposing posters.You guys travel in a pack, and I could name everyone of you without stopping to scroll through the thread to write your names down. So, when one Catholic is being barraged with post after post, I could relate having been through it often over the past few months. It’s not a criticism of you personally, btw - it’s just a phenomenon of forums like this. It happens to Protestants all the time in the apologetics forum, so I know what it’s like to be on the swarming side, too.Swarmed? livingwordunity was not being swarmed, his/her polemical statements were being answered by various Eastern Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox. Rebuttals are hardly “an attack.”
Yes, but this is what I see as the problem: not all quoting of scripture (or the Fathers) is proof-texting. A verse or passage can be quoted as legitimate evidence in support of a claim. Therefore, when a text is cited by a Catholic, almost without exception, the Orthodox response is to cry, “Proof-text! Proof-text!” and ignore the matter from that point forward. When I see Protestants proof-text, I quote the larger passage to them and demonstrate THOROUGHLY why their proof-text fails. But no one does that with the Fathers that I or livingwordunity or LionHeart77 or many others have quoted over the past few months.Argue from Scripture? Again, we don’t read the Scriptures that way. EVERYTHING is taken in context, and the whole is considered. The Liturgy, Hymnology, Scripture, Prayers, The Lives of the Saints…it is all interwoven. Proof Texting is foreign to Orthodox praxis, although you see some Orthodox polemicists attempt to do it (a sad development).
Ironically, Protestants ARE guilty of proof-texting from the Fathers when they try to rip a passage out of context that makes the Father sound as if he is supporting sola scriptura or some other novelty from the Reformation. We can both agree that WOULD be an example of proof-texting since the Fathers are thoroughly Catholic/Orthodox.
But hey, if you Eastern guys are so sharp with regard to these Fathers that we are mis-quoting, why don’t you PROVE that we are proof-texting by quoting the passage in proper context and breaking it down for us? THAT would shut us up once and for all, wouldn’t it? But no one does that, and the reason is pretty obvious: because we are not proof-texting, and the Fathers really are saying what Catholics hold them to be saying. Now, to be fair, it would be silly for me to claim that Catholics NEVER mis-use a quote; there could be SOME proof-texts mixed into the whole. But it’s just as silly to claim that EVERY quote by a Catholic is a proof-text. To do so is simply an excuse to avoid the quote in question. And that is what I see happening again and again. No analysis of the quotes, just the charge of "proof-text’ to end the discussion that is about to go very badly for the one making the charge.
Okay, you’ve made an assertion. Now, prove it.From our POV, The Papal Claims are propped up by a handful of Bible quotes taken out of context.
Come on over to the apologetics forum and demonstrate to hundreds of amateur Catholic apologists who are active there how ignorant we are about these “handful of Bible quotes.” We need to be educated about the truth, don’t we? Let’s end the Great Schism once and for all by examining those verses IN CONTEXT and silencing all Catholic argument forever. You’ll get lots of help from the Anglicans, Baptists, Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Episcopalians (I’m going alphabetically), etc. who are eager to take down the faith that you and I largely share because they dislike the papacy just as much as you do.
Heck, start a new thread in this forum, I don’t care. No canons, no councils…just the Word of God and your resolution: “Catholics are propping up the papacy with a handful of Bible quotes taken out of context.” You will argue the affirmative, of course.
Sounds like a hoot. Waddya say? :bounce: