My agreement is a moot point. What matters is what is passed down to us from the Apostles.
So, please post your experts that have studied the original sources. I am eager to explore them.
Here is a nice simple overview on the debate as it stands:
abu.nb.ca/courses/ntintro/1Tim.htm
This is nonsense, Mberg. Yes, all heresies use the Sacred Writings to bolster their errant views. However, heresy does not “corrupt” or “damage” orthodoxy.
There was no orthodox canon at the time of Marcion. By using only the Undisputed Letters of Paul as the core of his canon, Marcion was claiming that Paul did not support the Church as it was developing. When the Church created its own canon, Paul had been “damaged” because he was first presented in an anti-orthodox light. To remedy the problem the Pastorals could have been attributed to Paul because of their Pro-orthodox content.
It might be difficult for you to grasp this concept, since you don’t espouse the Christian view that the Scriptures are inspired of God. But Chrisians believe that the Word of God is immutable, which means it cannot be “damaged” by any kind of attacks in the universe.
This event happened before inspired scripture was officially defined.
Further, any heretic claiming writings are a “pure source” is questionable due to the origin of the claim.
Marcion was only a heretic from the stand point of the Church, of course he was not a heretic from his own perspective. He helped start the debate on what would be considered orthodox and what would be anathema.
And finally, Chiristians don’t accept the views of heretics as accurately representing the faith of Christ and emphatically deny that Paul is the “only pure source” of Jesus’ early teachings.
This it true but has nothing to do with whether Paul was the true author of the epistles
Why did Paul need to be “redeemed” if Marcion was claiming Paul was the ony pure source of Jesus’ teachings? What better “champion” would one require? Your logic does not make any sense.
Marcion claimed that Paul was on his side theologically. Much in the same way Paul was exploited in the Reformation. The Catholic Church needed to present Paul as a “Catholic” author, and the Pastorals secured that claim of Paul as Catholic.
YOu are not addressing the problem with your claim, Mberg. This is beside the point. I suspect your arguement is starting to unravel.
Not so, Just a side comment about Tertullian’s that I find interesting given his early hatred of Montanism
Mberg3;7842527:
It is relavent because it explains why Ignatius was interested in crediting the Pastorals to Paul despite the fact that they were not proven, and were probably not, written by him. If it advanced the orthodoxy then Ig. would not care about checking sources.
This is false, Mberg. Ignatius was anxious to hold on to the faith that was passed down to him from the Apostles. I can assure you that he was a very careful scholars, and was quite confident about his “sources”. However, ifyou wish to assert that Ignatius did not “check his sources” and that he thought the Pauline Pastorals were from Paul, but were not, please produce the sources that bolster this claim. That should keep you busy for a couple decades.
To be fair to you “check his sources” might have been misleading. The point I was trying to make is that if the Pastorals were not written by Paul, and Ignatius thought that they were, then he must not have had access to the original source material, whether because he did not look into or it was no longer available the effect is the same.
To be honest, Mberg, I have not been able to detect much in your posts that reflects any faith at all, much less a Christian faith. It seems that your faith may be in yourself, in your own ability to determine what is true and false. It seems your faith (or perhaps better described as hope) that you can mate with a Catholic and share faith with her, despite your own lack of faith in her religion.
Am I the only one who finds the use of the word “mate” slightly offensive?" Besides the obvious attempt to discredit my faith this adds nothing to the conversation. In fact it allows you to not have to answer any direct question. If you would like to present your arguments and cite the sources you used we can have a calm and rational discussion about this. There is no need to make this personal. I still assume you are a descent smart human being despite my instinct to feel like you are insecure and ignorant. I know you are not, it only will take a little more effort and less attacking on your part to validate my hope in you.
That’s fine, Mberg. It is becoming increasingly clear that you have very little interest in living a Christian life. It may be that God has yet to inflame your heart with passion for HIm, and that you do not know HIm at all, which is why this attempt on your part to discern the truth is grasping at thin straws to justifiy your lack of faith.
How so? All I did is to present to you a logical conclusion that the Gospels contain error. How does that preclude my living a Christian life. I have been a Christian all my life. I just ask you do Judge not lest you be judged. But it is your life I will answer your questions as long as you keep asking them.
If you do not believe that God has revealed Himself to mankind, why are you here?
But i do believe he has. It is through fallible people through fallible documents, but that does not mean the inspiration is not there. It is just necessary to work a little harder to see the revelation that has been distorted by human weakness.