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To: cothrige

LOL, in other words, you reject the obligation of Catholics to obey the teachings of the Church over their own personal spiritual opinions.

Right?

C’mon, you can do it. It’s a simple question.


62 posted on 05/08/2014 5:59:12 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Talisker
C’mon, you can do it. It’s a simple question.

Actually, you didn't post any question. That was a statement. However, for the sake of one last attempt at demonstrating just how silly your entire position is let me lay it out for you clearly, as if you really had asked a question. I believe that every Catholic is obligated to obey the Church in all issues of faith and morals. Where I differ from your strange assertions is that I actually believe there is a teaching and that for it to be followed it must be understood. There can be no obedience where there is ignorance. You argue that all Catholics must "obey" all "theological opinions" of all clergy at all times. Hmmm. Very interesting. Let us consider this. There are priests and bishops who deny the resurrection, and others who think that atheists are saved by virtue of their denial of God. Others think that Buddhism is equal to Christianity, and others who think that Jews are all going to hell. Some think that gay marriage is just fine and dandy, and others still who believe that black people bear the mark of Cain. Some think that only Catholics can ever be saved, and others think hell doesn't exist. Good luck in trying to find anyone who can be "obedient" to all these authoritative clerics at the same time.

The real truth is that the Church is indefectible, and Catholic teaching cannot be changed. She cannot alter the Apostolic faith even if some high ranking churchman thought it should be done. If an infallible truth is no longer the truth, then it was never infallible, and gone is the requirement for obedience. No Catholic is required, and never has been, to simply accept any particular personal theological opinion of any churchman, even a pope.

What is confusing you is what confuses a lot of people. Authority. Opinions, in most cases, have none. The Church, however, does. That authority is expressed not by opinions of any and every cleric, but in authoritative councils and documents, and these do not disappear when another document comes along. They all, taken as a whole, present a complete picture by which anybody, including popes, can learn the real Apostolic faith without any question of what is true, and what is just speculation. The Councils of Nicea and Constantinople are still as binding and infallible as they were when they were convened by Constantine the Great and Theodosius. Nothing in them was ever unwritten. The Catholic faith is not contained in the last comment given by somebody in purple or red, or even white. It is expressed throughout the history of the Church, and in all of her dogmatic pronouncements, liturgy and prayers. Even wise and pedagogical comments by high ranking and authoritative clerics can only be mined for the deeper truths by hearing them with a fully developed Catholic mindset, fertilized by contemplation of the constant witness of the Church.

Just consider a deeply thoughtful and intelligent man, Pope Benedict XVI, who published his own thoughts on the life of our Lord in his book Jesus of Nazareth. In the foreword to that work he took great pains to insist that his opinions in the book not be seen as authoritative, and yet he was the pope at the time. How much more authoritative can you get? But, he specifically said that "everyone is free, then, to contradict me." You would say that we Catholics are required to accept every opinion from every churchman as the gospel truth, and yet the highest churchman of all contradicted you outright. You just don't grok Catholicism.

Now, you can either persist in your errors about what Catholics are required to believe, and what constitutes the dogmatic faith (on which you aren't even in the same country, let alone ballpark), or you can accept the truth. I really don't care. I have gone above and beyond in demonstrating the reality to you, and now you can do as you like.

Have a nice day.

63 posted on 05/08/2014 10:57:02 PM PDT by cothrige
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