HD: "It's my suspicion that you will not get your Orthodox brothers nor the Orthodox Church to agree with you on this one..."
Kosta: "That would be more like certainty, HD. I am not sure what your point is."
Harley, Kosta has made it clear in many posts that his approach is not to present to the list what Orthodoxy teaches, but to discuss where he is at the time with regard to his thoughts and opinions. He plays the role of the skeptic (which you also claim, so you two should get along quite fine!)
He has also made it clear that he holds the teachings of the Orthodox Church by faith, but that he's just not going to pretend that he is convinced or that he understands this or that Orthodox teaching, even if he believes it by faith.
So there isn't much point to playing Orthodox "gotcha" with Kosta. If you want to convince Kosta that he is wrong in talking about Pauline Gnosticism as though it is historically defensible, then you will have to do it the hard way! :-)
If you want the Orthodox "party line," I'm the unimaginative guy to turn to. Of course, discussions with me aren't very interesting for precisely that reason...
Thank you Agrarian. I agree, you read me like a book! :)
Only one observation: I am not playing anything. If I have doubts, I admit doubts.
Well, you have a point up to a point. You won't find me saying Paul was a Gnostic or that the church/Church no longer follows the Old Testament. I'm discerning about uninspired writings-that's all.
So there isn't much point to playing Orthodox "gotcha" with Kosta.
I don't play "gotcha" games. I pose questions that I think about and I hope that makes other people think. Some feel uncomfortable trying to answer the questions because of the conclusions.