Nor are they qualified to say who does or who does not. We see in the examples from Numbers 11 that even those with the HS resting on them couldn't tell that those outside their group had it.
In Luke 9, we see that Jesus Himself, sends out the 12 Apostles to preach, and here they come in verse 9:49, saying "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us."
Notice whom the one was not following.
The Mormons claim to have captured the HS in a jar like a lightning bug and only their priests can parcel Him out. Perhaps in the BOM, Jesus says "And I saw the HS fall like a lightning bug from heaven", I don't know, but it's just an example that no one group has all the truth no matter what they claim.
The only Truth we can be sure of is the truth in God's Word, given to all of us.
So anyway, to say that discussing the Word of Truth outside of the opinion of your church fathers, "is fruitless" could just be a hindrance in going up that ladder of yours.
That's a fascinating image, 1000s.
And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us." -- Luke 9:49-50"And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.
Seems like Christ spent nearly as much time rebuking the Apostles as instructing them.
The only Truth we can be sure of is the truth in God's Word, given to all of us.
Amen.
You know, 1000, I shouldn’t have used the word fruitless because of course these sorts of discussions teach each of us all sorts of things about the beliefs of other Christians and perhaps even more so about our own beliefs.
One of my many failings here is to assume that everyone is out to “convert” the other to his or her particular beliefs with respect to The Faith. I’ve always thought that “poaching” among Christians is a bad practice. Most Orthodox, at least the “cradle” ones, aren’t real big on trying to tell other Christians what to believe, We believe what we believe. f someone else wants what we have, they are welcome to it; if they don’t want it, well, maybe they’d like to stay for another cup of cafe and a piece of baklava. As we have seen a growing influx of Western converts, that attitude is changing with proselytizing becoming somewhat less rare. Most of us ethnic types feel uncomfortable with that stuff. Of course, we feel at the same time both bemused and just a bit irritated when someone tries it with us. It virtually never works and the idea that discussions such as these could ever lead to any sort of reunion among Christians generally does seem silly. Anyway, that’s what I meant by fruitless and as you can see, it wasn’t a good choice of words.