Please accept my apologies. I don't mean to be offensive. Perhaps my entries don't convey the fact that this is a breath of fresh air for me to have an intelligent discussion on such things, even when we don't all agree.
When I wrote that "Christ is God", I am agreeing with what you wrote in 71: Correct trinitarian statement would read "and Christ is God." But insisting, based on Scripture and the Councils that God became man, that he, remaining God, became a creature born of Mary. And so I don't think St. Paul is out of hand in his statements, but inspired.
In the end, regarding the theme of this thread, I hold the opinion, and am willing to defend it, that the primary motive of the Incarnation was the glory of God ad extra, regardless of whether Adam had sinned or not. It is not a dogma, but neither is the other opinion that the primary or exclusive reason for the Incarnation is to remedy sin. I posted the article and have been defending the position of Duns Scotus not because I have an axe to grind, but because I think Christians should at least think about it. So if I seem dogmatic, it's probably more that I'm stubborn and irritable when I should be "meek and lowly of heart" like Jesus.
Kosta50, God bless you and keep you.
You know, when Galileo Gaililei invited the Vatican officials to look at the moon through his small 30-power telescope and they saw craters, they said it was an illusion.
According to the cardinals, Satan was creating a deceptive illusion of craters on a "heavenly" body, and we all "know" (through some "revelation" or something to that effect) that anything that is "in heaven" is perfect and cannot have craters. All planets, therefore, must be perfect spheres.
This is the type of dogmatism I am talking about.
When Galileo observed with the same telescope different (lunar-like) phases of Venus, it was obvious that Venus could not be going around us, as was believed and taught by the Church, but rather around the sun, just as we do.
For this irrefutable proof of heliocentricity, based on simple geometry of shadows and observation, coupled with some intelligence, Galileo was accused of "vehement heresy" and would have been burned at stake for this were it not for his reputation and old age. He died in a house arrest, as a convicted "heretic." The Catholic Church did not recant its ridiculous anathema against him until 1992!
Nothing illustrates better that this type of retrograde mentality is alive and well then in various oxymorons called "creation museums," where dinosaurs and humans are shown living together. Or in the Evangelical literalistic journals where they insist man was created "just the way we are" less then 10,000 years ago.
It is not Satan but the very people who arrogate themselves to be the mouthpieces of God who are deceiving the world.
I remember my daughter attending a Baptist church in her early teens because her best friend was Baptist. We spoke often about these issues and when I mentioned fossils to her, I was shocked with her answer. She said "they were planted in the gorund by Satan, to deciev us."
At that moment I knew the same spirit that condemned Galileo was alive and well among Bible thumpers. They are the reptilian size brain speed bumps to our betterment as a human race, a reactionary force that would rather have the whole world believe everything in their Bible. This includes the notion that the disease is caused by "demons," (it must be true, after all, it's in the Bible, right?) and that God in the flesh believed it too!
Please, I have no stomach for anyone who is willing to say that medicine belongs to demonology because, after all, diseases are either caused by God's wrath or, worse, by demons.
So, when they tell me that Jesus believed in Noah and in Moses, and Jonah, I remind them that he also believed diseases were caused by satanic spirits. But, it's all to no avail, because it changes nothing. All they have is the Bible and everything else is satanic "deception."
Good luck.