“With all respect, your point illustrates why a Vicar is necessary.”
Really? Why is that? Within The Church, there are now two ways of dealing with dogmatic and disciplinary canons. Before the Great Schism, there was one...not one based on an infallible Vicar. The West changed, the East didn’t. The East preserved The Faith inviolate. The West suffered through and still suffers from the Reformation. The East never did.
“Truth is not subject to the popular will.”
Not popular will, N, of course not; the Truth is no more subject to popular will than it is to the will of a pope. The Truth is known by the People of God by the action of the Holy Spirit. The Laos tou Theou know when to declaim both “Axios” and “Anaxios”! That has always been true in in The Church in the East and was true everywhere within The Church until Rome broke away.
“Think of the Chosen People in the Old Testament and the Golden Calf.”
We are not the Chosen People of the OT, N.
By Orthodox standards, the overwhelming rejection of the ban on artificial birth control by the laity would have by now resulted in its abrogation.And you say:
We are not the Chosen People of the OT, N.Sadly you make the case for heresy. For a popular vote on Truth. For ignoring the basic Laws of Our Lord. That saddens me. I hope I have misunderstood terribly what you are trying to say.
If that is so, how is it that so many People of God believe things that are so simply and clearly condemned by God in His inerrant Word? Abortion, homosexuality, greed, selfishness are all rampant in this world though they are all condemned by the Word of God. I don't mean people who try to follow the Word and fail. I mean people who think these things are not sinful.