The formation of calendar is the task of the Church Universal, most naturally belonging to the Pope. Would you rather not have holidays?
the oldest texts we have are in 95-98% agreement with modern texts - depending on who you ask to keep count.
I absolutely agree: the arguments from doubts in the scripture are silly and generally are symptoms of a loss of faith. They are also anti-Catholic as their purpose generally is to undermine faith through sowing doubt in the trustworthiness of the Church who produced the Holy Scripture.
all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true.Leo XIII on the inerrancy of scripture (from Providentissimus Deus) [ecum.]
That is a far more trustworthy source than a Pope in 1950 citing art examples
A quote or a link would be helpful here. However, Christian practice, including sacred art, are indeed a valid reference point in order to establish the ancient origins of a doctrine, especially when it lies outside of the scope of the Scripture, like the Assumption does.
Am I to understand that what you are saying is that anyone who doesn't believe what you believe, or the books you hold sacred, is silly and has no faith? I am surprised Alex and wonder why otherwise reasonable people retreat to such exclusivist positions when they know better. May I remind you that what you believe is your subjective reality and by no means a proven fact, and that just because you believe something to be true doesn't mean it is true?
Leo XIII on the inerrancy of scripture (from Providentissimus Deus) [ecum.]"...all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true."
No disrespect meant, but to me this seems rather silly. Especially considering the traditional Orthodox view of the scripture.
"The Holy Bible (or Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments) is the most authoritative part of the Sacred Tradition of the Church...Much has been said regarding the Divine authorship and inspiration of the Bible (theopneustia). Various theories have been expressed throughout the centuries concerning the way in which the Bible is the work of the Holy Spirit. Philo of Alexandria is the main exponent of the so-called "mechanical theory" of understanding the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. According to Philo, the authors of the Bible were in a condition of "possession" by the Spirit of God, who was just using these authors as blind instruments...
A better view is the so-called "dynamic view" of the cooperation between man and the Holy Spirit in the case of the Bible. In any case of "synergy" (cooperation) between God and man, God leads, and man follows...the Holy Spirit inspires, and the sacred author follows the Holy Spirit's injunctions, utilizing his own human and imperfect ways to express the perfect message and doctrine of the Holy Spirit...
In this sense, we can understand possible imperfections in the books of the Bible...Biblical textual criticism is completely normal and acceptable by the Orthodox, since they see the Bible in this light. Nothing human is perfect, including the Bible, which is the end product of human cooperation with the divine Spirit." [The Dogmatic Tradition of the Orthodox Church, by His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, Greek Orthodox Diocese of America]
I guess you can now go an accuse the whole Eastern Orthodox Church of a loss of faith and silliness...because it leaves a door open to something that is so obvious, documented and verifiable that it takes an active process of denial to pretend it's not there, aka sticking your head in the sand and pretending the sun doesn't shine.