Excellent question with a simple answer.
Only the word of God is "authoritative," inspired by God, God-breathed and God-ordained, and as such, Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
Therefore, where men's opinions are in harmony with the word of God, they are correct. When men's opinions differ from the word of God, they are in error.
Like here, from the link I just cited...
After listing the 27 books of the NT in his famous Easter Letter of 367 AD, Athanasius writes, “These are the fountains of salvation that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness.” (Festal Letter 39) Notice the word "alone" here.Athanasius (died 373) (deacon at the Council of Nicea in 325 and bishop of Alexandria from 328 – 373, when he died) He was exiled 5 times in his defense of the Deity of Christ and the Trinity against the Arian heretics who had taken over the churches. (Dr. White/ Webster/King all demonstrate he, along with many of the other early church writers, had a closer view of Scripture as the final authority - closer to Protestantism than the RCC view of Scripture and tradition; without claiming that he was a full blow Protestant.)
"ALONE."
Anthanasius continues...
“For indeed the holy and God-breathed Scriptures are self-sufficient for the preaching of the truth.” (Against the Gentiles, 1:3)“Vainly then do they run about with the pretext that they have demanded Councils for the faiths sake; for divine Scripture is sufficient above all things; but if a Council be needed on the point, there are the proceedings of the Fathers, for the Nicene Bishops did not neglect this matter, but stated the doctrines so exactly, that persons reading their words honestly, cannot but be reminded by them of the religion towards Christ announced in divine Scripture.” (De Synodis, 6) (On the Councils, 6)
Did you catch that? Councils can err, but where they reiterate "the religion towards Christ announced in divine Scripture," they are correct.
“As, then, the Church reads Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees, but does not admit them among the canonical Scriptures, so let it also read these two Volumes (Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus) for the edification of the people, not to give authority to doctrines of the Church. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 6, St. Jerome, Prefaces to Jerome's Works, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs; Daniel.) See also: (NPNF2, Vol. 6, St. Jerome, Prefaces to Jerome's Works, The Books of Samuel and Kings, pp. 489-490). Basil of Caesarea (379 AD) on Scripture as the final infallible authority over customs/traditions: “What is my reply? I do not consider it fair that the custom which obtains among them should be regarded as a law and rule of orthodoxy. If custom is to be taken in proof of what is right, then it is certainly competent for me to put forward on my side the custom which obtains here. If they reject this, we are clearly not bound to follow them. Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth." (Basil of Caesarea, Letter 189, 3)Jerome (347-420 AD) (his view on the Apocrypha is the right view).
Rome has strayed so far from Scripture as to be nearly unrecognizable as a church of Christ. Instead, it is a church of Mary and a church of John Newman and a church of Joseph Ratzinger and a church of Pacelli, etc.
Repent. God no longer winks at such ignorance.
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." -- Romans 13:12
And what is that "armour of light?"
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" -- Ephesians 6:13-17 "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
"...and having done all, to stand."
“Rome has strayed so far from Scripture as to be nearly unrecognizable as a church of Christ. Instead, it is a church of Mary and a church of John Newman and a church of Joseph Ratzinger and a church of Pacelli, etc.”
Are you just jealous because you have no intellectual curiosity? Or because your church has no history?
Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) is a towering intellect who is a world respected theologian.
During his papacy, Benedict XVI has advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increased secularisation of many developed countries. He views relativism’s denial of objective truth, and the denial of moral truths in particular, as the central problem of the 21st century. He teaches the importance of both the Catholic Church and an understanding of God’s redemptive love. He has reaffirmed the “importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work.”
Pope Benedict is the founder and patron of the Ratzinger Foundation, a charitable organisation, which makes money from the sale of his books and essays in order to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
Blessed John Henry Newman, was an important figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century. He was known nationally by the mid-1830s.[4]
Originally an evangelical Oxford academic and clergyman in the Church of England, Newman was a leader in the Oxford Movement. This influential grouping of Anglicans wished to return the Church of England to many Catholic beliefs and forms of worship. He eventually converted to Roman Catholicism (1845) and rose to become a cardinal.
The Venerable Pope Pius XII (Latin: Pius PP. XII; Italian: Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli
His magisterium includes almost 1,000 addresses and radio broadcasts. His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis, the Church as the Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; Humani Generis on the Church’s position on theology and evolution.
The descriptions here are taken from various sources.
EXCELLENT POST.
Of course, the rabid supporters of dogma from hell will trot out their rationalizations soon enough. LOL.
Sigh.
Sounds like
Basil of Caesarea
had had his fill of White Hanky’d theology even prior to the forming of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church.