the errors of Calvin pale in comparison to the errors I have seen posted It would seem so to you, yes. The cardinal error is that of Luther:
- That only a subset of the Christian written tradition is determinative in Christian life;
- That man is capable of understanding that subset outside of the Tradition as a whole, which subsists in the Church;
- That man's faith is a binary condition that once obtained does not grow or wane;
- That grace cannot transform man.
Calvin merely took that error to its diabolical, logical, end.
I would say your list is a tad unfair to Luther:
1) That only a subset of the Christian written tradition is determinative in Christian life;
The Catholic Church does not accept all the writings of the early church fathers or for that matter all the writings of fathers throughout the ages. Only a small subset of Christian writing ever makes it into Catholic doctrines picked and chosen by a few select people. Luther espounded nothing more than typical practice.
2) That man is capable of understanding that subset outside of the Tradition as a whole, which subsists in the Church;
The Church has erred. Selling indulgences was a "tradition" outside the Church yet the Church for a while accepted the practice.
3) That man's faith is a binary condition that once obtained does not grow or wane
You'd be hard press to find Calvin (and I suspect Luther) making this claim. This is not in any confession that I know of. Calvin and Luther simply believed that man's faith could not wane to a point of falling away completely from Christ. This is consistent with 1 John 5:18.
4) That grace cannot transform man.
Again nonsense. Calvin and Luther believed as this article states that it is God's grace alone that transforms man. The Roman Catholics, as argued by Erasmus and many of the Catholic here, believe that man must "cooperate" with God by freely accepting God's gift. This is Greek thought and anthropocentric in nature. It is ONLY God grace that transforms man. It is ONLY God birthing us into a new spirit that saves us. We are born again because of God's grace-not because of anything we've done including cooperating. God doesn't ask us if we want to be born. God doesn't ask us if we want to be born again.
The cardinal error actually rest with the Cardinals.