You wrote:
“Oh, please. Your church dates no earlier to that St. Gregory the Great in the 6th Century, and arguably no earlier than the Catholic/Orthodox Schism of 1054.”
That is simply an insipid comment. Clearly some church elected Gregory to pope. If the Catholic Church only existed with Gregory accession to the papacy then how do you explain his existence as a Catholic priest beforehand? How is it that Gregory served the previous Catholic popes Benedict I and Pelagius II. Also, how was it that two of his relatives had already served as pope if there was nothing to serve as pope of? A thing cannot exist prior to itself. Students learn that in basic philosophy.
“Your doctrine has certainly evolved over the years.”
My doctrine? I have had no doctrine of my own evolve. Or develop. Or even exist. The Catholic Church has had doctrine develop. I have no doctrine of my own.
“This "only church dating to the Apostles" bit is exhausting. Certainly the Orthodox could give y'all a run for your money for being traceable to the Apostles, and they - unlike the Roman Catholic Church - have had a largely static body of theology since the Early Church Fathers.”
Irrelevant. Static does not translate to proper authority.
“You most certainly did not. You posted an unsubstantiated allegation that someone, once upon a time, ran into rumors that he was homosexual.”
Untrue. I posted information which conveyed the names of a man who saw the document. Care to dispute that fact? Also, I posted the names of Protestants who knew the charges to be true.
“Show me some documentary evidence. Put up, or shut up.”
I posted their names. Post whatever you have to the contrary. Don't like it? Too bad.
“Furthermore, this homosexuality charge is irrelevant. What he did in his pre-conversion life no more disqualifies him as a Christian theologian than Augustine's playboy days disqualify the most articulate theologian ever to live.”
Incorrect. God works through men – even bad men. God, however, does not establish His church through sinful men, but through His sinless Son. Calvin was not Christ. The calvinists sects are not from God.
Before Gregory's accession, the Church had a collegial episcopacy - much like the Orthodox.
I posted information which conveyed the names of a man who saw the document. Care to dispute that fact? Also, I posted the names of Protestants who knew the charges to be true.
No. You posted rumors that so-and-so encountered such-and-such a rumor - not, for instance, a certificate of conviction for sodomy. I need dispute nothing more; the burden is on you to demonstrate the credibility of your source. Your sources are long-removed ("A Catholic Contraversialist Noyin" in the 1500's - hardly a disinterested source - and the "contemporary German Lutherans.") Those are not credible sources - not without some primary source documentation to back this up.
Otherwise, I could start citing Jack Chick tracts about the great pagan, Jesuit conspiracy seeking to suppress the gospel, and the allegations that the Popes were whoremongerers and homosexuals and satanists. I don't do this because, even if any of this was true, it proves nothing more than the fact that the Church has had some unsavory characters in her past. That's nothing new.
At the end of the day, however, your allegations that Calvin was a homosexual are nothing more than unsubstantiated innuendo that is irrelevant. There is no point in pursuing it because his sexuality is irrelevant to his theological points. Engage on the merits of Calvinism, not the whisperings of polemical pamphleteers.
God works through men – even bad men. God, however, does not establish His church through sinful men, but through His sinless Son.
Bullcrap. Consider the history of the church. St. Paul the Persecutor. St. Peter the coward. St. Augustine the Playboy. Constantine the Arian. Philandering popes. The church has always been a hospital of sinners - sinners who repented and tried their best to serve God. Is it entirely implausible that Calvin did the same thing?
I'm going to ping Campion and dangus to this, honorable Catholics, to straighten you out on this.