Thank you for you vote of confidence, but I must decline. You of all Reformed on this Forum wold know better than any other that most of the heresies that sprang up in the first millennium came from my side of the Church and that it was the fraternal Latin Church that helped us stay the course and return to our Orthodoxy.
I don't think the Latin side ever taught heresies comparable to those of some of our Eastern Patriarchs!
So, if anything, we owe our Latin brothers eternal gratitude, and the least we can do is extend a helping hand, if they ask, to help them to de-Protestantize their Church, and being tainted with Protestantism in manner more than belief does not even come close to ancient christological heresies of the East!
So, once we learned our lesson we stayed the course and consistently so, and, yes, the Latins have "tinkered" if you will with tradition and sacred things of the Church, but they are on the rebound and we are glad!
But it comes to me as strange that you would complain of "tinkering" when such a term best describes Protestant and Baptist assemblies, where there is an infinite degree of variation of theology and belief among groups, and where everyone interprets to his or her satisfaction.
That being said, it is also true that the 19th century brought about two dogmas that have widened rather than narrowed our theological gap, namely the dogma of Immaculate Conception and the dogma of Papal Infallibility. Perhaps thecollective wisdom of the Church and God's loving care will help us overocme these human definition and once again share our Eucharist, but these dogmas sure made it much more dififuclt.
But for now all we can do is respect each other and proclaim our common faith, rather than concentrate on things that separate us.
Absolutely correct. I would also say that the Orthodox church continued to reject either in part or in full many of the creeds and councils of the western church. Often when I bring up these creeds and councils the response I get from the Orthodox is that these were "minor councils".
My point has been, and continues to be, that the Orthodox represents a wrong view of scripture. The western (Latin) church, had two views after the Council of Orange. They held the Augustine (right) view and they held the Orthodox (wrong) view thank in part to Pope So-n-so in 600AD who allowed John Cassian's (Pelagius' pupil) view into the Church because of a favor. Tsk, tsk.
The break between the Reformers and the Latin Church was simply a break between these two views. The Orthodox had left 500 years before. What you see today is the Latin Church moving towards the wrong view of the Orthodox. It's rather astonding that you would admit the Orthodox held the heretical views and then want the western church to move towards you.
But it comes to me as strange that you would complain of "tinkering" when such a term best describes Protestant and Baptist assemblies, where there is an infinite degree of variation of theology and belief among groups, and where everyone interprets to his or her satisfaction.
I have gone into a number of fundamental Protestant church of all denominations and heard the same basic doctrine, that Christ died for your sins and that He arose. I might disagree with some of the biblical interpretation but it doesn't undercut the primary message of the gospel.
God has granted us the scriptures; scriptures that the Church from the earliest days have deemed inspired but which you have gone on record as doubting. You won't find that in fundamental churches where we believe in the scriptures. So given my choice of accepting a group of old men telling me what I should believe or a group that tells me to read the word of God and form my own opinion, I'll choose the latter thank you. After all, the scriptures don't tell me Mary is the Queen of heaven, all of heaven tremble at her might and we are to venerate her. Old men who don't have anything else to do tell us that.
Perhaps thecollective wisdom of the Church and God's loving care will help us overocme these human definition and once again share our Eucharist, but these dogmas sure made it much more difficult.
If the Eucharist was so central to your beliefs, then there is really no reasons the Orthodox and Catholics can't patch things up tomorrow. The Eucharist is a smoke screen by which Catholic and Orthodox pretend to believe the same thing.