I certainly respect your interest in getting to the bottom of these questions and am willing to do so, under one or two conditions...
1. You agree to not simply answer, “Well, that is Calvinism.” I really have no idea what “Calvinism” is, and I am not a proponent of any particular group. My interest is what the Scripture teaches and I am as willing to recognize Augustine as I am Calvin. I would be willing to recognize a truth taught by the RCC, such as the Triune God of Israel.
2. You agree to read the passages I present, even in their larger contexts. That is, to quote a certain verse from, say, I Cor. about “wisdom” misses the larger argument Paul is making about the tendency of the Corinthian believers to be enamored with scholasticism, a public hobby at that time. This subtlety cannot be captured in just one verse, but when you read the entire letter a person should be able to notice that the various encouragements to do this or that are not just a laundry list of do’s & don’ts, but part of a larger argument that the Gospel is not another “scholastic” fight between Paul & Apollos. Good theology recognizes the big picture, context, time lines and the audience spoken to.
Okay?
Of course. I only refer to Calvinism for brevity but I really am asking for your personal views. Surely I will not say “because that is Calvinism, that is wrong”, but I reseve the right to say “Because of X, Y and Z, Calvinism is wrong on that point”. If I was guilty of argument by labeling, I apologize, it was not my intention. Obviously, a good deal of what you say or other non-Catholics say is nevertheless gospel truth.
While on that topic, as Catholic I am attempting to present the doctrines of the Catholic Church and so I try not to engage in personal interpretation of scripture. If I inadvertently fail to do so, I ask to be corrected by readers who understand Catholicism better than I. So it is fine for you to say “That’s Catholicism”.
I read your passages but since they usually cover several aspects in my response I concentrate on what I think is the key difficulty. One thing I avoid is responding to every phrase I might have a disagreement with or a question as it tends to dilute focus. I trust that if some larger context is relevant you will point that out and I will read it, and if you think I missed your point, well, correct me.