[esquirette]

Was adherence to the Council of Jerusalem optional? Should it have been? Is or should the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian Definition be optional?

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Optional for what? For salvation, sure. For membership in an organization that makes them mandatory, probably not.

God does not save on the basis of group associations. That is proved in His saying not all in Israel are of Israel.

(Nice to see you again, MD)

[Mad Dawg]

And it's nice to see you, too. Today in my secret society we thank God for being the Way he is. So my prayer is; That we all be caught up ever more intimately into the life of the Most Holy Trinity: Domine, exaudi orationem meam.

So, in concise to the point of opacity response to you, two things: The BIGGIE is when (if ever) does "misbelief" reach to such severity that it interferes with salvation?

The second is a proposed distinction between what one "must" believe in general and what one must be teaching to teach with the Church.

I can see, with your prompting, a devout Christian Jew praying, "Lord, I'm not so sure about letting those Gentiles in. Nevertheless not my will but thine."

However, if, after the Jerusalem council he teaches and preaches that the Gentiles must be circumcised, etc. SOMEBODY needs to do something.

How about that?