I'll ask you to answer the same questions I asked Metmom in #239 (above).
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is schizophrenic, telling one group of believers one interpretation and another a different interpretation?
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit tells one group to baptize and another not to, one group to baptize entire families including infants and another that baptism is not necessary at all?
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit tells one group to share in the Real Presence, another to have only a symbolic last supper, and yet another group to not even bother?
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit tells one group that they are elect and immunized against the consequences of all future sins and calls others to repentance and contrition?
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit calls all Christians to unity but promotes a recipe that has resulted in 30,000 doctrinally different churches?
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit spoke a different Gospel meaning to Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Koresh, Zwingli, and King Henry VIII than He did to St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Irenaus, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Blessed John Cardinal Newman?
I'll add one more and ask do you believe that the Holy Spirit does not now and never did speak to or through Catholics and the Catholic Church?
Peace be with you.
#239 should read #329
The Holy Spirit will not do your thinking for you. What God said regarding this matter is written in the Gospel. Folks must use the gifts God gave them to analyze and understand what was said. What God has said, was said already and it will never change, so there is no point in repeatig it. Likewise, folks must analyze what other men say, then judge, decide and act accordingly.
"Do you believe that the Holy Spirit tells one group to baptize and another not to, one group to baptize entire families including infants and another that baptism is not necessary at all?"
Baptism is symbolic. One washes with water to cleanse. The Holy Spirit "washes" with forgiveness. Note though that the washing is conditional on what judgments and decisions the Baptisee has made especially regarding their consideration and value of the concept and act of forgiveness-which underlies the very nature of whether, or not one is truely repentant. Note also that Paul, Augustine and their followers invented and gave folks original sin, so there is no point in "washing it away". It was never there, as Ezekiel so clearly points out in Ezekiel 18 and God Himself comments on in John 9.
"Do you believe that the Holy Spirit tells one group to share in the Real Presence, another to have only a symbolic last supper, and yet another group to not even bother?"
The Body and Blood of Christ is symbolic. John 6:63 "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[or are Spirit] and life. Note that just as the bread and wine are not transformed into flesh and blood, they are neither transformed into words, or understanding.
"Do you believe that the Holy Spirit tells one group that they are elect and immunized against the consequences of all future sins and calls others to repentance and contrition?
There is no immunity, nor is their selection, or puppetry. Each person is responsable for their destiny, according to their own judgment and decision.
"Do you believe that the Holy Spirit calls all Christians to unity but promotes a recipe that has resulted in 30,000 doctrinally different churches?
The keyword is call, not order.
"Do you believe that the Holy Spirit spoke a different Gospel meaning to Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Koresh, Zwingli, and King Henry VIII than He did to St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Irenaus, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Blessed John Cardinal Newman?"
The 4 Gospels are written, so that everyone given God's gifts can read them. The Gospels themselves are a gift, which contain the information necessary to determine who is a St. Those are the folks whose judgments and decisions evidence that they value the same things God does and not those folks that have been annointed and given the title by "the organization".
"I'll add one more and ask do you believe that the Holy Spirit does not now and never did speak to or through Catholics and the Catholic Church?"