It is ironic that you are making a choice about which Early Church Fathers, doctors of the church, etc. you will base your interpretation of Scripture upon as well as what they may or may not say on any particular subject yet you denigrate anyone else who makes the same choices OFTEN about the same ECFs. What Daniel has stated many times - and which you confirm - is that all those interested in knowing the truths of the faith once delivered to the saints have equal freedom to accept or reject the ideas and thoughts of those who went before them.
There is no shortage of deep thinking theologians today who build upon the spiritual and intellectual discoveries of those who went before them and what we, and they, have to our advantage is the ready availability of the resources of thought and consideration of them all. We can also understand their context, audience and motives for what they said and this allows a much greater understanding of how some of their views developed over the years and what those developments counted upon.
What we all MUST depend upon is the leading of the Holy Spirit within us who Jesus said will lead us into all truth. I fully agree that the truths of Holy Scripture are the fountain from which all knowledge about God and His purposes and plans are found and a greater understanding and illumination of those truths are available to all those who surrender to God the Holy Spirit's leading. Truth IS absolute and it WILL transcend time. The stalwarts of the faith, both then and now, hold to that.
I couldn’t agree more. I appreciate that passions can run high on these threads and I know that while we all strive to belong to God, God does not belong to any single denomination or any individuals. We will all be judged by how closely we strive to know the Truth and follow what we believe the Truth to be. We should judge each other similarly.
Sin, after all is the conscious choice to do what we believe to be wrong and therefore a rejection of God. We serve God when we see to our own Salvation and speak His truth. We don't have to agree with each other what that Truth or sin might be.
Like sincere Protestants we devout Catholics hold a set of beliefs that we sincerely believe accurately reflect the entire revealed Word and that we will be judged by. Derogatory comments about ones beliefs, ones Church, and ones clergy, and thinly veiled insults regarding the validity of ones beliefs or our motivations in no way serve the Holy Spirit in whose name we should be acting. Gross mischaracterizations about examples of obvious apostates and reprobates somehow representing all of the sincere members of any church only serve to damn their authors. The Catholic Church is not served by lies about Protestantism and Protestantism is not served by lies about the Catholic Church. Those posters who resort to lies, half-truths and mischarcterizations should not be rewarded by engaging and validating them, however the stain of their lies should be addressed.
”Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. - 1 Corinthians 12:3
May the Spirit be with you.