Now, back to the real problem: I'm not objection to the quote from 1 Corinthians; don't try to imply otherwise.
I'm pointing out the fact that your appeal to being a "born again believer" is simply not useful for assessing disagreements. Which of us is the "born again believer"? You? Me? Both? Neither? Says who? You? Me? It's absurd!
OF COURSE I'm a "born again believer". Do you dare to say otherwise? Are you going to tell me, a "born again believer" that my beliefs are "ERROR"? You can't; your own logic forbids it. And that, to bring things back to the beginning, is the problem with Mr. Terry James and his smarmy "open letter". He has no business calling any belief "ERROR", either.
Nope, Francis is completely relevant because YOU were the one who brought up the pope and authority to correctly interpret Scripture.
So who do YOU trust to corre3ctly *interpret* Scripture for you?
The Pope? The Magisterium? Cardinals? Bishops? Priests?
I have a sudden craving for popped corn!
Beloved John, in his epistle to the followers of Jesus who are being discipled by him in the doctrine of the Apostles, says this in a simple but very piercing assessment of one's stance with the Godhead:
1 John 4:4-6 (AV; bolding added for emphasis and indices for clarification)Thus Beloved John here gives Metmom and Roman_War_Criminal the scriptural incontestible authority to judge the reliability of each other as well as you, or anyone who professes to be a "Christian" whether they be genuine or no. The standard is whether or not they each "hear" (γινώσκω), not merely "listen to" (ἀκούω) or "be aware of" (ἰδού) the doctrines that the Apostles taught (2 Thess. 2:15) and fully understand with spiritual discernment (1 Cor. 2:13-16, Php. 2:5)
Ye1 are of God, little children1, and have overcome them 2: because greater is he3 that is in you, than he4 that is in the world. They5are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We6 are of God: he that knoweth God heareth* us7; he that is not of God heareth not5 us. Hereby know we7 the spirit of truth7, and the spirit of error4.
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Indexed notes:
1. Inclusive to the regenerated spirit-born trainees discipling with John, figuratively addressed as τεκνια, (his) little (spiritual)children 2. The demonic spirits (including the Wicked One) that guide the unregenerated humans falsely professing to be "Christians"
3. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that fills and guides the spiritually matured disciple (cf. Jn. 14:26, Eph. 5:18, Col. 3:16)
4. Satan, The Adversary, the god of this world, the lying Devil and father of those humans falsely professing to be an instrument of the Godhead (See 2 Cor. 4:4; Jn. 8:3-44 context)
5. Humans under the guidance of lying spirits, false prophets (Jn. 8:44. 10:25-26; Mt. 24:24, Mk. 13:22)
6. Specifically the faithful primary Apostles alone personally taught by Jesus and alone permitted to orally teach voicing the Will of the descended Holy Spirit, and whose inspired words are faihfully inscripturated (Acts 2:42, 1 Thess. 2:13; Rom. 6:17)
7. The citation here forces the "we" to include not only the Apostles, but also their disciples orally instructed by them, as well as anyone who has heard and obeyedthe doctrine of the Apostles and received by spiritual rebirth the Indwelling Holy Spirit that allows the mature progressively sanctified servant of The Christ to overcome the wicked one (1 Jn. 2:13,14)
8. The Spirit of the Messiah, the Anointed One (John 14:5; Rom. 8:9, 1 Pet. 1:11)
* γινώσκω (ginōskō. pronounced ghin-oce'-koh)
A prolonged form of a primary verb; to “know” (absolutely), in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as shown at left, with others not thus clearly expressed): - allow, be aware (of), feel, (have) known (-ledge), perceive, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand.
I'm afraid, NorthMountain, that it does seem to me that you use a lot of doctrinal talk and RCC dogma, but that you firstly do not "hear" what the Apostles have to say; and secondly cannot receive a cautionary note to those who do exercise spiritual discernment, and warn you of your erroneous interpretations of deafness to the soul-saving scripture passages.
Your misconsrtuing of the situation is because your inclination is to assert that your authority to speak the reiteration of the opinions of the (ineffably but certainly fallible) Magisterium of the RCC; that it is the only acceptable authority over competing interpretations of the Scriptures given by the Apostles and prophets of the Old and New Testaments; whereas Bible students like RWC and MM and myself believe that the infallible inerrant preserved inspired insripturated words of the Apostles and prophets speaking for God is the sole authority over itself and over the standards for confidence of and in its readers and implementers.
Your stance simply is nonsensical, unsustainable when faced with obvious inconsistencies in theory and practice.
I wish it were otherwise, for your sake, and for those who you might influence. Personal? Sure, because the errors proceed from a person and the organization from which his misperceptions are doggedly issued.