vanshan said:
. . . . and then when we give her evidence, which disproves her firmly held beliefs, she resorts to attacking the source. Therese, I'm beginning to think it's too late for you. You wouldn't believe any evidence, even if it were delivered to you by a cerub.
Not to late for what Basil to return to the Orthodox Church so I won't miss going to heaven? We went throught that earlier in the thread . . do you want to go there again?
No Basil . . this is not "evidence" that proves anything . . it was simply words for which no proper context, other than it was in a missionary letter in response to a particular question which we have no access to, can be given.
Such "evidence" is
WEAK . .. such 'evidence' does not the teachng of the Catholic Church make or Sacred Tradition Make.
In fact, I have been reading this comment by Gratian regarding marriage canons and understanding throughout the Early Church . . and this quote in question as well a one by Ambrose is commented on:
Gratian: The text of Ambrose [C. 32 q 7 c. 17] appears to have been inserted by forgers. The text of Gregory [C. 32 q. 7 c. 18] is wholly contradicted by the sacred canons and, indeed, by evangelical [Mt. 19:9] and apostolic teachings [1 Cor. 7:10-11].
MARRIAGE CANONS
from
THE DECRETUM OF GRATIAN
and
THE DECRETALS, SEXT,
CLEMENTINES AND EXTRAVAGANTES
translated by John T. Noonan, Jr.
Milo Rees Robbins Professor of Law, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Judge of the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
It is obviously in question that it means what it appears to say on a supeficial reading of it.
Of course, since we do not have the contextual framework in which to do anything other than give it a superficial reading, one cannot validly use it to prove somethng that is
wholly contradicted a noted above.
Of course we must examine the sources of our information, but you are so certain that what John posted must be false you can only grasp at the hope it's out of context.
No Basil . . I
QUESTIONED what the context is . . . I
EXPOSED that the
CONTEXT is
NOT KNOWN . . .
So
NO VALID conclusions can be drawn from it . . one way or the other . . .
It cannot be validly used to prove your position.
This is a matter of
LOGIC Basil . . . .
Your questioning my integrity above for doing so is merely an
ad hominem attack designed to deflect attention away from my esposure of the problems with this "evidence" onto me.
If you think all that is necessary to present evidence that is valid in support of one's position is to produce a quote without understanding its context, then we are at square one in the issue of the rules of logic governing debate .. .
I am not sure that it is possible to have a reasonable discussion if simple rules of logic are going to be discarded in favor of one's beliefs.
The intellectually honest, and humble, thing to do at some point, when the evidence shows you've been misled, is humbly admit error and correct your path.
Basil
The intellectually honest, humble thing to do is to
NOT insist that evidence, for which the context is unknown and which is
wholly contradicted by the bulk of evidence to the contrary, is valid proof of one's position or to take to task those who point this out.
The evidence has to stand the test of close scrutiny and examination . .
This evidence presented by John doesn't stand the test.
The intellecutally honest and humble thing to do is to recongize the truth of this.
Peace to all