Indeed, Southern Baptists and some fundamentalist/evangelical groups are "standing up" better than many others, due to their stricter adherence to the Word of God. But so are us RC's and others who are adhering to Rome (including Anglican Rite former Episcopalians). But a trend you may not be aware of is that many evangelicals/fundamentalists are looking closer at the RC church and RC teachings, and finding them not unreasonable. Point of fact is that it was an ex-evangelical who turned me Catholic.
"The reason “sola scriptura” has become a sticking point, I believe, is that people are bringing their preconceptions to what that means. I’d believe it more accurately that it means scripture AND Spirit."
To an RC (and especially to me), the reason "sola scriptura" is a false paradigm is that the Bible is not the only place where the Word of God can be found. Indeed, the Bible IS (part of) the divinely inspired Word of God.... But so are the heavens above your head and the earth beneath your feet, directly written (as Ben Franklin put it) by the Author Himself, and which, by dint of much effort, we have managed to read a word or three. As a scientist, I have to go with the group that accepts that. If there appears to be a contradiction between the Bible and Nature, then our understanding of one or the other is wrong.
"Now it ought to be obvious that if there is a Holy Spirit at all, that is going to be the same Holy Spirit anywhere in creation. If people still come off with varying readings after making their best effort to get the Spirit’s illumination on the bible, then it is the people’s fault, not the Spirit’s fault."
Precisely. And the RC church goes one step further, and includes ALL the Word of God, not just that found between the covers of the "Good Book". All that is true is "of God".
"However another salient point is that earthly perfection is not needed for earthly effectiveness."
I'd say your average "active" Catholic has a better awareness of that than many. I know I'm in the line for Confession/Reconciliation WAY more than I want to be.
"Salvation promises the endpoint and it says something about what the transition will be like. It never promises earthly perfection."
But Christ requires us to TRY to attain earthly perfection. Some (very few) make it (the RC calls those "saints"). The rest of us will need Purgatory.
I can’t blame you really all that much for your new enthusiasm. The Episcopalians grieve the Holy Spirit worse today. However your church has mixed the gospel with club spirit and I don’t mean something from a bottle. They are acting towards their evangelical and Orthodox brethren like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. They can barely bring themselves to say of the others “this son of yours” let alone brethren.
Here’s a clue: don’t wait up to a week and stand in line to confess. Just pray up the Lord and DO it.
And ultimately... my earnest suggestion to you, Wonder... look for where the fruit of the Spirit is. This fruit can’t be faked. Don’t go where the sour, bitter men and women are, who love to torture themselves and call it virtue, who are proud of how much of whatever earthly artifacts they have. Go where the joyful exaltation of the Lord in the congregation is, and where people tell of repeated overcoming in the midst of trials, and giving away a gospel that sells itself, with joy and charity that has no explanation other than the Holy Spirit.
P.P.S. “Becoming perfect” means taking on more and more of the perfect Christ.
I don’t know about the theology that says some can be absolutely perfected on earth... certainly that energetic apostle Paul made no claim to it and set himself boldly forth as an example.
Nobody would be able to know all his or her sins on earth, which is the knowledge that would be needed to become perfect. The Roman Catholic organization, the same one that diluted itself over and over by becoming entangled in earthly government (losing the gospel that sold itself and gaining a caricature of that which had to be enforced via earthly terror) have taken the needful reconciliation with the Lord in heaven with a full view of what finally must be reconciled, and built it into a formal, dreaded purgatory. We would not want to dread being in such a place inasmuch as it exists, any more than we would dread the rest of our earthly life; we would welcome it because the Lord would be right there. It would be the final stage of overcoming with the joy that is promised. However Roman Catholics get a long face over purgatory. Does not compute to me.
I guess I will make this a quadrilogy and then that’s it. Men are standing between the Holy Spirit and you in a lot of places, and want you to know they and their organization deign to give it to you. In a few, however, men will pass on the Holy Spirit to you absolutely free. That is the place to go and that is the gospel to share. It’s the gospel that sells itself. And it’s worth the risk of making people annoyed to pass it on because once it dawns on them what you are passing on, they become quite grateful! And I wish to see this gospel shared with you, I don’t care who does it, whether it is me or somebody I will never meet.