vaguely gnostic idea of the invisible Church,
= = = =
I think this has been soundly refuted repeatedly.
Shall we bring up the old assertions about satanic influence over the Holy See? As far as I can tell, one has about as much validity as the other. Actually, the gnostic assault may have a lot less from some perspectives.
I'm sorry. WHAT has been refuted repeatedly?
Maybe there's a misunderstanding. I'm not saying the any particular group of official gnostics are influencing Protestantism. I'm saying the idea of the invisible Church is itself vaguely gnostic, not in its background but in its essence.
Here's what it looks like to me, so here's what I was trying to put up for USEFUL (hey, this capitalization stuff is FUN!) comment and criticism:
Over here we have the vast clunkiness of RC and EO. It's easy to tell where the Church is, and who is in it, and who is, so to speak WAY in it. If you're Baptized you're in it, if you're in full communion with the See of Rome or the various Patriarchal Sees, you're WAY in it. But this is not a guaranteed pass into heaven.
And over THERE we have the elect, those who read the Scriptures in the Spirit and call upon the Name of the Lord with sincerity and have the "blessed assurance". But we're not sure who they are.
That's all I'm saying: two very different ecclesiologies, related to two very different views of authority. I'm not ready to rear back and unveil some devastating argument to show that I, like King Friday, am "correct as usual", because I don't have one. I'm just trying to grasp the question.