Ah, OK. The perpetual virginity of Mary is not in any creeds. But that is not the same as saying that it is not in any patristic writing. The creed is barely on page long, -- there is a lot of stuff that is not in it.
Your problem, annalex, is that you cannot separate your Roman Catholicism from your Christianity
How am I supposed to do that? Roman Catholicism is Christianity is its fullest form. You are asking me to injure myself?
annalex wrote:
“Ah, OK. The perpetual virginity of Mary is not in any creeds. But that is not the same as saying that it is not in any patristic writing. The creed is barely on page long, — there is a lot of stuff that is not in it.”
I didn’t say it was the same. In fact, since you are the one who complimented me for what I have written before on this very subject, you also know that I am well aware of what is said in the patristic literature. To say, “the creed is barely one page long,” is simply a way of “damning with faint praise.” This is either an indication of insincerity on your part or of real ignorance about the difference between the creeds and all other human writing about Christianity.
The perpetual virginity of Mary, although indeed believed by many, perhaps even most, of the early church fathers, didn’t make it into any of the three creeds because it was not doctrine! It was not necessary to believe for salvation! But Rome, like the Pharisees of old, seems to like laying heavy burdens on people rather than simply doing what the Lord commanded ... preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Power is the ultimate narcotic. Who are really the pharmakoi?
No, annalex, I am not asking you “to injure” yourself. Quite the opposite.