The Assumption is the oldest feast day of Our Lady, but we don't know how it first came to be celebrated.
Solid foundation for the belief right there. The gospel of "it coulda been".
1. These folks first deny Petrine authority based on scripture and accepted by hundreds of theologians over the last several centuries to say nothing of leading Protestant and Evangelical theologians who have accepted this and switched over to Catholicism. But according to the FourSquare Church “street” preacher logic they continue to deny this.
2. Having denied Petrine authority they cannot now account for why “their” view of scriptures takes precedence ever that of Rev. Moon or Billy Graham or David Koresh who also use scripture to preach to their followers. We end up with different “truths” (Biblical anarchy) that is incompatible with the Word of God.
3. They deny the dogma of the Assumption simply because it is unclear when Feast of the Assumption was first celebrated. (Check out Cynicalbear’s post) .This is foolish as saying the birth of Christ is questionable because during early times it was unclear what time or during what particular year He was born. Apparently, The Son of God whose whose human flesh and blood was entirely that of His mother, who nourished him, and was there at the foot of the cross was allowed to rot on earth even though she died while St. John was writing his Book on Revelations and the presence of strong circumstantial evidence of her Assumption, a belief accepted by eminent Protestant scholars and theologians who converted to Catholicism, to say nothing of brilliant Catholic scholars. But not to these “street” theologians.
4. Scripture says
Douay-Rheims Bible Jn. 21:25
“But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.”
5. Thus the early Church fathers used the sacred rituals and oral traditions of what Christ said but was not written out to sort out what books to ignore; what to discard; and what to include.
6. So why question Petrine authority now? When did it become ineffective? It cannot be because the authority was given by Christ. It was absolute. “WHATSOEVER…thou shall bind on earth,” and it was until the end of time “The Gates of Hell shall never prevail against her”
In summary: neophyte readers of Scripture are caught in a bind. They resort to simplistic snippets of Scriptures, toss around such ridiculous nonsense like born again, and again and again, like a Hindu/Buddhist rebirth. At Easter they participate in a so called vapid beach type “Sunrise Services” with a self appointed pastor (choose your own reverend: from Osteen to Sharpton) , sing out some alleluias, do a hand holding kumbaya, and voila, this is a celebration of Easter. No, the supreme sacrifice of the Mass, the center of all Catholic adoration and worship is beyond their grasp.