[TruthTalk] Judy, Lance, Bill, John, David?

[Judy Taylor]

From: "David Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Judy wrote: > I am amazed that anyone reading Church history > would want to hold the early fathers in such honor > and follow their example.  With their politics, heresy > hunting, banishing those who didn't agree with them > etc. Where is the love? and faith for that matter. > Why choose "dead orthodoxy" over a "living God?"   You are either over-generalizing, or confusing the emperors of Rome starting with Constantine with the church fathers.    I may be generalizing but I wasn't speaking of the Roman emperors; I was thinking more about the conflicts between the western and asian churches, and the politics that went on when they began having the church councils. Since the record is usually written by the victor it is hard to know exactly what the story was and I'm unimpressed with later history and the fruit of their teachings which has culminated in the present day rcc.   Clement of Rome, one of the first church fathers, was nothing like you describe here, neither was Polycarp, and many of the later church fathers were the subjects of heresy hunting, being banished themselves like the apostle John was.    Wasn't John banished in the Domitian (Sp) persecutions? That was not church infighting.  I've heard that Polycarp was a godly man but have no idea what he taught.  I am not down on their persons so much as dragging their teachings out and putting them on the same level as the Word of God.   This is not meant to say that all the church fathers were great men of God, but your characterization makes them all evil, and that is not even close to being the case, as any student of Church history knows.  When you talk about church fathers, you are including men who were martyred for their faith in Jesus.    Calvin is the only one I have characterized personally and to me this issue is kind of akin to some of the things he taught.  Reformed theology today claims that God decrees whatever happens - they claim that he decreed the fall making him personally responsible for sin which to me is outrageous and claiming that the Holy Spirit fathered Jesus with an unholy and fallen Adamic nature is just as outrageous.   They deserve much more respect and honor than you afford them here. I can only assume that you are ignorant of their biographies and teachings. David Miller.   The above may be so David; I am much more interested in following the Lord and being a part of the future Church than I am in trying to figure out what went on in the past (other than scripture) ie "forgetting what lies behind ... I press on "