I commented on some of these FE threads early on, and the correct measure, which showed continuing involvement a waste of time, showed itself almost immediately, and FE failed the measure, so I stopped and got away from those threads - while I don't deny there is an entertainment or diversionary aspect to time spent on this site which I can see justifying the continuing involvement of some people whose opinions and expression I enjoy reading.
You wouldn't expect a rational animal to grasp the Trinity, the Incarnation, or many of the other essentials necessary for our salvation, but they have been revealed, and accepting the truths revealed on the basis of the person of the Revealer - not reason, not the graspability of the truths - is the basis of saving faith.
The Church, as our proximate rule of faith, is the guardian and teacher of those truths.
The FE crowd struck out, and keeps striking out, when this simple fastball is thrown: has the Church given us FE as being part of the necessary truth revealed by God? They strike out because the answer is, "no."
I commend AES, An Even Seven, for pounding on and insisting on this issue, which puts in the proper context, and shows the ultimate irrelevance of the whole thing.
Now, I shall go back to my glorious restraint, and stay away, unless I see some delicious "fun" in the offing.
Have at it.
But keep bringing this point up (I trust AES will), so some souls who wander into these precincts might not fall off the end of the earth, as it were.
Bollocks.
I do not intend to go to my Judgment and tell Him what parts of the Bible *I thought* He meant to be important and *necessary*.
I will consider it ALL to be important, just to be on the safe side.
It is all necessary truth.
For the sake of illustration let's say that I have a pagan "pal" who is bleeding out of too many holes, some being where organs are supposed to go; he's gonna die very soon, he knows it, knows that I'm Catholic and says that he wants to be baptized.
1. Can I administer baptism?
1. If not, why not?
2. If so, what is:
1. Important?
2. necessary?