“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” (Colossians 1:21-23 ESV)

Each of the two lungs both tried to kick the other out of the body, which is not really in the spirit of reconciliation. But, I’m living in just the same glass house really. Not a year goes by that some Evangelical leader turns out to be a fraud and a hypocrite. So that’s why I’m compelled to reach as far back as I’m able to find the faith that will support me. Further back than even Paul, who is just one minister of the gospel.

So I’m encouraged when I see other Christians emphasize that the church rests on the foundation of Christ Jesus. We agree on more than we disagree on, I’d say.

I don’t know why the source I used didn’t put Eastern Orthodoxy in that list. The book I referenced certainly was written at a time when East-West relations weren’t as beneficent as they seem to be nowadays. But, as Pope John Paul II said, we’re just two lungs of the same church, we’ve both got the same claim to apostolic succession.

Jek Porkins is never to be opened even by the connoisseur, the Chardonnay is to be opened and drank at some point.

As far as I can tell, in my faith journey, the Catholic Church has been always threadsafe.

Roman Catholic     1054  Pope Leo IX          Rome
Eastern Orthodoxy  1054  Patriarch Michael I  Constantinople

• The Donation of Constantine
• The Forth Crusade
• The Sack of Constantinople

All of this arose because the church allowed herself to be caught up in Europe’s politics and became inflexible in her hierarchy. She sacrificed some of her holiness. (But I’ll save the rest of my comments on this subject for my post in a few weeks.)

I appreciate the section on holiness, but what’s the difference between the 2002 Chardonnay and Jek Porkins?

The first characteristic (Atomic) got me wondering if the church meets the ACID test (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACID).

At this stage, bronze badges in a particular tag, might as well be gold badges. Good work!

“All men are called to this catholic unity of the People of God. . . . And to it, in different ways, belong or are ordered: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, called by God’s grace to salvation.”

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p3.htm

I’ve got one question for clarification: In what sense is everyone “more or less in the Catholic Church”? I’m not sure what that means.