Interesting comments from Steve Mattson:
"The emphasis on having the "right" ideas for oneself, in one's head, is prevalent....
The answer to liberal Protestant and Catholic intellectuals and conservative Fundamentalists is faith. Not fideistic, naive, unthinking faith. But faith in Christ who promised the Holy Spirit would guide the Church into all truth. At the end of the day, faith is an act of submission and obedience more than strictly intellectual effort.
Faith requires our willingness to have the Truth enfold us instead of striving always to prove to ourselves that we're smart enough to be saved. In other words, salvation (like faith) is not rooted in propositions, but in a Person. When faith gets reduced to "truths" we trot out for review, instead of confidence in the person to whom we must submit all we are and hope to be, we don't yet know the Truth that sets us free.
As Catholics, we embrace mystery as part of our faith. So we must trust, we must have faith, in Him who said He would guide the Church into all truth. That does not mean each of us will have all truth-- nothing, in fact, is less likely. However, the Church makes up for what we lack. In fact, as St. Paul said, the Church is the Pillar and Bulwark of the Truth. I don't know about you, but I'd say that's real good news. I'm glad I don't have to work it all out for myself.
In contrast, the desire to possess tidy faith formulations that can pass muster with the world (on Wills' side) or Sola Scriptura (on the Fundamentalists') is vanity. In the end, it produces more pride than love. And it leads to the lifeless faith that Amy described so well."
My take on this is that it is true, we defer to Christ's Church for truth, but the maddening thing is that we must admit even the Church "looks through the glass darkly" as St. Paul wrote. Israelites of OT times surely thought they possessed truth, and they did in a sort of elementary way. But the hard fact remains: can we not say that Christianity has developed such that we no longer persecute those who do not believe as we do? From "errors have no rights" to religious freedom? Two hundred years from now it's hard to believe that those looking back will cast an eye on us and think not that our doctrines were wrong, but that they were crude. And that is humbling, which is to say, saving.
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