Granting the Filioque, the Orthodox are wrong only insofar as they deny the truth of the Filioque. The creed they use omitting the Filioque is still technically correct. The Holy Spirit does proceed from the Father. If the Filioque is wrong then the Catholic use of it is in error. In either case, the creed as drawn up by Nicaea is orthodox. (Small 'o' just to be clear).
As an aside, Catholics do not make universal use of the Filioque. I'm fairly sure the eastern rites omit it. That Nicaea did not include it in its original formulation is not disputed.
Recognising the
credibility of Eastern Orthodoxy is not an affirmation of its denial of papal authority on my end. My comment was meant to be read as a hypothetical of someone considering Christianity.
From a Catholic point of view the Eastern Orthodox are schismatic, not heretical. Like the creed situation most of what they affirm is orthodox. (Again, small 'o'). The Catholic Church even recognises Orthodox sacraments as valid. It is a real church.
All religions are valid, except when they're not.
In seriousness, what you think is wrong does not mean much to me. I have an obligation to assent to all the Church proposes as authoritative.
Christ as the good shepherd is a metaphor. Christ as the Second Person of the Triune God is an objective claim about Christ as God.
You could go half way and claim that Christ was some kind of 'manifestation' of God. But that would be unacceptable to both Christians and Muslims. Truth is not always in the middle.
Again, not really an argument.
There are many perspectives. But even the existence of a trillion perspectives does not mean an objective truth does not exist.
As in the case of the afterlife. If I ask you whether or not denial of the afterlife (as a proposition) negates its affirmation, telling me that the afterlife may be radically different than what I expect is not an answer. We're not even having the same conversation at that point. I'm not asking you for your beliefs about the afterlife.
The Cross redeemed the world by reconciling man with God. This reconciliation does not ensure that all will actually receive sanctifying grace. People can still lose the state of grace by mortal sin. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.
I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean anything. It's fluffy sentiment signifying nothing.
It's the teaching of the Catholic Church.
"Outside the Church there is no salvation"
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337
848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338
Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText
You will notice that every time I've mentioned this doctrine,
I have always qualified that it applies only to the culpable.
We are going to have to disagree. God created the world by his will alone. And God is utterly separate from his creation.
Only if you flagrantly ignore the explicit warnings of Scripture on the matter.
