Family dies holding hands, praying

[_Hoops]

There's no such thing as apostolic succession. The Bible speaks of no mmechanism by which the authority of the apostles to establish the church can be passed on to another.

The first chapter of Acts would beg to differ.

Who does not fulfill the three criteria I mentioned earlier.

[_Hoops]

I think my point is made.

If you say so.

I would not be at all surprised if you could find the odd

Which renders them meaningless?

early Christian somewhere

Is there a particular place required?

who thought that miracles of the old style (not just speaking in tongues) had ceased with the Apostles,

I'm sure as well.

but the great majority of influential early Christian writers

Let's see your calculations.

seemed

ah, yes, the hedging.

to have believed that miracles were continuing in their own days just as in the first days of the Church,

Still, the point remains. Somewhere along the way, someone asked why miracles would not continue, why we don't see them occur as they do in the Bible. I've offered an explanation. I've shown that this position is far from unique. I've shown that some of the best biblical scholars agree with me and, heavens!, disagree with chap.

[_Hoops]

To show how useless your sources are, let me just quote from another bit of the writing of Augustine (Have you, I wonder, ever sat down and read any books by Augustine?

No. Should I have? Should I know who he is?

It so happens that I have.

Of course, you have.

Try it sometime - they are very interesting,

I might. Do you really think he's that important to any discussion of the early church?

[_Chap]

... Still, the point remains. Somewhere along the way, someone asked why miracles would not continue, why we don't see them occur as they do in the Bible. I've offered an explanation. I've shown that this position is far from unique. I've shown that some of the best biblical scholars agree with me and, heavens!, disagree with chap.

I don't have the stamina to try to make sense out of most of Hoops' bizarre ejaculatory prose - to which her reply will probably be something along the lines of

Hoops

'

Who?

bizarre

Why?

ejaculatory

Hey!

prose

Whatever.

But the passage quoted above just means, more or less "Hey! I found this cool website!".

[_Chap]

To show how useless your sources are, let me just quote from another bit of the writing of Augustine (Have you, I wonder, ever sat down and read any books by Augustine?

No. Should I have? Should I know who he is?

It so happens that I have.

Of course, you have.

Try it sometime - they are very interesting,

I might. Do you really think he's that important to any discussion of the early church?

I don't think Hoops is joking here.

Look Hoops, read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

It may take you a while, but press on.

[_Hoops]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

It may take you a while, but press on.

Wow! Now I see it! I wished I had any idea of who he was before I got on this board. This changes everything.

[_Chap]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

It may take you a while, but press on.

Wow! Now I see it! I wished I had any idea of who he was before I got on this board. This changes everything.

Ignorance is not amusing.

[_Hoops]

Oh come on now.

[_Hoops]

There's no such thing as apostolic succession. The Bible speaks of no mmechanism by which the authority of the apostles to establish the church can be passed on to another.

The first chapter of Acts would beg to differ.

by the way, the first chapter of Acts is referring to apostolic appointment, not succession. Quite a different thing. And Mormonism doesn't come close to adhering to either. The only Christian denomination that could make such a claim are my RCC friends. And I think they are working under appointments made by Peter exclusively and his successors. Of course, that's referring back to the whole "keys" thingy, which Mormonism has muddled from the beginning.

[_Hoops]

But the passage quoted above just means, more or less "Hey! I found this cool website!".

Or it could mean these are whole lot of folks who are cessationists. These same folks approaching the intelligence and academic experience of Chap (approaching, mind you, not reaching).