Wow, Spencer, I'm amazed.

Somehow you seem to have made time on Christmas Day, no less, to post four lengthy missives... and I can't even get a straight answer on the Christianity (or otherwise) of the Roman Catholic Church.

//but I also know I'm a sinner saved by God's grace.//

Aye, well, you're not alone there. God will save all who live a decent moral life. He saves atheists and Christians alike, and everything in between. He shall know them by their fruits.

Foxy, you forgot Thorium!

//In using this fallacious reasoning, you have called upon your select group of theologians (I note that all of them are liberals, except maybe for Barth).//

Augustine? As in 'St. Augustine of Hippo'? A liberal? About 1,000 (one thousand) years before liberalism was even a thing?

[Snort. Guffaw. Giggle.]

I reckon this bloke is a few quarks short of a hadron.

JBowyer,

Thorium?

It's an Element not to ignore!

It's green, it's lean, it's a sustainable machine!

.

Dear Peter,

.

While I have utmost respect for your belief in some sort of divinity, the intricacies of the concept you describe here are a real labyrinth of complexity. It has the paradoxical effect of throwing doubt on the very existence of divinity. A three-headed monster, some sort of Hydra as in Greek mythology which you, yourself, apprehend when you write : “ How to understand the incarnation without making Jesus a divine messenger in a Greek myth?”.

That said, the attributes of the multiform and multifunction divinity, fruit of the fertile minds of your theological authorities and mentors, are a remarkable effort of imagination for those in need of a logical foundation for their belief in a monotheism incarnated by the presumed historical persona of Jesus of Nazareth.

But if logic is necessary for comprehension in order to form an opinion, or should I say, “belief”, it is not a requisite for faith. Religious faith is not based on logic and comprehension. It is based solely on trust.

Yet, you point out :

« The answer that the Church gives about how we can receive the presence of God is given in Christology, the doctrine about Jesus, the Christ. No other path to God is available to us »

What about the path of faith, Peter ? Does the Church discount the faith of simple, non-intellectual, religious devotees who are incapable of understanding and only have their faith to rely on ?

What about yourself, do you feel the need for a “logical” explanation in order to believe ? Or, like most devotees, do you simply rely on your faith too ?

After all, the Council of Chalcidon in the year 451, at which the Church elaborated its official dogma, resulted not in a consensus but in a schism. Nor has the Church ever claimed that its “doctrine about Jesus” was the result of divine revelation. It was clearly, and simply, the result of a power struggle among the various participants at the Council - a competing, purely human, conception.

.

Toni,

<<God will save all who live a decent moral life>>

That statement is found nowhere in this Bible. This is what you'll find:

+ " or God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes [Gk: continues to believe] in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16);

+ "No one living is righteous before you" (Psalm 143:2).

God saves only those who continue to trust in Jesus.

<<He saves atheists and Christians alike, and everything in between>>

God saves 'whoever'. He saves atheists who submit to him. He doesn't have to save Christians as they HAVE BEEN saved.

<<He shall know them by their fruits>>

The Bible states you have the wrong subject, 'He', in that sentence. Who are 'them'?

"YOU shall know [or recognise] them by their fruits" (Matt 7:15). The 'you' refers to believers (Jesus' disciples - Matt 5:1) and 'them' to 'false prophets' (Matt 7:20). It does not deal with recognising Christians by the fruit of their lives. It gives disciples a way to distinguish false prophets.

If we want to identify Christians, Jesus said: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).

I suggest you do a lot more reading of Scripture to arrive at accurate biblical content of the message of good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.
You asked for …

<<a straight answer on the Christianity (or otherwise) of the Roman Catholic Church>>

I hope that what I've written above indicated that to be a true Christian and part of Christianity, people (who form part of denominations) need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through faith (trust) in Him. So, within any denomination it declares itself Christian or non-Christian by the gospel message it proclaims. Is it what Jesus said in the Bible or not.

I don't determine whether a denomination is Christian or not. That is decided by whether it supports Jesus' teaching of 'the way, the truth and the life' (John 14:6).