@fredsbend thanks for the reference. I love history in general. My religious presupposition never hinder me from reading excellent scholarship like the Orthodox corruption of Scripture. We're having different presupposition. Selina did note accurately that there are many similarities between Christianity and other world religions. I do agree with what she says mostly except on her conclusion.

@fredsbend she assumed that because Christianity is not unique it was made by men. You might need to read what St. Justin Martyr said about Christians before Christ. you might be surprised who he listed as Christians before Christ :) We believe all religions and Christianity have a common root. The first religion when Adam left the Garden. That religion fragmented into many we see today. This is why Catholics active in ecumenical movement. St. John Paul II attended Synagogue and visited Mosque.

@fredsbend please let me know if these are not enough 1, 2, and 3.

@fredsbend "How do you determine if they've erred? When two disagree, or one contradicts himself, which opinion to you take?" This is an excellent question. When I was considering EO, I learned that the truth is preserved by consensus. The Holy Spirit guide and preserve the truth. In here, we presuppose the Church is kept by God. As a Catholic I agree but this is incomplete. Because council can disagree with another council. The infallibility of the Magisterium with Pope as her head is needed.

@fredsbend this we see at Chalcedon when the Fathers unanimously said, "Peter has spoken through Leo!" Of course EO have their own explanation on what happened then. But as a Catholic we don't see Pope infallibly, he has the infallibility accidentally not ontic. Just as all the writers of Scriptures, even St. Paul was not infallible. St. Peter was rebuked and Pope Honorius was condemned. The infallibility is exercised by the Spirit not because of the office of Papacy.

@AdithiaKusno You've read it? She actually rather dismally delivers on making a case relevant to the book's title. It was title bait to sell more books.

@AdithiaKusno But how does that help? There are multiple popes!

Hey Everyone, how's it going?

@TRiG Thank you, but all those answers say what I've always heard. "Saint's petition God for us. We aren't asking them to do anything except pray to God on our behalf." Adithia Kusno has said some other items that suggest otherwise. I haven't seen his sources yet.

@TyreeBrown Eh. It's fine. Killing time on SE. You know how it is.

@fredsbend no I have not. That's why I said thanks for referencing it to me. I just briefly skimmed through her book reviews.

@curiousdannii multiple claimant to the office doesn't mean all three were validly ordained as pope. The problem was resolved not via a council (because that council instead of solving the problem of two popes created a third pope) but via the true Pope being acknowledged by all. For a side note, no theological developments were made during that Western schism.

@fredsbend I've given you three sources. We pray to saints not merely asking them to pray for us like when we petitioned our living saints here on earth. Heavenly saints are deified they're co-reigning with Christ.

@fredsbend the difference between our prayer to the deified saints from our prayer to God is that the former is in the category of veneration while the later is adoration. Deified saints are humans, they don't cease from their humanity but being deified their humanity is exalted by divine energies. They're not a divine person and they don't share God's divine essence.

@curiousdannii these two might help you Answering Protestants Catholic Answer