Hey Brian,

As usual you raise an interesting point but as a counterpoint, and I believe you stated in the past that this is non-essential, but the fact that the Roman Catholic church places the condition on a priest that he take a vow of celibacy. I don't know all the history there but obviously I would question those in authority on that issue as well as a few others that seem to run contrary to Biblical teachings.

Obviously, I realize the Roman Catholic church also appeals to scripture to support their practices and beliefs.....

Are there any 'essentials' in which you ever questioned the authority or can you not entertain that type of thinking?

I do believe there are some areas of Protestant Reformed teaching that are not as clear-cut as we'd like but nothing that I would jump ship over (maybe you feel the same, but that would be more of a problem for you as a Catholic then for me, no?) Because we don't claim that the Protestant church is infallible. We claim that God's Word is infallible and hope to rightly divide His Word.

The mercy of God is necessary not only when a person repents, but even to lead him to repent, Augustine