some comments found concerning false teachers/and authority to teach
from comment 201 here http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2012/11/how-the-church-won-an-interview-with-jason-stellman/#comment-40652
Regarding Mt. 7:15ff and 2 Pet 2:1, of course there will be (and are) false prophets, and we will know them by their fruits. But there is more than one way to be false. One way to be false is to be living in mortal sin, while at the same time verbally teaching the moral law and in one’s clerical office representing Christ. Another way to be false is to teach contrary to what Christ and the Apostles taught. The passage in Matthew and 2 Peter are not teaching that a bishop or priest in mortal sin ipso facto loses either holy orders or authority of office. The falsehood in view is “prophetic” falsehood, i.e. falsehood in the message taught. Some of the fruits by which we are to recognize “false prophets” are separation from the ancient Church, teaching contrary to the Church, and division among themselves. Your interpretation does not make the distinction between these two ways in which someone can be ‘false,’ and you are placing your interpretation of these passages over that of the Church and Tradition, and in that respect begging the question, i.e. presupposing precisely what is in question.
see also here :http://nannykim-catholicconsiderations.blogspot.com/2012/12/arian-controversy-and-pope-liberius.html
also from comment 209 here: http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2012/11/how-the-church-won-an-interview-with-jason-stellman/#comment-40700
In Catholic doctrine, falling into heresy is not the only grave sin. Murder, adultery, rape, etc. are also grave sins. The act of choosing heresy (i.e. one’s own opinion) over the teaching of the Church, is a “deed,” and will be judged by God. Nevertheless, falling into heresy is a sin that destroys faith, while the other grave sins (excepting apostasy) do not; they destroy charity. So the fact that heresy will be judged by God does not nullify the real distinction between teaching false doctrine (or believing false doctrine), and the other sins. The question here is fundamentally one of divine omnipotence. Is it possible for God to protect a person from teaching false doctrine, while not keeping the person from committing other sins? Your answer so far, implies that you believe God cannot do that. But if you already believe that the Scripture are divinely inspired and inerrant, then unless you believe that every human author of Scripture was sinless, you already believe that God in His omnipotence is capable of doing the very thing in question. And in that case, your objection is not principled, because the question then becomes merely whether He has in fact done so.
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