Perhaps my problem is that I’ve been drinking Harp Beer Lately - Irish Beer. ;)

The question as to when the councils began to get off is a good one but also a bit indicative of our preconditioned protestant mentality. We imagine the church councils as being somewhat like the US congress, with the bishops being the law makers, the scene replete with slimey lobbyists paying the Bishops off on the side to tack some strange pork barrel Marian doctrines onto some random anathemas being issued against the persecuted protestants. We imagine a compounding of new laws and doctrines being piled on daily etc until the point that the Church is unrecognizable. And though we may laugh at the chick tracks, we still subtley feel as though they reflect a measure of truth. But this predjudice is often dissolved to a large measure when we really take the time to read opposing perspectves: maybe a Catholic perspective of Church History or an Orthodox. Then we realize that many of our predjudices are quite unfounded and over-exaggerated.

The councils were really so far and few in-between and generaly only spoke to issues that were needed. They are not nearly as abundant as we sometimes might imagine. I’m certainly no expert (obviously), but my personal feelings are that once the One Church split between East and West, things changed. The Body of Christ, that until then had genuinely managed to stay together was fractured. Things were no longer as they should be. Eventually the Protestant reformation took place and the shattering and bone splintering snaps, crackles and pops can still be heard to this day. Once again, I’m pushing this book as a fantastic tool of understanding for such discussions. (The author is Baptist pastor who teaches at a Catholic University.) But I think that it is important for us to be aware and understand that things are not as they should be. Christ’s prayers for unity are not presently being realized and each of us has a role to play in this sin. As such, we all need to be wrestling through your question. Your take is that one only need to go back to th Bible to remain true to Christ’s vision. Again, I will point out that it was the councils that determined which Bible is the Bible. I will also point out that Arius and other soul-destroying heresiarchs also utilized the Bible to defend their positions. I do agree with you however that the trinity is there. (I had to fight off the Jehovah’s Witnesses for the first two years after I converted to Christ.) But the councils use langauge that bury the hatchet each time. I will also incedentally point out that the Bible also shows us that the apostles established the very episcopal structure of the Church through apostolic sucession which eventually gave birth to the councils. Am I faithful to that or do I put myself in a camp all on my own? Again for me personally, I go back to the Church as she existed at least prior to the split and seek to at least remain faithful to that. Anything after that to me are non-essentials, anything before that to me are things that I wish to in humility submit to. I’m on a journey, but at least for now, them’s my feelings.