Posted on 06/20/2010 11:09:39 PM PDT by Steelfish
Seminary Smorgasbord By Mark Tooley on 6.18.10
A United Methodist school in California is reportedly the first seminary in the United States to become multi-faith. Featured in a recent Los Angeles Times article, Claremont School of Theology outside Los Angeles will begin clergy training for Muslims and Jews this fall, and hopes for future Buddhist and Hindu programs.
Concerned about the new direction, United Methodism's oversight agency for its 13 official seminaries cut off funding to Claremont early this year and will reevaluate the cut-off later this month. Claremont was getting about $800,000 annually from the denomination. But the school says it has been offered $10 million from private supporters for the interfaith initiative. About 70 of Claremont's 275 or so students are United Methodists.
"Eventually, I suspect we will have a cluster of seminaries," Claremont President Jerry Campbell told a church publication early this year. "Each with its own specialty, but in an environment that emphasizes mutual understanding and makes religion the parent of peace rather than the parent of conflict."
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
I also said that the Charismatic Movement is alive and well WITHIN the Catholic Church. The Preacher to the Papal Household, Father Ranerio Cantalamessa, is rather fond of it and has written some good books and articles about it.
I have seen people sing and dance and pray in tongues. I have been slain in the Spirit. I know there is truth and power in it - and I know it is of God. And most of all, I know that it is IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
P.S. What does Ferraro have to do with anything other than so you have something to whine about?
Keep the PAWNS busy FEELING,and they have no time for THINKING. Except for the pitiful attempts so defend the indefensible. They are very proud of that..
How do you know it is of God?
But your study was based on data collected between 1970 and 1997... including the 1970s and 1980s. Therefore your supposed refutation of what I wrote was entirely consistent with what I wrote.
It's a tired old dance. Non-denom's are growing rapidly, the vast majority of which are Bible centered baptistic churches. The fastest growing churches in South America are Pentacostal followed by Baptist.
The old state churches are stagnant, or in decline. The RCC puts out phony membership numbers including as members people who were baptized as infants that don't attend. I know at my church 25% of our members are ERC's who are probably still being counted as RC because they never sent in paper work.
You can’t be serious? There aren’t enough churches to hold the burgeoning Catholic converts in the US and in Africa and Asia. The average Catholic parish has somewhere between 3- 6 services each Sunday and the churches are overflowing.
With each non-Catholic denomination having its own interpretation of the Gospel right down to the neighborhood FourSquare Church, we have as many as 20,000 different versions of Christianity, not infrequently in conflict with one another, not to mention the theatrical tv evangelists. And now this. A veritable smogasboard of religious seminary teaching including the training of Islamic clerics! God forbid. The married, gay and lesbian bishop issue has all but disintegrated the post-Reformation and heretical churches.
Maybe I can provide a better reply this evening . . . maybe not . . . quickly for now . . .
1. THANKS for your affirmations of true and Godly facts. I really do appreciate those and I did NOT read all of those the first glance.
2. I get . . . sometimes more than a little exasperated . . . at the rationalizations from your camp any time a truth appears that’s uncomfortable to the standard dogma.
3. THAT DOUBLE STANDARD SLIPPERY STUFF IS ABOMINABLE, HORRENDOUS, HIDEOUS, DEVILISH and I hate it. I have a bit of a knee jerk response to it.
4. There is, particularly hereon, a SYSTEMIC, INSTITUTIONAL level habitual tendency to rationalize away any truth remotely possible to rationalize away—usually on the excuse that it’s not from THE CATECHISM etc. etc. etc. REGARDLESS OF WHAT HUGE PERCENTAGE OF SELF-NAMED ROMAN CATHOLICS ET AL PRACTICE &/OR BELIEVE SUCH NONSENSE. THAT FACT IS RARELY, IF EVER ACKNOWLEDGED. That’s deceptive, wholesale doublestandard hideousness.
THX
TRUE. TRUE.
THX
Lets just look at the USA for a moment. The growth (if any) of your church here is from the influx of illegal aliens. If your church was growing it wouldn't be closing so many schools. It's your membership rolls that are skewed because you don't drop off your numbers those that don't attend.
With each non-Catholic denomination having its own interpretation of the Gospel right down to the neighborhood FourSquare Church, we have as many as 20,000 different versions of Christianity, not infrequently in conflict with one another, not to mention the theatrical tv evangelists
This is really what bugs so many of the RC's, that Christians would want to be free to worship God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit without a bureaucracy dictating how and when. It must be frightening to see Christians who are willing to search the Scriptures for themselves and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit rather than turn over all that messy stuff to a bureaucracy.
Not a problem - thank you for the response that you did give... I don't think we're talking past each other now, so take the time you need on it.
“but your statistics are bunk.”
They aren’t “my” statistics. They were the first germane statistics I found online when searching the subject.
The closing churches are due to shifting demographics. Inner cities went from Protestant to Catholic to non-Christian as different groups of immigrants moved through. My current parish holds seven masses each weekend, has room for 800 adults per mass and has people packed outside the door, but inner-city parishes in the neighboring diocese have merely a few dozen attendees per mass. (Mind you, that adds up to a couple hundred attendees, which would great for ECUSA, but puts a Catholic parish at risk of closure.)
Non-demons ARE growing rapidly, but still account for a mere 1 to 4 million congregants, depending on how you count. (4 million if you count disaffected who have taken to calling themselves nondenoms, closer to 1 million if you call those enrolled in nondenom churches.)
The Great Mandate to His Apostles to go forth and teach all nations was to insure they all taught the same truth. Hence one Apostolic Church No?
No! Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit to guide Christians.
The instruction was to preach The Gospel, not what a group of clerics want to teach. If you look closely at Acts you will see that initially the Apostles failed at this. They didn't preach The Gospel to all nations. They remained a Jewish church centered in Jerusalem. They continued going to the Temple and observed Jewish religious practices. It was when Jesus Christ converted Paul that the Gospel began to be preached to all nations.
Also, if you look at the NT you will find that the Christian churches in the first 2 centuries were independent and did not have a hierarchy. The hierarchy that evolved into your church started to emerge in the middle of the 2nd century.
If you look at the history of Christianity prior to the edict of Milan you will be stunned at how God worked miracles without a hierarchy. The Canon was established. The Gospel was preached far and wide and between 15-20% of the Roman Empire became Christian. It happened without a dominant church determining what should be taught and how.
OK...So, the Methodists are losing members. What about the growth of the evangelical and pentecostal churches?
When a denomination loses its way, the Protestant is completely free to find another group of “Saints” with whom to celebrate the Gospel.
Unlike Catholicism, when a Protestant leaves their denomination they are NOT condemned to hell. Why? Because we do not worship the denomination or recognize the denomination as being a conduit to God’s saving grace. To do this would be like worshiping an idol. Jesus is our savior, not the denomination.
“No! Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit to guide Christians.”
This says nothing about the authoritative teaching of the Christ. It allows each person to be a Church unto himself creating a veritable Tower of Babel. Such as you can see is the doctrinal mess of the various Protestant denominations and I include the Mormons and the Church of Scientology in this unbounded spectrum.
How does one instruct the pagan except through the Apostolic traditions? No small wonder that through the ages the Catholic Church is home to billions including the greatest scholars, philosophers, skeptics, converts, theologians, scientists, artists, sculptors, literary giants, and Nobel Laureates and of course discerning converts as well from every religious denomination on this planet. And it’s authenticity as evidenced by stigmatists, heavenly apparitions, and miracles speak volumes.
sorry, but that line is ludicrous. "to insure they all taught the same truth"??? Tell me where in Scripture this is said? or ever alluded to?
C'mon. At least TRY to understand the "Great Mandate". All 12 received it directly from Christ. They received the Holy Spirit in John 20:22. they didn't need to take notes, or compare their understanding with each other. They all HEARD. They all KNEW.
SF:This says nothing about the authoritative teaching of the Christ. It allows each person to be a Church unto himself creating a veritable Tower of Babel. Such as you can see is the doctrinal mess of the various Protestant denominations and I include the Mormons and the Church of Scientology in this unbounded spectrum.
To which I say Where is your FAITH?
How does one instruct the pagan except through the Apostolic traditions?
It is so easy we Born Again Christrians are called Evangelists. We preach The Gospel.
I don't mean this in a rude way, but do you know The Gospel?
No small wonder that through the ages the Catholic Church is home to billions including the greatest scholars, philosophers, skeptics, converts, theologians, scientists, artists, sculptors, literary giants, and Nobel Laureates and of course discerning converts as well from every religious denomination on this planet. And it’s authenticity as evidenced by stigmatists, heavenly apparitions, and miracles speak volumes.
You should be very proud.
My religious lineage didn't fair so well. They were persecuted, tortured and killed for their faith but to their everlasting credit they held to the baptistic principals I hold to today, most importantly they preached The Gospel!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.