Posted on 04/14/2005 12:00:51 PM PDT by Dean Baker
Baptist church 'fake pope' sign attracting attention, criticism By JEANNINE F. HUNTER, hunter@knews.com April 13, 2005
NEWPORT, Tenn. - Two days after being posted, a church marquee message that questions the purpose of the papacy is still attracting attention in this small community.
"What I am trying to do is to let people know there's only one way to heaven through Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Cline Franklin, pastor of Hilltop Baptist Church. "There's no need for help. God sent his son, Jesus Christ. We're all priests if we're saved. I don't need to go to anybody else to pray."
The sign's side facing Broadway, the main thoroughfare in Newport, reads, "No truth, No hope Following a hell-bound pope!" On the other side, facing the church parking lot, it reads: "False hope in a fake pope."
The message appeared days after Pope John Paul II's funeral last week.
"It is unfortunate when it comes from within the Christian church. It's really sad," said the Rev. Dan Whitman, 54, pastor of Newport's Good Shepherd Catholic parish and Holy Trinity parish in Jefferson City. "You learn how to deal with it and pray not to be that way yourself."
It does not reflect mainstream Baptist thought, said Dr. Merrill "Mel" Hawkins, associate professor of religion and director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City.
"When you see signs like that, they are almost like relics or artifacts of a bygone era," Hawkins said.
He spoke about animus between Protestants and Catholics persisting after the Protestant Reformation and for centuries, during which "harsh things were said, couched within misperceptions, misunderstandings."
Among the major misperceptions is that Catholics "venerate the pope on the same level as Jesus," Hawkins said, and that "the pope is connected to their salvation in place of Jesus Christ."
Catholics make up about 12 percent of the population in the South.
"Catholics are a minority faith in the South, and there's often bias toward minority religious communities because people don't understand," he said.
James Gaddis, a lay speaker who also chairs the board at First United Methodist Church, said he had not seen the sign but had heard about it.
"I understand that it's very degrading," he said. "I think it's tragic that any church group would stoop to this posture."
Following Tuesday night's council meeting, Newport Mayor Roland Dykes Jr. said he was a little saddened by the message.
"It doesn't behoove any of us to determine who is going to heaven or hell. I think the pope is a highly, highly respected person," he said.
Franklin's church is a five-year-old independent Baptist church. When asked what the message meant, he said: "What does 'pope' mean? It means father. We have a heavenly father, and the Bible says we shall call no man a father. "
He said people have been driving by or taking pictures or calling to share their views. He said the intent was not to offend Catholics and people are misunderstanding the sign.
Copyright 2005, Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
=full of grace and power, two nouns dependent on the adjective "full".
Mary was saluted by Gabriel as kecaritwmenh
=perfect participle in the passive voice = endowed with grace or "graced" at an indefinite time in the past and continuing on (presumably forever).
Stick to Protestantism because you don't know a thing about Catholicism.
You're in my prayers. God's word is all there is, and it is fully inspired. Read it, and believe it.
As the article states, there's still some of that around (I live in the Bible belt), but not nearly as much as, say 50 years ago. And, of course, before that it was virulent. Mostly it's based on the legacy of the reformation (which goes both ways) and misinformation. As well as the occassional preacher who needs something to fire up the congregation.
Why do Catholics come onto Protestant threads to say that we are wrong?
Because you think you are right and you believe it is important that we come to the truth.
Same here, but the other side.
However, I have had enough of this thread. I do wish you a good night.
Re post 447
Does that include politicians of air? Airing "for God" for public promotion? And public displays of piety?
Thanks so much!
Wish I had more people who read it.
Re Post 520
What is the difference, in your opinion, between 'circumcision' and 'ritual sexual abuse'?
Which 'image of God'--in all bodily parts--do you disagree with?
St John 14:6........1st Corinthians 15:1-4..........Romans 10:17........John 3:16.......
Wouldn't you say that this means, be ye not of this world, but of the life to follow? As the Amish do.
These earthly politics and bickerings are silly diversions. The true faith is in the soul's everlasting.
That is what the book of Galatians is dealing with, a false Gospel that adds works to salvation (Gal.1:6-8 cf Rom.4:4-5, 16)
Keep digging yourself in deeper.
Your anti-Catholic comments have about reached fever pitch.
I recall that you found it "DISTURBING" that our American
President attended the Pope's funeral.
Sounds like this guy doesn't have the version of the Bible that has the line "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church." This guy must think Jesus was wrong.
Let me just offer two general/specific answers.
First: Galatians 1:8-9 pronounces damnation on anyone who perverts the Gospel into a different Gospel.
Second: since (unless I've forgotten) Scripture only specifies four individuals who certainly are Hellbound, for everyone else, I can't pronounce what might or might not have happened between someone and God in his/her last remaining moments; I can hold to hope.
But to answer what I think your question us, Galatians 1:8-9 tels me that a person who perverts the Gospel is damned. Not relatively minor variations in doctrine (immerse/sprinkle, amill/postmill/premill, etc.), but the heart, the Gospel. By implication, if he or she holds to that perverted Gospel until death, he or she has no hope.
Well if your family didn't practice, then it would be hard at that age. But yes, starting in the upper grades the Bible was studied, not to worry. Like I said, the early years are religious education/instruction to set the stage. There was always a emphasis on Jesus.
You are exactly right.
Why? Just because worship and carrying the beliefs you listed above are analogous in your mind, doesn't mean that's how Catholics view them.
Educate yourself on the Catholic church, then come on back and we'll talk. Until then, mind your own business.
>>>>>I am for Catholics, I just want them to find a Protestant church.
If you are "for" me, I'd hate to see who is against me. Your comments about Catholics are IDENTICAL to the arguments made against the Catholic Church by the likes of the Ku Klux Klan.
They believe that it's 'Jesus only', therefore, when they see all the 'tradition' being practiced they assume that all those things are 'needed' as well.
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