[Gamecock]

Ping

[TheRobb7]

What can protestants expect from the new Pope/

Answer: more Catholicism.

You were expecting...Islam?...B'nai faith...Zoroastrianism?

[jecIIny]

Ping

[jecIIny]

ping

[Larry Lucido]

What Can Protestants Expect From The New Pope?

Protestants have a New Pope? Go figure!

[Terabitten]

Non-Catholics are in a state of grace, their baptism is recognized, and they are therefore “in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church.”

Funny... I tend to think of Catholics the same way -- in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church.

[AlbionGirl]

You may not care, but in case you do I found this when I was researching something. This is from the National Catholic Reporter which I've not read, except for this piece, and it dates back to '97.

I understand it has a liberal bent, but I still found it interesting, and I think is probably fairly accurate, as I read the signs, anyway.

I don't believe you'll hear the word heretic coming from any quarter of the RC heirarchy. I don't think they can or want to make the case that however many millions of Protestants are out there, who profess belief in the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Crucifixtion, the Resurrection, Salvation by the Grace of God, etc. are heretics. They recognize the good fruits of the Protestants, it's hard not to.

The article I linked touches on that with references to the second Vatican Council.

This obviously doesn't speak for the Pope, but I would imagine that if it's true that he's a 'fan' of Luther, quite a bit of this might not be far off the mark.

All that being said, I don't know what they're going to do with all those 'accursed' and 'anathemas.' Perhaps they believe that's all water under the damn, and that it reflects a specific historical mindset that is really no longer in play. That's the tricky thing, I would think.

[AlbionGirl]

"It is not the ideology of adaptation that will rescue Christianity,”

I don't quite understand this. What does it need to be rescued from? There will always be unbelievers, the Church has always struggled with being part of the world, but apart from it too. When the Church and the Papacy became secularized and led to the Reformation, it needed reformation, but that's not the same as rescuing. In any event, does anything like that lurk today?

If the promise of Christ is to be believed, that the gates of Hell will not prevail, then the Church is the one who rescues. If he's saying that we could all live the Faith more authentically (my goodness, I think I just quoted Al Gore), more vibrantly, then I agree, but I just don't know what he means by Christianity being in need of rescuing.

[AlbionGirl]

But “the separation of Church and Scripture tends to erode both from within.” A Church without Scripture is merely a human organization, while the Bible without the Church “is also no longer the powerfully effective Word of God, but an assemblage of various historical sources…”

The separation of Church and Scripture as he describes here, seems a worse fate than the second scenario he describes. "Where two or more are gathered in my Name, there also will I be." I don't think that needs a ton of exegesis, does it?

In fact, the saints, who did not have the benefit “scientific” exegesis, “were the ones who understood it best” (76).

I think I agree with that. Christ's choice of His Apostles seem to agree with that too.

The Trinity is in need of rediscovery as well, since in much of theology today “The Son [is] reduced, the Father forgotten.”

I get tripped up when I'm praying sometimes because I begin thinking I've got the whole order wrong. I'm praying to Christ, but I have to remind myself that the Father is the First Person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit I do call on, so it's mostly Our Father that I have to bring myself back to, and I don't quite know why that is.

[TradicalRC]

This seems like a fair piece from our protestant brethren. Christ desired that he could gather up all the Jews like a mother hen, I'm sure He feels the same about we Gentiles. I have for a long time had a lot more respect for the fire-and-brimstone protestants than the wishy-washy Jesus is our friend types. I like what the ECT crowd was attempting to do. I think it is difficult to say the least, to fight for truth in faith, yet recognize that Christians should hang together against the secular world or we should surely hang separately.

[Campion]

Allow me to summarize: "This Pope, like the preceding one, is a Catholic, and we don't like that one bit."

(Why it takes several pages to explain this, or why a Protestant -- or anyone else -- would find that remarkable, is something that would require explanation. However, that would seem to be throwing good bandwidth after bad.)

[F16Fighter]

While mainline Protestants demonstrate ambivalence about this new pope, probably in large measure because of their liberal biases in theology and ethics...

Since Catholic dogma is deemed irrelevant to Protestants' belief in eternal salvation, there is no "ambivalence" of which to opine regarding the Pope.

Only that he does not speak on behalf of "all Christianity."

[nmh]

What can Protestants expect from the new Pope?

Nothing of interest if Protestants are Bible based.

This fellow has no effect on me and I don't pay attention to him. What Christ and the Bible states is what my life is centered upon.

What a stupid question!

[nmh]

What can Protestants expect from the new Pope?

Nothing of interest if Protestants are Bible based.

This fellow has no effect on me and I don't pay attention to him. What Christ and the Bible states is what my life is centered upon.

What a stupid question!

For those who care about truth, this question is irrelevant!

[AnalogReigns]

I've had Horton as a seminary professor...he's a terrific teacher. Here's a sloppy (SLOPPY) diagram suggested by a professor friend of Dr. Horton's which is in my notes from another seminary course . All the dates aren't right, but the gist of it is that "acceptable" theologies vary at different times...and currently, in spite of the official catechism (the first universal one since Trent) Roman Catholic scholars' opinions are as diverse (or more) than Protestant ones. The RC Catechism is the official doctrine, but it's amazing the diversity found in RC scholarship--going way outside of the catechism. There actually are a few RC scholars who believe in grace alone through faith alone by Christ alone today....and they haven't been excommunicated (or even fired from their University professorships). (of course they are a small minority...)

Anyway, enjoy my lovely art....

A Diagram attempting to show the diversity of Roman and Protestant theologies through time, compared to a theoretical pure Biblical Theology: