Posted on 08/14/2006 9:21:08 AM PDT by kentuckycatholiceye
I think Baptists predate Martin Luther.
"Baptists don't consider themselves Protestants???"
_____________________________
We were never a part of the RC Church.
fellow Catholics...and brother Knights...they're onto our Secret Plan to Take Over the World...
YOU weren't, but hard to trance your apostolic succession. Of course, "Baptist" is a big tent, including every theological school .
The term means "successors of the Apostles.," It does not mean that a bishop like Ignatius was an apostle or even an apostolic man like Luke.
Apostolic succession has always meant leadership succession.
If you are a conservative Christian, you must realize that the beef that the writers have with these Catholic authors is that they fight for Christianity, with a conservative leaning. Unless you've wandered lost into FR, these are your allies who are being attacked for their patriotism, conservativism, and moral values.
True, restorationists do not consider themselves Protestant. However, Fr. McCloskey is certainly using standard usage when calling them Protestant*; in fact, they are categorized as Protestant far more commonly than Anglicans; the ones who could have a real beef with Fr. McCloskey are the partisan Orthodox. Fr. McCloskey is less likely calling them Protestant than brushing over their disagreements, but then again, the subjects of his sentence are schismatic Amchurch "Catholics In Name Only", not the Orthodox, Baptistsm or Restorationists.
(*One exception are the Mormons, who, like Jehovah's Witnesses, are frequently categorized as "Marginal Christians," because they reject key Christian doctrine, such as the trinity.
I mean to make no comment on how fair these categorizations are, only that Fr. McCloskey's definition of Protestant is, although perhaps problemmatic, quite standard.)
>> It's conveniently misleading.<<
"Apostolic" is a term used since the first century to refer to those local church leaders who had been annointed by the apostles, or, recursively, those who were apostolic. It was used to distinguish those with authentic authority from con-men like the gnostics, Simon the Magician, etc.
And he needs to recognize that the conservatives are alligned with God.
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