Islam, Protestantism and Divergence from Catholicism

Faith Magazine ^ | January-February 2007 | Francis Lynch

[RobbyS]

If you compare the doctrine of the Catholic Church with those of the Southern Baptist Convention you will find many resemblences. But the differences matter a little bit. don't you think?

[Blogger]

Certainly. Largely on the essential of salvation. In some aspects, Catholics have commonality with both Islam and Southern Baptists alike. With Islam because it is works plus faith plus a lot of hope in the end that God will be merciful, and with Southern Baptists because we serve a Trinitarian God with a second person of that Trinity who came down to be the sacrifice for our sins. Nevertheless, when I see statements like that that JP2 made about how Christians and Muslims serve the same God (especially in light of their explicit rejection of the deity of Jesus Christ and His death burial and resurrection as well as the Trinity) and see the same JP2 kissing the Koran, I have reason for concern as to which side the RCC is closer to.

[RobbyS]

Islam is all salvation by works. The only faith is in the divine nature of the Koran.

[Blogger]

Okay, so they have a book but no God. Nice try, Robby. You know full well it isn't true though.

[RobbyS]

The God they worship is not the God of the Jews. It is the God of Mohammed., which(Imean the concept) is someone like the God of Abraham. Mohammed could identify with him, because the Arabs still lived a similar life.

[free_life]

If you are going bash those that left the RCC to get back to real Christianity, use some facts instead of this utter nonsense. It does not even make sense. Of course when there are no facts to support your thesis you write something like this.

Some of us Christians are hoping some day the Catholic church will actually find Christ. But with Popes praying in Mosques and kissing Korans that may not happen.

[Marysecretary]

You're wrong. There were many churches in Jesus' time. He spoke of them when he talked about the seven churches and their faults and good points. The Roman church came later. Protestants aren't the only religion that contains heresy. Look into your own before you accuse others. The Holy Spirit is working mightily in many protestant churches, including ours. You need to get out more, my FRiend (smile).

[Marysecretary]

Thanks, wmfights. Hard to make folks realize that there were many churches back then.

[Marysecretary]

Yepper.

[GoLightly]

Gamble on if this should become an undead thread?

It's not gambling when there is no risk or potential for reward.

(It's a Trinity thing.)

My last ancestor that I know for sure was a Puritan held that all games were the works of Satan & I wonder if you hold the same position.

[Mr. Lucky]

I believe you'll find the liturgy observed in orthodox Lutheran churches is as faithful to the liturgy observed prior to the reformation as does is the modern Roman Catholic liturgy.

[Enosh]

I wonder if you hold the same position.

I do not.

Scripture shows many instances of "lot casting."

[GoLightly]

The reason I had asked had to do with whether or not my ancestor's position was rare, possibly the result of his descent from Samuel Wardwell (hanged 1692). Making a game of fortune telling was among the charges against Samuel.

[Enosh]

Making a game...

Hmmm. I think this may have less to do with gambling than with the concept of money being "the root of all evil", which is also to say that greed is a sin. (It is.)

fortune telling

Or more likely this was the real problem. Wizardry, magic, etc. is expressly forbidden.

[sitetest]

Dear Enosh,

"...money being 'the root of all evil',"

I believe that the expression is that it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.


sitetest

[GoLightly]

Hmmm. I think this may have less to do with gambling than with the concept of money being "the root of all evil", which is also to say that greed is a sin. (It is.)

Right, but like the question I asked you that lead to this particular line of threadjacking, we're not always talking about situations where money changes hands.

fortune telling

Or more likely this was the real problem. Wizardry, magic, etc. is expressly forbidden.

Certainly that charge is what led to Samuel's conviction. He'd been making innocuous predictions for many years, tempting fate if you will. The only analogy I can think of happens to be about money. If you watch your pennies, your dollars will take care of themselves. If you're careful about the little things, the big things are less likely to happen. Samuel failed to watch his pennies.

[TomSmedley]

A Calvinist scholar, David Chilton, suggested that the Reformers borrowed their notion of ears-only worship from Islam. As a former Catholic, I can attest to the power of the liturgical year and colors to structure time for God's glory. The prototypical worship service, as portrayed in Apocalypse, includes incense and imprecatory prayers.

[RobbyS]

It depends, does not it, on a belief in the real presence? Unfortunately, one finds Catholic priests who do not, and this affects how they celebrate the mass and administer the sacraments.

[TomSmedley]

That is to say, no one can call Judaism a heresy. One can say, however, that heresies arose out of Judaism just as they arose out of catholic Christianity or out of a mixture of both or the heresies of both.

Well, Jesus called the rabbinic judaism of his day, with its notion that talmud took precdence over torah, a heretical national misadventure. "If you truly were true to Moses, you would love Me," Our Lord said (I paraphrase from John 8). With its additional books, and denial of the Trinity, and rejection of Jesus, talmudic judaism resembles other anti-Christian cults.

[Titanites]

Of course when there are no facts to support your thesis you write something like this.

Just to make sure you know - I didn't write it. Some guy named Francis Lynch did. ;^)