Posted on 03/28/2008 8:25:48 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Excellent article. We Christians should consider how fun it is to watch Hillary and Obama go at it. Well the secular culture that despises most religions (except Tibetan monks lol) and especially Christians, loves it when we Catholics and Protestants go at it.
Despite our differences we should be able to ally to fight against the culture that wants God dead.
Some things are understood unsaid.
“They also call you that because you’re female!”
LOL!
I waited a long time to reach this vaunted old age and “ma’am” territory.
I don’t have to give the same courtesy to any woman now. They are all “girl” to me.
See, you miss the cultural context. I can also call young men “sweetie,” talk to myself and grumble in public, and tell girls their hair’s a mess.
One misses the cultural context which is a problem when we look at each other’s religions.
I used to think that we could all pull together against a common enemy, too.
This presumes of course, that both Catholics and Protestants regard godless secularism as a greater threat to the common good than they do each other.
After a few years on the FR religion forum, however, I'm afraid I've lost my innocence and I'm no longer sure that this is the case.
You and me both.
That's ironic - after my seven years on FR, I've come to the conclusion that God is bigger than my imagination. This year, I'm even more sure that this is the case.
“It is precisely when every earthy hope has been explored and found wanting, when every possibility of help from earthy sources has been sought and is not forthcoming, when every recourse this world offers, moral as well as material, has been drawn on and expended with no effect, when in the shivering cold every faggot has been thrown on the fire, and in the gathering darkness every glimmer of light has finally flickered out – it is then that Christ’s hand reaches out, sure and firm, that Christ’s words bring their inexhaustible comfort, that His light shines brightest, abolishing the darkness for ever”
- Malcolm Muggeridge, from Christ And The Media
Then you ought to know better. BTW, as an East Texan whose mother came from Mississipi, and whose grandmother was a “primitive,” Baptist, I know that “witnessing” by Baptists more often involving talking the talk when walking the walk. Catholics tend to do less talking, which is not necessarily a good thing.
Is it that we (Catholics and Protestants) don't need to be allies? That we already are? Or what?
That's a nice passage from Muggeridge but I read it as a witness to Christ's faithful presence in times of personal crisis. Is there some oblique relevance to the Catholic/Protestant thing?
This presumes of course, that both Catholics and Protestants regard godless secularism as a greater threat to the common good than they do each other.
After a few years on the FR religion forum, however, I'm afraid I've lost my innocence and I'm no longer sure that this is the case.
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I am not sure that I understand your post.
The above is the post to which I was responding. I will not presume to speak for marshmallow, but if I understood him/her correctly, we agree that there is little hope left for a reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants. I know I see too much distrust here daily to believe otherwise.
My point is that there is always hope, depending on where you place your hope. Mine begins and ends in the character and sovereignty of God, who causes "all things to work together for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28). If your own pope thinks there's hope for a relationship between Catholics and Muslims, why shouldn't there be a greater hope for reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants, who at least believe in the same Triune God and Risen Lord?
Rev. Dwight Longenecker wrote the article
In any event I don't see any relevance in the link. It throws no light on the article. IMO
There is indeed always hope. You're quite correct.
I don't think we're saying different things. My apparent cynicism at Longenecker's comment that Catholics and Protestants ought to be allies in the culture wars was not meant to imply that it couldn't happen. Rather, simply that human cussedness has and still is preventing this from happening to as great a degree as it should.
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Thank you for that. I would like it to be possible.
Very good read, thank you for posting this.
You can’t reconcile with people who waste no opportunity to skewer the Church and in fact spend a great portion of their days trying to find things to accomplish that. The mere fact of their deep-seeded hatred of the Church, that was established by Jesus Christ, points to a very sick heart and faulty intellect. All you can do is witness to the Truth and pray for them.
“My point is that there is always hope, depending on where you place your hope.”
I think where you place ~ellipses~ has an even bigger impact on detente.
It could be “hope” or it could be so much snake oil.
We will see in the future.
Kirk: I have never trusted Klingons, and never will. I have never been able to forgive them for the murder of my boy. Spock says this could be an historic moment, and I'd like to believe him, but how on earth can history get past people like me?
[later scene]
Spock: Is it possible....that we two, you and I, have grown so old and so inflexible, that we have outlived our usefulness? Would that constitute a "joke"?
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