Posted on 12/10/2009 10:55:18 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Here are the main reasons I am not signing the Manhattan Declaration, even though a few men whom I love and respect have already affixed their names to it:
• Although I obviously agree with the document’s opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, and other key moral problems threatening our culture, the document falls far short of identifying the one true and ultimate remedy for all of humanity’s moral ills: the gospel. The gospel is barely mentioned in the Declaration. At one point the statement rightly acknowledges, “It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season”—and then adds an encouraging wish: “May God help us not to fail in that duty.” Yet the gospel itself is nowhere presented (much less explained) in the document or any of the accompanying literature. Indeed, that would be a practical impossibility because of the contradictory views held by the broad range of signatories regarding what the gospel teaches and what it means to be a Christian.
• This is precisely where the document fails most egregiously. It assumes from the start that all signatories are fellow Christians whose only differences have to do with the fact that they represent distinct “communities.” Points of disagreement are tacitly acknowledged but are described as “historic lines of ecclesial differences” rather than fundamental conflicts of doctrine and conviction with regard to the gospel and the question of which teachings are essential to authentic Christianity.
• Instead of acknowledging the true depth of our differences, the implicit assumption (from the start of the document until its final paragraph) is that Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant Evangelicals and others all share a common faith in and a common commitment to the gospel’s essential claims. The document repeatedly employs expressions like “we [and] our fellow believers”; “As Christians, we . . .”; and “we claim the heritage of . . . Christians.” That seriously muddles the lines of demarcation between authentic biblical Christianity and various apostate traditions.
• The Declaration therefore constitutes a formal avowal of brotherhood between Evangelical signatories and purveyors of different gospels. That is the stated intention of some of the key signatories, and it’s hard to see how secular readers could possibly view it in any other light. Thus for the sake of issuing a manifesto decrying certain moral and political issues, the Declaration obscures both the importance of the gospel and the very substance of the gospel message.
• This is neither a novel approach nor a strategic stand for evangelicals to take. It ought to be clear to all that the agenda behind the recent flurry of proclamations and moral pronouncements we’ve seen promoting ecumenical co-belligerence is the viewpoint Charles Colson has been championing for more than two decades. (It is not without significance that his name is nearly always at the head of the list of drafters when these statements are issued.) He explained his agenda in his 1994 book The Body, in which he argued that the only truly essential doctrines of authentic Christian truth are those spelled out in the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds. I responded to that argument at length in Reckless Faith. I stand by what I wrote then.
In short, support for The Manhattan Declaration would not only contradict the stance I have taken since long before the original “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” document was issued; it would also tacitly relegate the very essence of gospel truth to the level of a secondary issue. That is the wrong way—perhaps the very worst way—for evangelicals to address the moral and political crises of our time. Anything that silences, sidelines, or relegates the gospel to secondary status is antithetical to the principles we affirm when we call ourselves evangelicals.
John MacArthur
Oh, I know it well. Nothing infuriates a Roman Catholic more than to rejoice in Jesus Christ, and glory in the Biblical Gospel. When they’re speaking their hearts, it’s all about ritual, it’s all about Mary — it’s all about everything except what the Bible is about.
Satan is the father of all lies.
See #101.
Bravo for men like MacArthur who will make a distinction between true believers and apostates.
There’s nothing legalistic about making a distinction between those who promote truth and those who promote something other than truth.MacArthur clearly sounds out the word of God on a daily basis over the airways. He has condemed immorality and upheld the gospel for years and anyone who knows him has no difficulty knowing where he stands. He doesn’t need to sign some meaningless paper to let people know his beliefs, they can be heard publicly.
I think you need to read I Cor 15:1-5 and learn what the gospel is.Paul clearly spells it out.
I find it amazing you think you're keeping track.
Your statistical analysis is incorrect, unless somehow you presume everything revolves around you and your church. (It doesn't, thank God.)
I think you are obsessed with the Church and are actually fascinated by it.
And yet it's you who is obsessively following my posts. Hmmm...
Besides, your peculiar comment is "mind-reading" and against the rules of the FR religion forum.
Otherwise, why would you spend so much time discussing it?
Most people who read the Bible understand the reason.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." -- 2 Timothy 4:2-4"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Amen!
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." -- Romans 10:13-17"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I happen to have my FR page set on latest posts. Just about every day I see your Catholic bashing posts. Most of the time I just ignore them as too boring to respond to, but this time I was curious about what percentage of your posts were about the Catholic Church. For someone who supposedly hates the Church as much as you, you certainly spend a lot of your time posting comments about it. Frankly, I would think you’d get bored at some point. I certainly find things I don’t agree with to be monumentally boring; that’s why I don’t post on Protestant threads or go to DU.
Maybe that's why Roman Catholics know next to nothing about other religions.
The many errors, superstitions and blasphemies of the papacy are boring, but refuting those errors, superstitions and blasphemies by the word of God is not.
Now you know.
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." -- 1 John 2:19
whatever
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
“Nothing infuriates a Roman Catholic more than to rejoice in Jesus Christ, and glory in the Biblical Gospel.”
Odd, just back from Sunday Mass and we rejoiced in the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ present on the Altar. In fact today is Gaudete Sunday, here is how the Holy Service begins:
Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men: for the Lord is nigh. Be nothing solicitous: but in everything by prayer let your petitions be made known to God. Psalm 84:2 Lord, Thou hast blessed Thy land: Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. v. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Repeat :Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice....
That's the dumbest thing I've read all day. The rest of the day has got to be all uphill from here.
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.
-Daniel J Boorstin
Yeah, kneejerk emotional reactions can be a real drag.
If you ever come up with a substantive response (so far, the count is 0), let me know.
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