Posted on 09/18/2010 6:52:16 AM PDT by NYer
Until last night, no Pope had set foot in Westminster Abbey, even though it was doing Catholic coronations for 500 years before Henry VIII had other ideas.
No Pope had set foot in the Palace of Westminster either, let alone addressed its occupants.
So yesterday was a day of profound historic importance here at the very heart of the British state.
And yet, it was the street cleaning department of Westminster City Council which threatened to steal the headlines.
The arrest of six litter sweepers amid suspicions of terrorist activity undeniably distracted from a day of huge religious significance.
But while it drew attention away from the Pope’s most important speech of this entire tour, it also put the shrill protests against his visit into some sort of perspective. All of a sudden, they seemed rather trivial.
And, once again, they were utterly dwarfed by colossal crowds. Westminster is no stranger to large numbers but last night’s turnout was among the largest in these precincts for years.
The authorities were taking no chances as the Pope began his day in the suburbs saluting a rally of Catholic children and teachers.
Outside St Mary’s, Twickenham, a Catholic teacher training college, the first conspicuous protests of this tour were in place across the road.
Around 100 demonstrators waved placards complaining about the church’s record on child abuse, birth control and homosexual equality.
An outfit called Gaydar unfurled a huge ‘Proud To Be Gay’ banner next to a chap with an umbrella as multi-coloured as the selection of condoms hanging down from it.
Further down, the doyen of the demonstrating classes, Peter Tatchell, was waiting with a megaphone in one hand and a banner saying ‘Pope Must Resign’ in the other.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Heading indoors: Pope Benedict XVI enters a building during his visit to Lambeth Palace
The Pope meets guests at Westminster Hall: From left, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, Cherie Blair, Lady Norma Major, Sir John Major, Baroness Thatcher, William Hague and Nick Clegg
Thanks
I can understand why a humanist would be opposed to Luther ...
"Luther taught that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority of the pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge[2] and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.[3] Those who identify with Luther's teachings are called Lutherans."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther
THANK GOD FOR LUTHER!
Justification by Faith In the 1500s a fastidious monk, who by his own testimony "hated God," was studying Paul's epistle to the Romans. He couldn't get past the first half of Romans 1:17: "[In the gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith" (KJV).
One simple, biblical truth changed that monk's life--and ignited the Protestant Reformation. It was the realization that God's righteousness could become the sinner's righteousness--and that could happen through the means of faith alone.
Martin Luther found the truth in the same verse he had stumbled over, Romans 1:17:
"Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith" (KJV, emphasis added).
Luther had always seen "the righteousness of God" as an attribute of the sovereign Lord by which He judged sinners--not an attribute sinners could ever possess. He described the breakthrough that put an end to the theological dark ages:
I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith."
Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.
The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the "justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.
Justification by faith was the great truth that dawned on Luther and dramatically altered the church. Because Christians are justified by faith alone, their standing before God is not in any way related to personal merit. Good works and practical holiness do not provide the grounds for acceptance with God. God receives as righteous those who believe, not because of any good thing He sees in them--not even because of His own sanctifying work in their lives--but solely on the basis of Christ's righteousness, which is reckoned to their account.
"To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness" (Romans 4:5).
That is justification. ...
The Council of Trent, Rome's response to the Reformation, pronounced anathema on anyone who says
"that the [sinner] is justified by faith alone--if this means that nothing else is required by way of cooperation in the acquisition of the grace of justification."
The Catholic council ruled "Justification is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace, and of the gifts, whereby man of unjust becomes just."
So Catholic theology confuses the concepts of justification and sanctification and substitutes the righteousness of the believer for the righteousness of Christ. ...
Therefore, because of justification,
believers not only are perfectly free from any charge of guilt (Romans 8:33)
but also have the full merit of Christ reckoned to their personal account (Romans 5:17).
Here are the forensic realities that flow out of justification:
We are adopted as sons and daughters (Romans 8:15)
We become fellow-heirs with Christ (v. 17)
We are united with Christ so that we become one with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17)
We are henceforth "in Christ" (Galatians 3:27)
and He in us (Colossians 1:27)
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Print/articles/22
Now Christians take that for granted. We are justified through faith; not works. Good works will follow when justified by faith with the help of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
I think this could be the beginning of the end of schism. We are all Christians and we need to unite to fight against Radical Islam and ATHEISM.
Protestant theology wrongly claims that they are ontologically distinct. God justifies and sanctifies in one act, not two. He does so by filling the justified man's soul with divine life and making him a son of God by adoption through grace.
and substitutes the righteousness of the believer for the righteousness of Christ.
Protestantism wrongly claims that God is incapable of communicating his righteousness to the believer, and merely has to settle for a "forensic imputation" of that righteousness to the believer's "account".
That's nonsense. What God declares, God enacts by his very word. What God justifies, he sanctifies. Luther said that the justified man was like a snow-covered dungheap. What a breathtaking lack of faith in God's ability to work through grace!
No, it's Christ's righteousness, and, when it is communicated to you, it becomes your righteousness. No legal fictions or "forensic imputations" required.
Why don't you just drop the courtroom silliness of Luther, and come into the light of a God who keeps his promises, a God who is far too good and too mighty to dither with "forensic imputations," but who orders all things by his word of power?
Breaking off Twitter news NYER Pope DID meet with the Victims despite what CNN internatinoal say
SkyNewsBreak The Pope has met five victims of child abuse perpetrated by members of the Catholic Church after apologising for the scandal during Mass.
Protestantism is a heresy, not merely a schism. But I agree that it is melting down fast. It is also fitting that it starts in England, because it is England who gave Protestantism credibility outside of Germany. If it had not been for Henry VIII’s incontinence, Protestanitsm would have forever remained a quaint German curiosity alongside the porcelain figurines and lederhosen.
Did you see the huge crowds that turned out to greet the pope along the route he traveled to Hyde Park? Many of them 'guessed' the route because the media, for fear of security issues, did not publish the information. Here is photo taken at this evening's prayer service in Hyde Park.
Thanks for the paragraphs!
I don’t think England will ever be the same again. I expect many Londoners and English to come back to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Likewise I expect a flood of converts.
I don’t think too many Brits actually realize what is happening here!
I PRAY that England wakes up!!! If they fall totally, we are next!!
Breaking off Twitter they release those morons
BreakingNews Pope threat update: Scotland Yard frees 6 arrested without charges - NBC
Look what i found on UK Sunday Telegraph JUST NOW
Come on down all Church of England members
Yeah, that’s the sort of learned Christian philosphy that will bring the separated brethren back into the flock.
Well it would be nice, but there are still very deep and very important differences between Catholicism and the assorted protestant denominations. However, at least we are all recognising and talking to each other. And the common threat is now VERY large...
It was Catholic corruption that started Protest- antism. If that hadn’t existed we wouldnt be in this mess now.
Some Protestants will convert. Others, sadly, will lose faith altogether. All those let’s-clap-hands-and-jump-up-and-down mega “churches” are nothing but apostasy in action.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.