Posted on 04/14/2005 12:00:51 PM PDT by Dean Baker
Baptist church 'fake pope' sign attracting attention, criticism By JEANNINE F. HUNTER, hunter@knews.com April 13, 2005
NEWPORT, Tenn. - Two days after being posted, a church marquee message that questions the purpose of the papacy is still attracting attention in this small community.
"What I am trying to do is to let people know there's only one way to heaven through Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Cline Franklin, pastor of Hilltop Baptist Church. "There's no need for help. God sent his son, Jesus Christ. We're all priests if we're saved. I don't need to go to anybody else to pray."
The sign's side facing Broadway, the main thoroughfare in Newport, reads, "No truth, No hope Following a hell-bound pope!" On the other side, facing the church parking lot, it reads: "False hope in a fake pope."
The message appeared days after Pope John Paul II's funeral last week.
"It is unfortunate when it comes from within the Christian church. It's really sad," said the Rev. Dan Whitman, 54, pastor of Newport's Good Shepherd Catholic parish and Holy Trinity parish in Jefferson City. "You learn how to deal with it and pray not to be that way yourself."
It does not reflect mainstream Baptist thought, said Dr. Merrill "Mel" Hawkins, associate professor of religion and director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City.
"When you see signs like that, they are almost like relics or artifacts of a bygone era," Hawkins said.
He spoke about animus between Protestants and Catholics persisting after the Protestant Reformation and for centuries, during which "harsh things were said, couched within misperceptions, misunderstandings."
Among the major misperceptions is that Catholics "venerate the pope on the same level as Jesus," Hawkins said, and that "the pope is connected to their salvation in place of Jesus Christ."
Catholics make up about 12 percent of the population in the South.
"Catholics are a minority faith in the South, and there's often bias toward minority religious communities because people don't understand," he said.
James Gaddis, a lay speaker who also chairs the board at First United Methodist Church, said he had not seen the sign but had heard about it.
"I understand that it's very degrading," he said. "I think it's tragic that any church group would stoop to this posture."
Following Tuesday night's council meeting, Newport Mayor Roland Dykes Jr. said he was a little saddened by the message.
"It doesn't behoove any of us to determine who is going to heaven or hell. I think the pope is a highly, highly respected person," he said.
Franklin's church is a five-year-old independent Baptist church. When asked what the message meant, he said: "What does 'pope' mean? It means father. We have a heavenly father, and the Bible says we shall call no man a father. "
He said people have been driving by or taking pictures or calling to share their views. He said the intent was not to offend Catholics and people are misunderstanding the sign.
Copyright 2005, Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
If you don't understand Christ rightly, you don't know him at all.
And, those extra beliefs exalt man in the place of Christ.
Therefore, it would lead to damnation.
You've bought into a variation of The HOAX
Paul destroys the HOAX in one sentence: Galatians 3:7.Get a grip.
The Pope is NOT in hell. He is still talking with the Lord about all of the wrong things he did and the millions he mislead. It's going to take a while.
More straw men -what is this, the great harvest? LOL
Was the Pope correct that Mary was a co-mediator and a co-redeemer with Christ?
Was he correct that salvation is not by grace through faith, but instead by works plus faith?
Was he correct that there is a purgatory?
Was he correct that some believers deserve to be recognized as saints when we all believers are saints according to Scripture (yes, I am aware that thet Catholic tradition of naming saints does not mean there are not other saints....but by singling out people for higher veneration, the equality of believers is destroyed...Scripture refers to all believers as saints and does not authorize church judgment to call certain ones definite saints while passing by others.
Was he correct that he is infallible when on the Chair speaking doctrine?
Was he right to forbid marriage when Scripture says that is sin to forbid people to marry?
If he is Biblically correct in these things, I will retract my charge.
Please not that I do respect the Pope a great deal for his political work.
But, that doesn't change my other concerns.
Are you back again? LOL
Anyone who would come on a section of the website set aside for news on the Pope to assert that the Pope is in Hell is a moron.
I did not say he is in hell. I said I question if God would let a false teacher in.
Head to dictionary.com and read the entry for "assert" and then "wonder."
I was wondering about, not asserting his destiny.
That the Pope did not say. Jesus is Redeemer, Mary is co-redemptrix. Jesus is not co-redeemer.
Try learning what Catholics believe before asking whether they're correct or not. But since you asked, yes, Catholic beliefs are all correct.
If he is Biblically correct in these things, I will retract my charge.
Ha! We would have to know your personal interpretation of the Bible to give you an answer you would accept. Suffice it to say every Catholic belief is consistent with (not necessarily solely reliant on) Scripture according to our interpretation, as guided by and revealed through the Holy Spirit. You don't want to argue with the Holy Spirit, do you?
What I said. :)
Give me Scripture for all those beleifs, and that is enough.
I will then retract my charge.
Very simple.
"You are way off in some of your characterizations"
Which ones specifically?
Didn't Saint Stephen, who according to the bible was filled with the holy spirit, address a group of people as brothers and fathers. If he was filled with the holy spirit, how could he disobey Christ? He didn't. When Jesus said call no man father, he meant in the sense that we should look to no one but God regarding certain things. Christ also said call no man teacher.
Asserting such a huge manifestation of your own hubris about folks who make leaps of faith different from yours is quite repulsive to me personally. Whatever sect you follow is one that I hopes does not prosper. It is not conducive to a civil society.
You said you can't imagine God letting the Pope in Heaven. It is logical to assume that you think he is in Hell.
You remain a moron. What motivates you fundamentalist pinheads to come onto religion threads that attract Catholics to attack the Catholic Church and, in this case, a figure revered around the world, shortly after his death? Does it make you feel important? Does it give you an outlet for your aggression? Rest assured that no one will be attracted to your warped belief system by your antics.
"I believe the Pope was saved and is in heaven." -- rwfromkansas
Nice try, but a catechism isn't going to do it.
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