Put your hand on the monitor, send $5.00 to my PayPal account and tell me how you feel:
Posted on 05/17/2007 10:08:04 AM PDT by Gamecock
Reading Francis Beckwith's interview with David Neff in Christianity Today, reminded me of how idyllic the Roman church can seem in the minds of those who embrace it (Click here: Q&A: Francis Beckwith | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction).
But then this news report appeared today which gives a much different picture of the supposed glories of Romanism (Click here: Pope to canonize first Brazilian saint - Yahoo! News).
All discussion of justification, the authority of Scripture, and reciting the Creed aside, the Pope is heading to Brazil to canonize Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao, a Franciscan monk who is credited with 5000 miraculous healings. Over 1 million people are expected to be in attendance. The healings supposedly come as a result of swallowing rice paper pills prepared by the monk over two hundred years ago. According to the AP news report . . .
"The Vatican has officially certified the medical cases of two Brazilian women as divinely inspired miracles that justify the sainthood of Galvao. Both of these women spoke of their faith with The Associated Press, claiming that their children would not be alive today were it not for the tiny rice-paper pills that Friar Galvao handed out two centuries ago.
Although the friar died in 1822, the tradition is carried on by Brazilian nuns who toil in the Sao Paulo monastery where Galvao is buried, preparing thousands of the Tic Tac-sized pills distributed free each day to people seeking cures for all manner of ailments. Each one is inscribed with a prayer in Latin: `After birth, the Virgin remained intact. Mother of God, intercede on our behalf.'
Sandra Grossi de Almeida, 37, is one such believer. She had a uterine malformation that should have made it impossible for her to carry a child for more than four months. But in 1999, after taking the pills, she gave birth to Enzo, now 7. `I have faith," Grossi said, pointing to her son. I believe in God, and the proof is right here.'
Nearly 10 years before that, Daniela Cristina da Silva, then 4 years old, entered a coma and suffered a heart attack after liver and kidney complications from hepatitis A. `The doctors told me to pray because only a miracle could save her,' Daniela's mother Jacyra said recently. `My sister sneaked into the intensive care unit and forced my daughter to swallow Friar Galvao's pills.'"
So, if you "return home" to Rome, you get the whole ball of wax, including the beatification of saints who give out Tic-Tac size rice-paper pills which supposedly heal. And Pope Benedict XVI will be there to bless it all.
By the way, confessional Protestants affirm the historical evangelical doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, and the full authority of Scripture. And yes, we even recite the Creed every Lord's Day and we use a biblical-text based liturgy which is quite similar to that described by Justin Martyr in the second century.
Too bad Dr. Beckwith didn't consider a confessional Protestant church before embracing Romanism. Now he's stuck with Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao and his rice-paper healing pills.
When it comes to religion, people are always "stuck with" something or other, so there's not need for the snideness.
Exactly.
A thing is what it is. Calling it by another name doesn’t make it that. Part of the horror of the politically correct is to either lump in evil with good, or to change the meanings of words to confuse the two.
Calling a cat a dog doesn’t make it one.
I also noted that Calvin and Luther did no miracles. Maybe that was not so nice on my part...I can understand if someone might have been annoyed by my posting about Luther and Calvin.
Respectfully, you're not getting it. We are DELIGHTED to testify that neither Calvin nor Luther performed any miracles.
And as a bonus, we'll stipulate that neither man should be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
However, let it be further stipulated that we are confident both men were ordained by God to correct and cleanse His church and both men are now happily residing in heaven where they await all those who trust and believe in His name, as He promised and Scripture attests.
The burden of proof is on the affirmative.
The affirmative of this particular voodoo has failed.
Yeah, some of that, too. 8~)
If someone had smacked him on the head that dead cat would have gone flying.
I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about. Where on this thread have I used the word papist?
I have several very conservative Protestant pastors and theologians (some of national reputation) as my good friends.
The author of the posted thread is one with quite a good Reformed reputation....
"Unproven" and "lie" are not synonyms.
-A8
Harley didn’t say he wasn’t a Christian...just that he wasn’t a Catholic (Roman)
Exactly correct.
Kind of like Hillary calling herself "moderate" and "straight."
If that was gamecock’s point, it is not a good one. Even if I thought Mormonism was Christian, which I don’t, it would make no sense to refer to Mormons (when one wants to refer to them SPECIFICALLY) as simply “Christians”. In the same way, if one wants to refer SPECIFICALLY to squirrels, one does not say “mammals”.
There is a denomination called “the Church of Christ”. It is a proper name. If I referred to that Church I would refer to it as “the Church of Christ”, even though I do not grant, as a matter theology, that that denomination is THE Church of Christ. I call Orthodox Christians “Orthodox”, because that is the term that they use, even though I do not grant, as a matter of theology, that they are in fact orthodox. They are 99.9% orthodox. One cannot please everybody; but, normally, one tries to apply to people and institutions the proper names they give themselves, and one avoids terms that are generally regarded as hostile, unless, of course, one is attempting to express hostility.
Romanoid! LOL.
Would you prefer the phrase "manipulated fantasy?"
Put your hand on the monitor, send $5.00 to my PayPal account and tell me how you feel:
I feel better... after, you ARE now a doctor.
Nahhhhhh, that was Blinking Robert Tilton with his infamous scam of "point of contact receiving of miracles", whereby he spat out a line of jibberish, eyes wildly blinking, holding his finger up to the camera, so the TV audience could make a "point of contact" with his finger through the TV screen and receive their miracle.
In college he was a great source of entertainment.
Now, it's just sad how he drug the name of Christ through the mud.
Without offense to the Irish of course! ;)
You guys ought to straighten out some of your buddies on those islands out there in the North Atlantic...sometimes they forget whence they came!
I can smile. Just can’t do the LOL thing.
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