Posted on 07/29/2008 4:39:52 PM PDT by annalex
Evangelicals have been going through a major change of heart in their view of Catholicism over the past 15 years or so. In the 80’s when I was in college I lived in the Biblebelt and had plenty of experience with Evangelicals–much of it bad experience. The 80’s was the height of the “Are you saved?” question. In Virginia, the question often popped up in the first 10 minutes of getting to know someone. As I look back, Isurmise that this was coached from the pulpit or Sunday school as it was so well coordinated and almost universally applied. It was a good tactic for putting Catholics on the defensive even before it was known that they were Catholic—”ummmm, uhhh, well no, I’m not sure, I’m Catholic.” Then a conversation about works righteousness or saint statues would ensue. Yeah, nice to meet you, too.
Thankfully, those days are pretty much over. We now have formerly rabid anti-Catholics apologizing and even praising the pope. Catholics and Evangelicals have both learned that we have much in common and need each other to face the secular culture with a solid front. But, where did this detente come from? I think there is a real history to be told here and a book should be written. Let me give my perceptions of 7 major developments since 1993, which I regard as the the watershed year for the renewal of the Catholic Church in the United States.
1. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1993. When this document came out, it was uncertain that even Catholics would read it. We should have known that something was up when the French version hit the top of the bestsellers charts in France and stayed there for months. The English version did the same in the US. Catholics were reading the Catechism, forming study groups and challenging errant professors in the classroom.
2. World Youth Day, Denver 1993. Catholic youth and youth ministers woke up. Suddenly, Catholic youth ministers realized that the youth loved the pope. And they loved him all the more because he did not talk down to them or water down the faith. He challenged them. Gone now were the pizza and a video parish youth nights. Furthermore, youth and young adults took up the challenge to evangelize. One of those youth heard the message and started a website, New Advent. Catholic youth were now becoming zealous for the Catholic faith in its fullness and were not going to be swayed by an awkward conversation that began with “Are you saved?”
3. Scott Hahn. While the Catechism is great for expounding the Catholic faith, it is not a work of apologetics itself. It is not written to expose the flaws of Evangelical theology. It is not written to defend the Church against the attacks of Evangelicals per se. It just would not let them get away with misrepresenting the Catholic faith. But Scott Hahn hit the scene at about the same time with Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism (Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 1993). I first heard his testimony on cassette tape in 1996. It blew my mind. Suddenly, Catholic apologetics, which is as old as the Catholic Church itself, got a leg up and there was an explosion of books, magazines and websites that effectively undercut the arguments of the 5 Solas. For the first time, there was a cadre of Catholics well enough informed to defend their faith.
4. The Internet. The Net started exploding from 1993 to 1996. I had my first account in ‘94. Compuserve was horribly basic, but by ‘96 I had AOL and the religion debates raged instantly. Catholics who had just been given the most powerful weapon in the arsenal in the war against misinterpretation of their teaching were learning to type on a forum while balancing their catechisms on their laps. Of course, online versions came out, as well. But, no Evangelical bent on getting Catholics out of the arms of the Whore of Babylon could expect to do so without himself have a copy of the Catechism, knowing it inside out and pouring over it for the errors and horrors he would surely find. Evangelical apologists were confronted with a coherent and beautiful presentation of the Catholic faith that they were ill equipped to argue against. They learned that Catholics, too, loved Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The Catechism had arrived providentially just before the internet and had turned the tables in just a few short years. With the apologetic movement hitting at the same time, Evangelicals were also confronted with Catholics who could argue from the Bible defending their faith and demonstrating the weaknesses of Evangelical interpretations of scripture.
5. Early Church Fathers. One fruit of the Apologetics movement has been a flowering anew of Catholic interest in Patristics. This is happening at every level from armchair apologists to doctoral studies. It is suddenly all about Patristics, whereas in the 70’s-90’s the academic focus had been on Karl Rahner and Liberation Theology.
6. Evangelical Third World Experience. Evangelicals have had a field day in Latin America among the poor who are not part of the internet conversation and are distant from the study of apologetics. But, Evangelicals have learned from their experiences abroad an essential aspect of the Gospel they were missing: the Works of Mercy. Once haughty with their criticism of “works righteousness,” they have learned one cannot attend to the spiritual needs of the poor without attending to their bodily needs. Catholic have always understood this. Now, the Evangelicals are coming around. I haven’t heard an Evangelical Televangelist speak on works righteousness in many years.
7. Secularism. With the collapse of the Mainline churches as the backbone of American religion over the past thirty years (since about 1975), Catholics and Evangelicals are the only ones left standing in this country to present the Gospel. Secularism is on the rise and is ruthless. Evangelicals are now learning that only Catholicism has the intellectual resources to combat the present secular age. And, with the pope, we have a pretty effective means for communicating the faith and representing it to the world. There is nothing an Evangelical can do that will match the power of one World Youth Day.
With such an array of Providential developments, Evangelicals as well as Catholics have come to appreciate the depth and the breadth of the Catholic faith. It is far more difficult for them to honestly dismiss Catholicism as the work of Satan as once they did without qualm. There have been apologies and there have been calls for a new partnership. Let us hope these developments will bring about a new moment of understanding for the Glory of the Lord.
It is good for a man not to touch a woman....
For I would that all men were [celibate] even as myself
...
Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
...
32 ... He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. 33 But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided. 34 And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 And this I speak for your profit: not to cast a snare upon you; but for that which is decent, and which may give you power to attend upon the Lord, without impediment.
Compare also:
there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it. (Matthew 19:12)every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. (Matthew 19:29, similar Luke 18:29)
Hmmm...a little study would not say that :-)
The Pope claims to take the place of Christ on earth, in other words, His "vicar". It is sad that most Christians don't realize the true meaning of the Greek term "anti" which the apostle John attached to the term "Christ." It doesn't really mean "against", but "in the stead of". So, as head of "the" church, the Pope takes the place of Christ here on earth - could one not rightly call the Pope an anti-christ spoken of by John? Many of the reformers of the past, and even some today, believe so. I, personally, do not call the Pope "the anti-Christ", I just bring out what others have called the Pope because of his pride in being called the "Head" of the Church of Christ on earth, and "infallible" in doctine and morals.
What think you?
Matter of fact, any Catholic priest, not only the Pope is a vicar of Christ as he acts in the person of Christ when offering the sacrifice of the Mass (”do it in memory of me”). The “vicar of Christ” is one of the traditional titles of the Pope, of course, but once we are into analysis of what it means, here you go.
The fact that there are now 223 responses to this article—many spouting the anti-Catholic nonsense regularly peddled at this site—is sad proof that the article represents wishful thinking.
The article did not say that every anti-Catholic propagandist is out of commission. It points out a more important development: the Church has won the theological argument and has remained a single most important defender of religious freedom in the West.
Among the extant patristic writings, Mary as second Eve is first described by St. Justin Martyr in 2c:
He became man by the Virgin, in order that the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, 'Be it unto me according to your word.' Luke 1:38 And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many Scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him.
Being an ex-Catholic, I know where you are coming from. But History is a great teachers if one only takes the time to learn from it, which I do the best I can to learn the truth it contains. I take it you are not all that aquainted with history. Up to the end of the fourth century the popes called themselves "vicars of Peter", but since the fifth century, "vicars of Christ". The name "pope" (papa) or "father", was in AD 500 "appropriatd to the Roman pontiff, it having formally been the title of all bishops alike" (Gibbon, vii, i., page 37). That title, which you apply to all "priests" also, was given by a Roman Council to Gelasius, Bishop of Rome in the 5th century: "We behold in thee Chirst's vicar" (Hardouin, ii., 946-947).
Cardinal Bellarmine, in his Treatise on the Roman Pontiff (De Rom. Pont. Lib. ii. Ch. XXXI., Ingoldstadt, 1839), said: "Pope: Father of Fathers; the Pontiff of Christians, High Priest, the Vicar of Christ, the Head of the Body, that is of the Church, the foundation of the building of the Church; the Father and Doctor of the faithful; the Ruler of the House of God; the Keeper of God's Vineyard; the Bridegroom of the Church; the Ruler of the Apostolic See; the Universal Bishop." And in his "De Conciliorum Auctoritate Lib. ii., ch. XVII." "All the names which are given in the Scriptures to Christ (where it appears that He is superior to the Church) - all these names are given to the Pope."
What more do you want me to say? This is so far from being what was taught in the beginning of the church that it is nothing but the pride of mortal men to bring glory and power to themselves. All Christians should be preaching the good news of Christ, not a church. It is Christ that saves, not an organization.
Further, Coptic patriarchs all are called popes. It is just a word, something I rarely have the mind to argue about.
Thanks.
Thanks. I look forward to reading it.
Thank you, dear Dr. E.
Thank you, dear Dr. E.
You’re putting your faith in MAN here. GOD is more than able to turn this country back. Pray, pray, pray
Trust God to do it, annalex. He’s not bound by what man does.
Excellent, Boagenes. I think most of the Protestants here feel the same way regarding doctrine vs. person.
Good grief...
We just came so the anti protestant Harpies wouldn’t be lonely....
AMEN, TD.
Christ said to "do this in memory of Me."
Not "do this pretending to be Me."
Therefore no one "acts in the person of Christ." No one is "another Christ." There is only one Savior, King and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and his substitutionary atonement for His sheep is complete. God has accepted Christ's sacrifice, attributing His righteousness to our account and His death as satisfaction for our sins. Therefore our sins have been forgiven and there is no more offering for sin.
From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." -- Hebrews 10:12-18"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Certainly makes sense. The RCC has corrupted the mother of Jesus into the most Pelagian of all human beings. So good and pure and super-human that the RCC says she was born without sin and was assumed bodily into heaven. The lie is so deep the RCC even has Christ obeying Mary's every directive because she is just that good.
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