Posted on 10/26/2015 2:22:44 PM PDT by NYer
Marcus Grodi’s pun for life could be “Done Roman” because when he was received into the Roman Catholic Church the former Protestant pastor had found his spiritual home and was finally “done roamin’.” Grodi was brought up in a nominally Christian home, trained as a chemical engineer and eventually, after a profound adult conversion experience, trained to be a Presbyterian pastor.
However, his experience welcoming new members from other Protestant denominations to his church began to disturb his Presbyterian certainties. Protestant pastor Grodi explained his Presbyterian beliefs from the Bible, but the other Protestant Christians responded by quoting the Scripture verses that supported their different convictions. Marcus began to realize that his interpretation of the Bible was filtered by his Presbyterian assumptions and traditions. Furthermore the same was true of the other Protestants. A conversation with his friend Scott Hahn helped him discover some Bible verses he had never seen before.
Scott asked, “What is the pillar and bulwark of truth?”
As a good Protestant, Grodi answered, “The Bible of course!”
Hahn replied, “But what does the Bible itself teach about that? Let’s look up 1 Timothy 3:15.”
Together they read the St. Paul’s words, “I am writing to you…so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”
Grodi explains, “I had simply never seen that verse. I had no answer. If the church was the pillar and bulwark of the truth where could I find such a church? Clearly the thousands of Protestant churches with their contradictory doctrines and disciplines could not be that church.”
Another key passage was 2 Thessalonians 2:15 in which St. Paul writes, “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”
If the Sacred Scriptures were the sole foundation for Christian doctrine and discipline, as the Protestant doctrine of sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) asserts, then why was St. Paul telling the Christians in Thessalonica to “stand firm and hold fast to the teachings” he had passed on by both “word of mouth and by letter”?
Grodi was seeing for the first time that the apostolic teaching was not only in written form, but also through a living oral tradition. The Catholic Church was the only Christian body that affirmed both the authority of Scripture and a dynamic, ongoing voice of authority in the church.”
Eventually Grodi resigned from his post as senior pastor of a large Presbyterian congregation and was received with his family into the Catholic Church. In 1993 he established an apostolate to assist other Protestant pastors on the same journey “home to Rome.” About the same time he was invited to host a new program for the Eternal Word Television Network called The Journey Home. Each week Grodi interviews a convert to Catholicism, and over the years the Journey Home program has become one of EWTN’s most popular shows.
Grodi is more than a Catholic television personality. He has written or edited seven books and contributed to several others. In addition to the weekly TV show, Grodi’s apostolate sponsors conferences, has hosted a radio show, publishes a regular newsletter and works quietly and confidentially with clergy converts as they enquire about the Catholic faith.
He and his team at The Coming Home Network are in constant contact with an increasing number of Protestant clergy. While their work is approved by the church, they fund their work through donations, receiving no formal financial support from diocesan authorities. Over the years they have assisted nearly 1,000 into full communion from over 100 different denominations. They maintain a nationwide network of 1,500 mentors who have already made the journey and put enquirers in touch with a local friend who will answer their questions, pray for them and support them and their families in their quest.
The difficulties potential clergy converts face are daunting. A Protestant pastor who hears the call to become Catholic not only faces the loss of his rewarding job, vocation and livelihood, but also a huge upheaval and radical uncertainties. Usually the man has a wife and children to support, and has trained for no other career. Salaried posts in the Catholic church are hard to come by and without job experience outside the church, he faces unemployment and the rigors of re-training and rejection in mid life. Very often the man’s wife will not be at the same place of spiritual acceptance. Marriage problems develop and strains within his network of family and friends can develop into broken relationships, alienation and rejection.
We often think of ecumenism as consisting of no more than friendly talks with Christians of non-Catholic denominations. The Coming Home Network approaches the question of church unity with practical apologetics, pointed advice and practical assistance. They realize that unity amongst Christians is a reality when, one by one Protestant pastors come to accept the claims of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and take the first step on the long journey home.
To learn more about the work of Marcus Grodi and the Coming Home Network visit their website.
Good thing we have Christ as the cornerstone (Acts 4:11; Matt 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Eph 2:20; 1 Cor 3:11; 1 Peter 2:6-7; Is 28:16; Zech 10:4; Ps 118:22) upon which the church is built.
And not a sinful man in need of salvation as was Peter.
Even Peter recognized Christ as the cornerstone.
Catholics would do well to learn from him.
Sorry AF, completely bogus and misleading use of the Greek. Kata is one of those multi-purpose prepositions that shows up everywhere and has a multitude of possible senses. Here, it is simply describing a region. It’s not a label for the ecclesia at all. Luke is talking about the ecclesia being at peace. The final alpha of Kata is dropped, letting it flow right into “holos,” which is the adjective “all” or “whole,” which is modifying “Judea,” because of the genitive. He’s saying that in the whole region of Judea, the ecclesia was at peace. That’s it.
What this sort of abuse of Scripture reminds me is Bible codes. If you look hard enough, you can find almost any combination of words, letters, what have you, that, if you totally abandon context, can be made to say virtually anything your heart desires. That is an extremely dangerous game when it comes to the word of God, who hides His treasures from the wise, and reveals them unto babies. So be it.
Peace,
SR
It is defined as the body of Christian believers. The ones who are called out from the world and to God (HELPS Word-studies).
We do not see evidence of the roman catholic church in the NT due to none of the following present:
papacy
worship of mary
statues of mary
prayers to mary
indulgences for sell, or indulgences
a priesthood
ongoing sacrifice of Christ
etc
etc
etc
It’s cute when they try to use the Greek.
You are correct sir. There are probably millions of lost, Hell bound sinners, in all denominations throughout the world. They will be in for a rude awakening.
Do you mean, rather like completely bogus and misleading use of the Greek by using Kata instead of Katha, and of course not showing the two words together for the first and only use in the scriptures, Kath'Holes ,
which is the origin of the word catholic ? The word catholic (with lowercase c; derived via Late Latin catholicus, from the Greek adjective καθολικός (katholikos), meaning "universal"[1][2]) comes from the Greek phrase καθόλου (katholou), meaning "on the whole", "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words κατά meaning "about" and ὅλος meaning "whole".[3][4]
“Just because you join a church does not mean you are a follower of Christ”
So true. Even the Church of What’s Happening Now probably has a few members that are just there for the Wed night pot luck and the snake handling. :-)
Or would it be ignoring the context, because it is catholic, that the churches throughout all Judea, and the Galil, and Shomron, we're multiplied, being edified. walking in the fear of the LORD and the comfort of the Holy Ghost; one holy catholic apostolic church about to burst out into the whole known world ?
Sad, but true.
Now there wouldn’t be any catholic editing on that webpage would there?? Consider the source.
No AF, the context supports the simple reading of Luke saying the assemblies (plural) in all of Judea (and yes the other regions) were at peace, and growing. The genitive points to what was happening in the region. The “all” is geographic. Luke was locating the assemblies, not labeling them.
But whatever. The remainder of your quote is an absolute thrashing of the text. Unrecognizable. I don’t know where you got it from, but whoever produced it has either no knowledge of or no respect for basic principles of Greek translation or the ordinary rules of context.
For one thing, one would hope even a first semester Greek newbe would know that kata becomes kath when placed in front of a vowel. It’s the same word. I don’t know why I let it shock me, but it does. Over and over I see these same errors made again and a gain. In Greek, a primitive can be modified in form by all sorts of rules, and still be the same basic word, where by convention it has some family of meanings derived by context.
And virtually every property of the assemblies mentioned in this passage or any other New Testament passage can be applied to any Baptist church. Not to leave out the other denominations, but I could claim on the same premise you are using that the first use of Baptist is John the Baptist, thereby proving Baptists to be the authentic, true original church.
Of course, such an argument would be poppycock. Just like yours is. For the same reason. These words and word combinations have easily discerned semantic and contextual meanings. John was not called a Baptist in honor of a denomination, and Luke was talking about peace and growth for the assemblies in the whole of particular regions. That’s it. There’s no more gas in that tank. The rest, that garbled, unbiblical mess you quoted me, is pure magical thinking. It’s what some perhaps would like it to mean. Nobody with an ounce of sense is going to buy it.
Peace,
SR
I know this may be a bit off topic, but since GG mentioned it, even if it was mentioned in a little joke. This is what I think on it. Correct me if I am wrong, however, but verses 9-20 in the Gospel of Mark, do not appear in two trusted early manuscripts. My opinion would be, it is very dangerous to establish any serious doctrine using those questionable verses. In other words, don't take up poisonous snakes, and don't drink any poison. It could be fatal.
Did you forget how the Pharisees mocked the disciples from Galilee for their language, or lack thereof ? How exactly did that profit them ? Since you pride yourself in Greek, can you carry on a conversation in Greek today or would the Athenians also mock (well, they might mock any American) ?
I concede Kath is derived from Kata, yet you deviated from the scriptures to cloud the grammatical point, while I clearly showed the Textus Receptus with the theta.
The Kath'Holes construct from two words is the first mention of the origin of the word catholic in the scriptures. That is what the word catholic means. The shock of seeing it in the scriptures must be less than that of the Pharisees having their superior knowledge of Hebrew and the Tenach challenged by the grammatically incorrect.
I see you now admitted church(es) in the text, which you disparaged. The churches throughout all Judea and the Galil and Shomron were one, were holy, were catholic, and were apostolic.
I note you concede Independent Fundamental Baptists are in error about their pedigree. This would be a reason to depart from their assemblies and join the reformation.
"Or would it be ignoring the context, because it is catholic, that the churches throughout all Judea, and the Galil, and Shomron, were multiplied, being edified, walking in the fear of the LORD and the comfort of the Holy Ghost; one holy catholic apostolic church about to burst out into the whole known world ? "
Yes,the churches throughout all the lands mentioned where churches existed at that time were one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. The "re-formers" had not yet rebelled. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.
Acts, Catholic chapter nine, Protestant verse thirty one,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James,
bold emphasis mine
LOL! Your objections duly noted. Seriously, it is almost impossible to carry on a meaningful discussion in the absence of any recognition of basic Greek language mechanics. I feel sorry you are apparently confused by the ordinary practice of discussing Greek terms in their primitive form. It ordinarily adds clarity to the discussion, and is standard practice you can find in any decent Greek textbook.
But even so, if you go back and reread my posts, carefully, you will see I acknowledged the transformation. But you seem to be worried about how the word is pronounced, moreso than what it means. That’s your choice, but I feel it is ridiculous. Like I said before, word patterns appear in Scripture that have been later co-opted by various groups. Baptist is one. Seventh Day is another. Or the group that says it is Jehovah’s’s Witnesses, based on a passage in the prophets. That’s nothing but cultic self-affirmation. Bible codes. And its a free country. Enjoy your hidden Bible codes. They are not, however, for serious students of Scripture. Sorry.
BTW, the Baptist pedigree is at least as good, and in many respects better, than the alleged Roman pedigree. I concede nothing in that matter.
Peace,
SR
When you get around to reading it, let us know. Until then, continue to genuflect into the dark.
If true, it should be elementary to historically trace a world wide association of Baptist assemblies in communion with each other from the time of the Apostles unto this day. Then you could explain why one would leave them to join a faith community traced to the Regormation.
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