Over the last five months, the Catholic church has been overwhelmed by this latest wave of its ongoing pedophile priest abuse and cover-up scandal. With all due empathy and compassion for the victims of pedophile priest abuse, we must keep in mind that the gravest danger presented by the Catholic church is the propagation of its false gospel of salvation via sacramental grace and merit. The very relevant passage below recently caught my eye:
“The focus on the child abuse scandals (within the Catholic church) has meant that the fundamental and deep doctrinal differences between Roman Catholicism and Biblical Protestantism have been pushed into the background. Perhaps they are regarded by many as of no great significance in this modern age, but, for us, they remain the key reasons for our continued opposition to the Pope and his church. As we seek to highlight these, it is vital that we do so in a spirit of humility and compassion. We have nothing to boast of in ourselves, for we are sinners saved by grace, and we must reach out to our Roman Catholic neighbors in love and proclaim to them the true Gospel message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone.” – from “Reflections on the Papal Visit to Ireland,” The Ulster Bulwark, October-December 2018, p. 13.
You know, Tom, understanding this is a lacking even among those I serve with. They all “know,” the Catholic church has it wrong, but few are able to articulate it soundly from God’s Word. The end result is they just push possible souls away by simply being negative. That is fine, as we ought to call a spade a spade. On the other hand, unless we can talk to folks about exactly what the problem is, we can do much to help. It’s the same way with JWs and Mormons, too. We know we “don’t like,” those guys, but actually don’t have any clue why.
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Thanks, Wally. I agree that the vast majority of evangelicals cannot articulate the differences in salvation teaching between Catholicism (and Mormons and JWs) and Bible Christians. These vital differences are getting blurred and that doesn’t help anyone.
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Fact.
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Oh, and if you get a chance listen to the message I posted this morning. It’s me!
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Thanks, Wally. I’m in NYC this weekend but look forward to listening to it Monday.
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Oh how cool I’d like to see that. I sat in a terminal at Kennedy once but that is it.
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My oldest son has visited NYC many times so he’s our tour guide. I told him a couple of weeks ago that I’m 62 not 42 like him but we still walked WAY too much today. My feet are sore and dead tired. Can’t do that tomorrow. Other than that I’m having a great time. Last time I was in NYC was 1971.
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Wow, that has been a bit since you have been then!
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Yup, I’ve purposely avoided it all these years because it’s not my idea of a relaxing vacation, but it helps to go with someone who knows the place pretty well.
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For some reason I didn’t see this post on my news feed until I went directly to your page. This is a much needed reminder in light of eternity and the Gospel
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Strange that you didn’t receive it. Maybe something to do with I used the automatic publishing scheduler for the first time? Thanks. Yeah, we can let the horrific circumstances take precedence over the Gospel.
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Strange! Oh well, good post by the way.
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Thank you!
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