Pretty picture. Those must be flowers because I can’t think of any crops that are so colorful.
the Roman Catholic Church is in error
Is there a frustration among those outside with the lived contradictions of Catholicism?
Profound soteriological issues aside for the moment and take for example, the scandal of a central authority that nobody pays attention to. One needs no religious training at all to question how that arrangement can be God’s plan. Isn’t that right?
I get laughed at even from my own side for professing the Creed entire, i.e., believing in the church. I can’t say what it would mean to profess belief in “an invisible communion of true believers.”
I believe there are places that the Roman Catholic Church is in error. I have learned to be careful (at least at the beginning of the conversation) to say “I believe…”
As for soteriology, if you don’t get the Gospel right, why go any farther?
I believe in the catholic church – in as much as the definition of “catholic” is “universal” – no matter where you go in the world, you find people who claim the name of Christ. We are connected by that, if nothing else.
I suppose there are folks, Harold Camping comes to mind, who don’t believe in the catholic church but rather think ecclesial bodies are apostate. (Using Camping as a foil here)
So, to believe in the catholic church means one can find authentic followers of Christ the world over, from all walks of life and all people groups.
Unlike Camping, we believe the church exists as much as we believe in the Trinity, the Incarnation, the central acts of salvation (crucifixion, death & resurrection), Christ’s glorious return as judge, bodily resurrection and eternity. The church keeps good company with these major beliefs to the point of embodying them. In evangelical thought, does she rightly numbered among these others? How is the catholic church distinct from the communion of saints?
Are these silly questions? Maybe just relevant. Peace.
——–
PS: Now I wonder why the Creed says “catholic church” instead of “body of Christ,” a more biblical phrase. Something for me to think about.
Tuesday, 5. May 2009
Pretty picture. Those must be flowers because I can’t think of any crops that are so colorful.
the Roman Catholic Church is in error
Is there a frustration among those outside with the lived contradictions of Catholicism?
Profound soteriological issues aside for the moment and take for example, the scandal of a central authority that nobody pays attention to. One needs no religious training at all to question how that arrangement can be God’s plan. Isn’t that right?
I get laughed at even from my own side for professing the Creed entire, i.e., believing in the church. I can’t say what it would mean to profess belief in “an invisible communion of true believers.”
How is the Creed understood in that context?
Tuesday, 5. May 2009
Yes…they are tulips in Holland.
I believe there are places that the Roman Catholic Church is in error. I have learned to be careful (at least at the beginning of the conversation) to say “I believe…”
As for soteriology, if you don’t get the Gospel right, why go any farther?
I believe in the catholic church – in as much as the definition of “catholic” is “universal” – no matter where you go in the world, you find people who claim the name of Christ. We are connected by that, if nothing else.
Tuesday, 5. May 2009
I wouldn’t have guessed Holland.
I believe in the catholic church
I suppose there are folks, Harold Camping comes to mind, who don’t believe in the catholic church but rather think ecclesial bodies are apostate. (Using Camping as a foil here)
So, to believe in the catholic church means one can find authentic followers of Christ the world over, from all walks of life and all people groups.
Unlike Camping, we believe the church exists as much as we believe in the Trinity, the Incarnation, the central acts of salvation (crucifixion, death & resurrection), Christ’s glorious return as judge, bodily resurrection and eternity. The church keeps good company with these major beliefs to the point of embodying them. In evangelical thought, does she rightly numbered among these others? How is the catholic church distinct from the communion of saints?
Are these silly questions? Maybe just relevant. Peace.
——–
PS: Now I wonder why the Creed says “catholic church” instead of “body of Christ,” a more biblical phrase. Something for me to think about.