Posted on 02/17/2013 1:03:50 PM PST by Kaslin
The media, including some in the Christian media, throw around the word evangelical with little understanding of its proper definition. Most recently, the media has done this in referring to Pope Benedict XVI as the “Evangelical Pope.”
In an attempt to say he’s a missionary-minded Pope, or a proselytizing Pope, they impart a title that would probably make him most uncomfortable.
I have a deep respect for Pope Benedict. Respect for his impressive intellect. Respect for his strong stand on moral issues. Respect for his belief in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ for salvation. Respect for his levelheadedness in understanding other religions. The list could go on and on.
But to label the Roman Catholic Pontiff as evangelical is an attempt to mix oil and water. About the only thing those two elements have in common is they are both liquids.
Evangelical is a word that was invented to define protestant believers who attest to the fact that salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
The evangelium, or the gospel, is the good news that any sinner can come to Jesus in repentance and faith, believing that His death and resurrection as a substitute for their own deserved punishment. That is the only way that sinners (which includes all of humanity by birth) can be eternally saved.
The Roman Catholic Church cannot be called evangelical. For, although they would agree with the good news of the gospel, they would deem it not quite sufficient for salvation.
They would say that you must also:
• Come to Jesus through the mother church • Believe in the Seven Sacraments • Believe in intercession by the blessed virgin • Believe in the intercession of the saints • Be baptized in the Catholic Church • Attend mass and confession • Believe that during mass, the bread and wine are transformed into the literal body and blood of Jesus • Believe in the ex cathedra infallibility of the Pope
And that’s just to mention a few. But any one of those, by definition, conflicts with the core of evangelical belief: that salvation equals Jesus plus nothing more.
True evangelicals view baptism and the Lord’s Table as important symbolic reminders, but they don’t view them as necessary for salvation. Nor do they believe that priests, bishops, or popes have any authority other than the authority of God’s own Word in the Bible.
In an age that is so enthralled with muddle thinking and ambiguity, it is critically important that people, especially members of the media, use words properly and with clarity. The serious differences between evangelical and Catholic beliefs should not be ignored nor minimized.
Nonetheless, evangelicals need to be in deep prayer that we may one day have an “evangelical Pope.” After all, the Roman Pope claims to be the successor of the Apostle Peter.
For when Jesus asked the disciples if they knew who He was, it was Peter who declared this truth: “You are the Son of the living God.”
Peter never viewed himself as the embodiment of Christ on earth. In fact, he called himself a “servant of Jesus.”
Thus we need to pray in our hearts and on our lips that our Roman Catholic friends would call a pope who truly sees himself like Peter—as a servant of Jesus, and as a proclaimer of salvation through Jesus and nothing else.
It doesn’t matter who the Pope is. He could be Jesus Christ come back to Earth and the Catholic haters would go insane.
“Evangelical is a word that was invented to define protestant believers who attest to the fact that salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ alone.”
So, the author is claiming ‘evangelical’ has only one use? I wonder how the Evangelists (the ones in the Bible not the ones on TV) would feel about that?
So much for the Trinity...but since that word isn't in scripture either, no surprise there.
These are the prescriptions to be a member of the church community, not salvation. Catechism CCC 847 says clearly that salvation can be outside the church. It is considered 'normal' to be saved in the church (as most churches teach in one way or another) but possible to be saved outside the church and are not Catholics. The Catholic Church views three separate possible baptisms info faith. Baptism by the church- being saved in the church. Baptism by blood- martyrdom or deathbed conversion outside the church. And Baptism by Desire- salvation by those outside the church but still seeking and believing in God.
From Todays Readings
For the Scripture says,
No one who believes in him will be put to shame.
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
the same Lord is Lord of all,
enriching all who call upon him.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The poster is incorrect when he writes Catholics believe that to be saved a person must: “ Come to Jesus through the mother church • Believe in the Seven Sacraments • Believe in intercession by the blessed virgin • Believe in the intercession of the saints • Be baptized in the Catholic Church • Attend mass and confession • Believe that during mass, the bread and wine are transformed into the literal body and blood of Jesus” While Catholics by and large believe those, they don’t believe that a person must believe them to be saved. For instance, Catholics believe people in other denominations may be saved. Those separated bretheran obviously do not go to mass, believe in the bread and wine being transformed, don’t go to confession, believe in the intercession of the virgin Mary, etc.
Sheesh, a little research in the Catechism of the Catholic Church would have answered the posters questions.
They would say that you must also:
• Come to Jesus through the mother church • Believe in the Seven Sacraments • Believe in intercession by the blessed virgin • Believe in the intercession of the saints • Be baptized in the Catholic Church • Attend mass and confession • Believe that during mass, the bread and wine are transformed into the literal body and blood of Jesus • Believe in the ex cathedra infallibility of the Pope
And that’s just to mention a few. But any one of those, by definition, conflicts with the core of evangelical belief: that salvation equals Jesus plus nothing more.
If I was as ignorant of Catholic teaching as is the writer of this scree, I would be an anti-Catholic.
“There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.” ― Fulton J. Sheen
Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam:
“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”
The mass is declared by Trent to be a propitiatory sacrifice and necessary for salvation:
In this divine sacrifice...that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner who once offered himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross...This sacrifice is truly propitiatory...If any one saith, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; or that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice...and that it ought not to be offered for the living and dead for sins, pains, satisfactions and other necessities: let him be anathema (The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent. Found in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1910), Doctrine on the Sacrifice of the Mass, Chp. II, p. 180, Canon III).
Not sure what he means by “believe in.” I do know for example that Catholics believe that Sacraments are given to us by Jesus to help us find Grace. Just sitting on a bump in the road and saying “I believe in Jesus and that’s it, that’s all I need to do” is silly.
Pope’s are human beings and sinners. I believe that only twice has a Pope spoken infallibly.... Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. To be Catholic, I must believe in those two tenants and no, they are not in the Bible but pretty much everything else that the Church teaches is. We’re not making this stuff up for crying out loud.
If you are familiar with the many debates on the Religion forum here, you might have seen that some RCs interpret Lumen Gentium as meaning one must yet convert to Catholicism to be saved, as do some Traditional Catholic groups. And which has RC support from the past, http://peacebyjesuscom.blogspot.com/2011/09/contradictions-in-roman-catholicism.html, even if they are wrong.
Exactly
Oh, what a bunch of piffling and wittering. “Evangelical” means “delivering the Christian message.” (Some version of “evangelion” is the word for “Gospel” in most languages.)
If Pope Benedict has not been “evangelical,” both as Pope and earlier in his service, I don’t know who has!
Next thing we’ll hear about the Southern Baptists called “Catholic.”
Pope Benedict also a believed in baptism, Pentecost Sunday and an episcopal form of church government, but that didn't make him a Baptist or a Pentacostal or an Episcopalian.
"Evangelical," as historically and widely used in North America, refers to a certain set of convictions which Pope Benedict only partly shares. The term is used to differentiate one form of Protestantism from the rest, AND from the Catholic Church
In Germany, "Evanglische" is what the Lutheran Church is called....so is the Pope also a Lutheran?
If I recite the Apostles creed, including the "holy catholic church" part, should I say I am Catholic, even though I do not accept the authority of the Pope, his idea of baptism or salvation??
The priests and the parsons would be waiting to burn him at the stake should Jesus come back to earth.
I had always thought Evangelical could be defined as someone who is first and foremost a Christian Saved by Christ and identifies with that more than with a specific doctrine of Christianity. And that Evangelicals and Baptists believe that being Catholic does not necessarily mean that you are or are not Saved - a Catholic, in their opinion, could be someone who truly accepts Christ as their savior or could be someone who does not accept Christ as their Savior. I could be entirely wrong of course but this is just my personal understanding of how Evangelicals and Baptists and perhaps other sects like Methodists view the Catholics.
No kidding. I think it really started getting ridiculous when the media started referring to Rick Santorum as the "Evangelical" candidate because he got a lot of votes from Evangelical Christians. By that logic, Obama is the "Jewish candidate"
>> The Roman Catholic Church cannot be called evangelical. For, although they would agree with the good news of the gospel, they would deem it not quite sufficient for salvation. They would say that you must also: • Come to Jesus through the mother church • Believe in the Seven Sacraments • Believe in intercession by the blessed virgin • Believe in the intercession of the saints • Be baptized in the Catholic Church • Attend mass and confession • Believe that during mass, the bread and wine are transformed into the literal body and blood of Jesus • Believe in the ex cathedra infallibility of the Pope <<
The author is flat out wrong here, as mnehring notes, this is what the Catholic Church prescribes in order to be a member in good standing of the Catholic Church, not for salvation. The Catholic Church has clearly stated one can be saved without being a member of the Catholic Church.
>> “Evangelical is a word that was invented to define protestant believers who attest to the fact that salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ alone.” <<
I also think the author's definition is off here. "Salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ alone" is one of the central tenants of the Protestant reformation ("Sola fide") and is accepted by virtually every major protestant denomination, so by the author's logic, any protestant would be "Evangelical", including the "mainline" protestants.
I really think the word "Evangelical" has been tossed around so much that it's become virtually meaningless, like how everyone from Paul Ryan to Arlen Specter has been called a "RINO" at some point.
>> sees himself like Peter—as a servant of Jesus, and as a proclaimer of salvation through Jesus. <<<
The Pope and the Catholic Church DOES see the Pope's role as this -- he is a human being, a successor to Peter, and like Peter, one given the task of proclaiming Christ's message on earth.
>> embodiment of Christ on earth <<
Here, the author gets it wrong yet again. "Vicar" means "substitute". He is simply filling in for Peter and Jesus, and is not a reincarnation of either of them. The Pope is fully capable of sin and many Popes have sinned greatly. The Pope is not seen as a "embodiment of Christ on earth" by Catholics, but a human tasked with carrying on Christ's message in the best way he can.
>> Oh, what a bunch of piffling and wittering. “Evangelical” means “delivering the Christian message.” (Some version of “evangelion” is the word for “Gospel” in most languages.) If Pope Benedict has not been “evangelical,” both as Pope and earlier in his service, I don’t know who has! <<
>> Pope Benedict also a believed in baptism, Pentecost Sunday and an episcopal form of church government, but that didn't make him a Baptist or a Pentacostal or an Episcopalian. "Evangelical," as historically and widely used in North America, refers to a certain set of convictions which Pope Benedict only partly shares. The term is used to differentiate one form of Protestantism from the rest, AND from the Catholic Church In Germany, "Evanglische" is what the Lutheran Church is called....so is the Pope also a Lutheran? If I recite the Apostles creed, including the "holy catholic church" part, should I say I am Catholic, even though I do not accept the authority of the Pope, his idea of baptism or salvation?? <<
Here's an example where capitalization really counts. It's similar to how calling someone a "libertarian" means they ascribe to a certain political ideology, but may be any political party, whereas calling someone a "Libertarian", implies they are a member of the Libertarian Party.
Pope Benedict XVI certainly does "evangelize", but he is not a "Evangelical" Baptists across the United States certainly promote catholic worship, but they are not members of the Catholic faith. And so on, and so on...
LOL Just adopted most of it from the pagans. Most of what the Catholic Church does is of pagan origin and condemned by God.
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