Posted on 05/17/2007 10:08:04 AM PDT by Gamecock
Reading Francis Beckwith's interview with David Neff in Christianity Today, reminded me of how idyllic the Roman church can seem in the minds of those who embrace it (Click here: Q&A: Francis Beckwith | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction).
But then this news report appeared today which gives a much different picture of the supposed glories of Romanism (Click here: Pope to canonize first Brazilian saint - Yahoo! News).
All discussion of justification, the authority of Scripture, and reciting the Creed aside, the Pope is heading to Brazil to canonize Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao, a Franciscan monk who is credited with 5000 miraculous healings. Over 1 million people are expected to be in attendance. The healings supposedly come as a result of swallowing rice paper pills prepared by the monk over two hundred years ago. According to the AP news report . . .
"The Vatican has officially certified the medical cases of two Brazilian women as divinely inspired miracles that justify the sainthood of Galvao. Both of these women spoke of their faith with The Associated Press, claiming that their children would not be alive today were it not for the tiny rice-paper pills that Friar Galvao handed out two centuries ago.
Although the friar died in 1822, the tradition is carried on by Brazilian nuns who toil in the Sao Paulo monastery where Galvao is buried, preparing thousands of the Tic Tac-sized pills distributed free each day to people seeking cures for all manner of ailments. Each one is inscribed with a prayer in Latin: `After birth, the Virgin remained intact. Mother of God, intercede on our behalf.'
Sandra Grossi de Almeida, 37, is one such believer. She had a uterine malformation that should have made it impossible for her to carry a child for more than four months. But in 1999, after taking the pills, she gave birth to Enzo, now 7. `I have faith," Grossi said, pointing to her son. I believe in God, and the proof is right here.'
Nearly 10 years before that, Daniela Cristina da Silva, then 4 years old, entered a coma and suffered a heart attack after liver and kidney complications from hepatitis A. `The doctors told me to pray because only a miracle could save her,' Daniela's mother Jacyra said recently. `My sister sneaked into the intensive care unit and forced my daughter to swallow Friar Galvao's pills.'"
So, if you "return home" to Rome, you get the whole ball of wax, including the beatification of saints who give out Tic-Tac size rice-paper pills which supposedly heal. And Pope Benedict XVI will be there to bless it all.
By the way, confessional Protestants affirm the historical evangelical doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, and the full authority of Scripture. And yes, we even recite the Creed every Lord's Day and we use a biblical-text based liturgy which is quite similar to that described by Justin Martyr in the second century.
Too bad Dr. Beckwith didn't consider a confessional Protestant church before embracing Romanism. Now he's stuck with Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao and his rice-paper healing pills.
And you attempt to do what with staements like that?
If you noticed, I said Harnack was one of many. You can also include Phillip Schaff, whom Roman Catholics are fond of citing when they think Schaff supports RC positions.
Are you denying that Roman popes have not been found to be heretics?
Wrong, but like most later doctrines and Rome's revised versions of history, Roman Catholics read the present paradigm back into past history, writings and Scripture where they do not exist.
And it is not represented by the Roman Catholic religion.
That makes more sense than the Catholic position of believing in post-Biblical miracles but insisting that the miracles of the "old testament" are nothing but "mythology."
Where do you find that to be the Catholic position?
Perhaps I worded myself imprecisely. It is indeed the position of the majority of modern Catholics and is near universal among the clergy, theologians, and the "well educated." The Catholic proclivity for evolution and higher criticism of the "old testament" is well-known and is in no need of proof. The Pope himself is an evolutionist, as was his predecessor. So far as I know, the last pope who might not have been an evolutionist was Paul VI, and even the "arch-conservative" Pius XII, just a year or two after issuing the allegedly "anti-evolution" encyclical Humani Generis read a statement to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences which said that there was absolutely no doubt that some evolution of the human body had taken place. It is also indisputable that contemporary Catholic publications frequently attack Biblical inerrancy and promote "critical theories" of the TaNa"KH that were popularized by late nineteenth century German Protestant scholars. And editions of the Bible that teach these theories in the commentary have long received the nihil obstat and imprimatur, which are SUPPOSED to indicate that nothing taught in the work is contrary to Catholic doctrine.
But one example that particularly sticks in my mind at the present moment is the difference in the way the two solar miracles of Joshua and Fatima are treated. The former (related in the Biblical Book of Joshua) is regarded as an embarrassment on the level of geocentrism, something to be explained away as a scandalous obstruction to the conversion of scientists and intellectuals. The latter, though not officially required as an article of belief, is widely held by a majority of Catholics without causing the least bit of embarrassment or scandal. Apparently scientists and intellectuals are not as offended by the sun dancing at Fatima as they are it standing still for Joshua, though both are just as contrary to the laws of science. What can I conclude but that the miracle of Fatima is a "Catholic" miracle but that of Joshua, being Biblical, is "Jewish" or "Protestant" and somehow threatening to contemporary Catholics?
I hope I have explained myself.
Would your heart leap for joy upon hearing the truth, even though it would be bitter in the stomach, or are you a permanent resident in Hotel Know-it-all? World’s full of them out there, lots of them even on FR.
Or should have been, anyway. Pope Alexander VI, anyone?
"What you bound on earth shall be bound in heaven. And what you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven"...."Whoever hears you, hears me."..."If he will not listen to the Church, let him be to you as a heathen or tax collector."
That's a grant of personal authority. Power to bind with legislation, power to teach authoritatively, and power to excommunicate. Not absolute authority no, but an authority insofar as the Church is the ultimate judge on certain key matters of religion.
The Apostolic Tradition was recorded in the Scriptures, and was and is passed on to every genuine believer, so said 98% of the Church Fathers.
98% eh? I'd be surprised if it was 2%. Let's see some quotes.
Please refrain from confusing the issue with facts, sir!
;-o)
Are there or are there not legends about George Washington? Chopped down the cherry tree?
Whoa! That invalidates the whole thing, then! America is a corrupt whore of Babylon...you can't trust any history book any American writes about him! How dare we celebrate a holiday in Washington's honor!
I frankly expect better from you, Dr. Eckleburg....that sort of historical hyper-criticism is a stupidity invented by the left.
No fair unless you post the full comic! LOL.
I promise to remember, and I love the Irish. They're white Italians, as far as I can tell. :)Though I do ask forgivness in advance, should I forget. La vecchiaia, don't you know. To save you the google trouble that means old age.
At 51, when I try to use that as an exuse with my Mom, she replies in her sweet, and mishevious broken English, you got a long way to go, baby!
Not to worry, that happens to me a lot.
Though when he was younger, he did have cherubic cheeks...
I'll have to check out his youtube debut later, and thanks.
You are even younger than me! I’ll be 53 this September.
White Italians indeed! More like the Italians are Irish who eat olives :>)
Jack Chick is not allowed here at all, we want nothing to do with hate mongers.
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