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Where Fundamentalists Are Right: 5 Things Catholics Need to Take Seriously Again
ChurchPOP ^ | 2014 | Brantly Millegan

Posted on 11/14/2014 1:01:10 PM PST by millegan

The term “fundamentalist” is a pejorative term today, used to label someone the speaker believes is an irrational religious extremist of some kind.

But a hundred years ago, the term was taken as a badge of honor by theologically conservative Protestants to distinguish themselves from liberal Protestantism. While liberal Protestants in mainline denominations were denying basic Christian teachings like the authority of the Bible and the bodily resurrection of Jesus, conservative Protestants called for going back to the “fundamentals” of the faith – hence the term.

There are obviously a lot of issues on which Catholics and fundamentalists disagree, but there are a few important issues for which fundamentalists take a lot of heat in our culture that Catholics actually agree with them on – or at least are supposed to. Unfortunately, in my experience many Catholics – afraid to have themselves labeled a “fundamentalist” – can throw the baby out with the bath water and end up denying beliefs espoused by fundamentalists that are also taught by the Catholic Church.

Here are 5 things that are already present in the Catholic faith, but that Catholics could learn from their fundamentalist brothers and sisters to take more seriously:

(Excerpt) Read more at churchpop.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Ecumenism; Evangelical Christian; Theology
KEYWORDS: blogpimp; catholic; ecumenism; fundamentalist; pimpmyblog
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To: kidd; Alex Murphy

**Yes, we hear the entire Bible every three years during Mass. After 53 years of going to Mass, the Bible has been read to me 17 times.**

Do y’all really read 2 Samuel 20:10 out loud?


21 posted on 11/14/2014 2:43:24 PM PST by Gamecock (USA, Ret. 27 years.)
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To: kidd; Alex Murphy

And I really have a hard time believing that Ezekiel 23:20 is read aloud with any regularity!


22 posted on 11/14/2014 2:48:12 PM PST by Gamecock (USA, Ret. 27 years.)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

That is why you pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance in reading/studying the scriptures.


23 posted on 11/14/2014 2:56:42 PM PST by Biggirl (2014 MIdterms Were BOTH A Giant Wave And Restraining Order)
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To: Gamecock
And I really have a hard time believing that Ezekiel 23:20 is read aloud with any regularity!

I've got to admit I don't recall hearing this one with any regularity at all and I've been in church since the crib.

How this is translated makes an impact on the reading.

24 posted on 11/14/2014 3:00:45 PM PST by ealgeone
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To: Buckeye McFrog
) I think most Catholics believe in the literal sense of the Scripture, but are not well educated in Scripture to begin with. The result of centuries of the Church telling Catholics that we needed the clergy and monastic scholars to “interpret” it for us.

the Catholic church is correct in this regard. Read all you want but be careful of interpreting scripture to fit your own personal needs....for example, all Christian denominations agreed with Catholicism as far as contraception was concerned. That, of course, changed in the early 20th century when protestants changed their rules to pretty much lift all restrictions on it....How did they do this......who knows!!

25 posted on 11/14/2014 3:17:40 PM PST by terycarl (common sense prevails over all)
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To: Biggirl; St_Thomas_Aquinas
That is why you pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance in reading/studying the scriptures.

See, that there introduces a contradiction that I need help unravelling. STA has previously posted on this thread his opinion of private interpretation, and that individuals need the Catholic church to interpret scriptures. Seeking personal guidance for interpretation via the Holy Spirit smacks of private interpretation, or so we're told by other Catholics.

26 posted on 11/14/2014 3:19:11 PM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

ANYONE who tells me God did not create but used evolution and then tells me sincere Muslims go to heaven is not a Christian at all, neither is that religion


27 posted on 11/14/2014 3:22:49 PM PST by RaceBannon (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINES!)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

What is absolute unicity?


28 posted on 11/14/2014 3:23:57 PM PST by married21 ( As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: kidd
But I’m unable to quote Bible verses like the fundamentalists can

irrelevant, you probably can't quote a whole lot from the Constitution either, that in no way diminishes your respect for both of them. Knowing where to find the info is far more important that memorizing little bits of it.

29 posted on 11/14/2014 3:31:59 PM PST by terycarl (common sense prevails over all)
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To: ealgeone
the concept of mortal and venial sins....

so, you would say that God considers child sexual abuse with the same disdain as yelling "damn it" when you hit your thumb with a hammer????????????????????????really

30 posted on 11/14/2014 3:39:46 PM PST by terycarl (common sense prevails over all)
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To: kidd

I spent 5th and 6th grade in a private Baptist school. We had daily Bible Study as coursework and were tested on it. Memorization of key passages featured prominently, and occasionally went so far as entire books of the Bible. I can’t honestly say that I liked it at the time.

There’s a certain variety of Baptist that to this day I tend to avoid, there’s no excuse for telling a 5th grader he’s going to hell because he had been raised Lutheran up to that point. I’m somewhere between amused and befuddled by the constant bashing of Martin Luther by the RC faithful here on the FR Religion Forum, because he’s the most Catholic of the Reformers. Matter of fact, I got teased mercilessly then as being “almost Catholic” because of it.

That’s the not-so-good, now on to the good. All those verses, passages, chapters and entire books committed to memory and graded upon it are still there, quite actively kicking around and welling up. They rise unbidden at times and it’s always appropriate to the circumstance at hand.

The Bible is quite the guide for living, if you get close enough to it to see and understand it in that manner. I’ve come to understand that and appreciate it. For that I thank those Baptists. I love certain varieties of Baptist and have quite a few in my family, so I couldn’t be completely put off.

From what I see here, your church keeps the Bible on something of a pedestal and at arms’ length. An intimate familiarity with the text is not an objective and applying it to daily life is not encouraged. All the learned elders cited like a sort of Greek chorus along with any passage deemed important to Catholicism, well, it’s certainly intellectual but intellectualizing a matter of faith is sometimes not the most constructive thing to do for the majority of laity, from what I’ve seen and experienced.

God is very real and very present in the day to day, and does speak to you through those verses that arise out of memory. It’s an excellent guide through life, having that at one’s disposal. You would benefit yourself, of that I have no doubt.


31 posted on 11/14/2014 3:51:39 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: RaceBannon
ANYONE who tells me God did not create but used evolution and then tells me sincere Muslims go to heaven is not a Christian at all, neither is that religion

to deny creation would never be a teaching in any Christian church that I know of. Evolution, that is the progression, within species of changes points to the fact that there are hundreds of breeds of dogs when God probably just created the canine species. Sincere Muslims can indeed go to heaven if they were unaware of the salvation message of Jesus and lived, otherwise, decent honorable lives. There are very nice people in this world who basically know nothing about Christ. For God to condemn everyone who ever lived on Earth who did not follow Christianity to spend eternity in hell would be totally in opposition to what we know as a merciful and just God.

32 posted on 11/14/2014 3:56:57 PM PST by terycarl (common sense prevails over all)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas
From your link...

Oneness Pentecostalism defines salvation as repentance, baptism (in Jesus' name) and receipt of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues

A couple of your top dog apologists, Staples and Hahn are tongues speaking Charismatic Catholics...

33 posted on 11/14/2014 4:02:40 PM PST by Iscool
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To: kidd
But I’m unable to quote Bible verses like the fundamentalists can.

Psa_119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

34 posted on 11/14/2014 4:05:55 PM PST by Iscool
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To: ealgeone; millegan
"Passing judgement" on the Catholic Church using the Bible is as supercilious and naive as "correcting" great literature using a grammar text

wow....the ignorance.

No doubt about that...That can be said only by those who are ignorant of what the bible says...

35 posted on 11/14/2014 4:09:55 PM PST by Iscool
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To: terycarl
so, you would say that God considers child sexual abuse with the same disdain as yelling "damn it" when you hit your thumb with a hammer????????????????????????really

Assuming yelling 'damn it' is a sin, absolutely...

There are 613 laws and ordinances which cover probably every sin possible...

It is not what we say or what your religion says that matters...Your logic, reasoning and philosophy mean nothing...What does God say??? And that's why people need to read the bible...

Jas_2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Now what's your argument for that???

36 posted on 11/14/2014 4:23:45 PM PST by Iscool
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To: terycarl; Buckeye McFrog
the Catholic church is correct in this regard. Read all you want but be careful of interpreting scripture to fit your own personal needs....for example, all Christian denominations agreed with Catholicism as far as contraception was concerned. That, of course, changed in the early 20th century when protestants changed their rules to pretty much lift all restrictions on it....How did they do this......who knows!!

Tell me, how many types of "contraception" even existed a hundred years ago?

NOBODY should read Scripture to "fit" their own beliefs - selective reading and ignoring - but Scripture should be what molds what we believe. God's word is the authority, not fallible, sinful humans. He says it, we obey Him. Trust the Holy Spirit to convict your heart with what is true, not human church leaders - though they SHOULD be teaching the truth.

Lastly, should everyone judge the orthodoxy of a church based on a single issue or should it be on what they teach over all? The Roman Catholic church is not alone in teaching the wrongs of contraception including abortifacients - not ALL Protestants changed the "rules" - though you need to do a better job of defining what WERE these rules in the early 20th. century. Regardless, even IF the RCC were alone in restricting all contraception:


37 posted on 11/14/2014 4:35:07 PM PST by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
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To: terycarl; ealgeone; Gamecock
so, you would say that God considers child sexual abuse with the same disdain as yelling "damn it" when you hit your thumb with a hammer????????????????????????really

Hardly! One will get you excommunicated if you don't confess it to a priest. The other will get you transferred to another parish.

38 posted on 11/14/2014 4:38:33 PM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: RegulatorCountry; kidd
I still remember verses and chapters I memorized in college in the 70's! The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God - the only offensive weapon in the armor of a Christian.

Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8)

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. (Psalm 119:15)

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:16)

39 posted on 11/14/2014 4:45:44 PM PST by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
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To: terycarl; RaceBannon
Sincere Muslims can indeed go to heaven if they were unaware of the salvation message of Jesus and lived, otherwise, decent honorable lives. There are very nice people in this world who basically know nothing about Christ. For God to condemn everyone who ever lived on Earth who did not follow Christianity to spend eternity in hell would be totally in opposition to what we know as a merciful and just God.

Your version of a merciful and just God is in total opposition to what God says about Himself. It's also a weak one who can't reveal the truth to ANYONE who diligently seeks to know it. In fact, because God really IS merciful, we don't get what we deserve - which is His justice - hell for eternity. NONE of us deserve heaven. It is because of His GRACE that any of us will go to heaven because He gives eternal life as a gift which we receive by FAITH. Jesus clearly stated He is the way, the truth and the life and NO ONE comes to the Father BUT by Him (John 14:6). There is NO other name given among men whereby we must be saved. It doesn't matter how "good" a person is, or how decent and honorable they live their lives, we have ALL sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the price (wages) of sin is DEATH, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

It's wrong to limit God. It's worse to say God doesn't mean what He says. God is not a man that HE should lie. Mercy is NOT getting what we deserve (hell). Grace is getting what we don't deserve (heaven).

40 posted on 11/14/2014 4:56:51 PM PST by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
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