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February 23, 2010 Anglican Bishops Back End To Ban On Gay Civil Partnerships In Church Gay couples could soon be allowed to “marry” in church after a decision by Anglican bishops and other clergy to support a relaxation of the ban. Senior bishops in the Lords have told The Times that they will support an amendment to the Equality Bill next month that will lift the ban on civil partnership ceremonies in religious premises. The amendment would remove the legislative prohibition on blessings of homosexual couples and open the door to the registration of civil partnerships in churches, synagogues, mosques...

PROBLEMS WITH THE DOCTRINE OF SOLA SCRIPTURA A. IT IS A DOCTRINE BASED UPON A NUMBER OF FAULTY ASSUMPTIONS An assumption is something that we take for granted from the outset, usually quite unconsciously. As long as an assumption is a valid one, all is fine and well; but a false assumption inevitably leads to false conclusions. One would hope that even when one has made an unconscious assumption that when his conclusions are proven faulty he would then ask himself where his underlying error lay. Protestants who are willing to honestly assess the current state of the Protestant world,...

Today is the Forward in Faith Day of Prayer, a moment of reflection for Anglo-Catholics considering the Pope’s offer to enter into full communion with the Holy See on pretty much their own terms. That may sound flippant, but it can’t be stressed enough that the Ordinariate is the former Cardinal Ratzinger’s response to requests from his Anglican friends for special pastoral oversight. What a good day, then, for a group of Anglo-Catholics to launch Friends of the Ordinariate (FOTO). The website proclaims: We are Anglicans in the UK who are members of The Church of England, The Church in...

Gen. to Rev. - Scripture never says that Scripture is the sole infallible authority for God's Word. Scripture also mandates the use of tradition. This fact alone disproves sola Scriptura.... Matt. 28:20 - "observe ALL I have commanded," but, as we see in John 20:30; 21:25, not ALL Jesus taught is in Scripture. So there must be things outside of Scripture that we must observe. This disproves "Bible alone" theology.... Luke 1:1-4 - Luke acknowledges that the faithful have already received the teachings of Christ, and is writing his Gospel only so that they "realize the certainty of the teachings...

As an Evangelical Lutheran, I thought I knew Jesus Christ because I was familiar with his word. One of Martin Luther’s rallying cries had been sola scriptura, and Scripture had been the primary focus of the Lutheran churches I had attended as a child and teen. The Liturgy of the Word consisted of Scripture readings and a homily. Three Sundays out of four, that was the service in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America—the church in which I had been baptized and raised. But it’s what happened every fourth Sunday that eventually led me into the Catholic Church: a Communion...

>Ecumenical Event Scheduled for March 14 VATICAN CITY, FEB. 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will visit a Lutheran church in Rome for a German-language service in which both he and a Lutheran pastor will give homilies. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Vatican press office today confirmed that the visit -- previously announced -- will take place March 14. The president of the unity council, Cardinal Walter Kasper, will participate in the visit. Rome's Lutheran community had invited the Pope in 2008 to mark the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's visit to the church. The...

U.S. membership has increased in the Catholic Church — the nation's largest Christian body — but the No. 2 Southern Baptist Convention, along with most mainline Protestant denominations, reported continuing decline, according to new figures released by the National Council of Churches. Both the Southern Baptists and Catholics reported membership losses in last year's Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches; in the 2010 edition, however, the Catholics reported a rebound, with a 1.5 percent growth rate, to more than 68 million members. Southern Baptists held on to the No. 2 spot, at 16.3 million members, but that figure represented a...

The former assistant Bishop of Newcastle, Paul Richardson, has been received into full communion with the Holy See, I am pleased to reveal. Richardson – also a former Anglican bishop in Papua New Guinea and diocesan bishop of Wangaratta in Australia – was received into the Church at the chaplaincy at Durham University last month. He tells me that his conversion is not the product of recent controversies. “I would have become a Catholic even if the Church of England wasn’t ordaining women bishops,” he says. “In a sense I feel it’s what I’ve always been, so this is like...

Catholic Biblical Apologetics Apologetics without apology! What does the Roman Catholic Church teach about ...? ... and why? This website surveys the origin and development of Roman Catholic Christianity from the period of the apostolic church, through the post-apostolic church and into the conciliar movement. Principal attention is paid to the biblical basis of both doctrine and dogma as well as the role of paradosis (i.e. handing on the truth) in the history of the Church. Particular attention is also paid to the hierarchical founding and succession of leadership throughout the centuries. This is a set of lecture notes...

The Methodist Church is prepared to be absorbed by the Church of England if that is the price of unity, Britain’s most senior Methodist said yesterday. The Rev David Gamble, president of the Methodist Conference, told the General Synod of the Church of England, meeting at Church House, Westminster: “We are prepared to go out of existence, not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission.” Methodists were “prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church” if that served the needs of the Kingdom of God. The...

Christians mark the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday church services and self-reflection. And it's not just Catholics who are participating. Ash Wednesday, which is next week, includes the practice of having ashes placed on your forehead. While the ash marking is often associated with Roman Catholicism, Christians of various denominations are increasingly participating in Ash Wednesday services, which are traditionally contemplative and somber. In the Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is "a call to do penance for sin," said Lucas Pollice, director of catechesis for the Fort Worth Diocese. Ellen Lewis, associate minister of University Christian Church in Fort Worth,...

The Methodist Church might change, or even merge with the CofE. But Methodists don't need an insitution to be who they areRumour has it that the Reverend David Gamble, president of the Methodist Conference, woke up a sleepy General Synod last Thursday morning by committing the Methodist Church to death by self-immolation. The alleged death-tolling line was made right at the end of a half-an-hour Synod address during which Gamble and vice-president Dr Richard Vautrey affirmed the Methodist Church's loyalty to the covenant it shares with the Church of England. "We are prepared to go out of existence not because...

The Scenario: Ever have one of those days when you’re feeling full of energy and vigor? I mean, you’re feeling just obnoxiously happy? Well, this is one of those days. Driving home from work, you switch on the radio to see what’s happening, and you tune in to a local Protestant radio station just in time to hear a preacher speaking against various Catholic doctrines concerning Mary. The show is called Pastor Bob’s Bible Hour. Pastor Bob proclaims: “Jesus knew Catholics would come along and begin to worship His mother and call her perpetual virgin and absurd things like that....

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is an idea that has fallen into disfavor in modernity, for various reasons.  In Protestant circles, of course, the notion that the Mass could be a sacrifice is often seen as a repudiation or usurpation of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, as though it’s an either/or choice.  Perhaps the all-time favorite Bible verse among such critics Hebrews 9:25-26: Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Holy Place yearly with blood not his own; for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the...

The Rev. Larry Barksdale, pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church since 2003, resigned Sunday, three weeks after the church voted 99-54 to stay in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Barksdale resigned at the beginning of the monthly council meeting, held the second Sunday of the month, following the 11 a.m. service. The decision was set in motion in August, when the national church passed various resolutions about human sexuality. Among the resolutions: partnered, committed gay people can serve as clergy at ELCA churches that want to hire them. Though not binding on individuals or congregations, the decision bothered Barksdale...

So Protestants and Catholics may not agree on which books should be in the Bible. And we don’t agree on which translations are best. But at least we can always agree on the Ten Commandments, right?  Well, not exactly. We agree on the scripture passages that the ten commandments come from (Deut 5 and Exodus 20). But scripture doesn’t enumerate them for us and break them into 10 nice, neat “commandments.” Because of this, there have been a number of different variations of the ten commandments as we know them today. The Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant versions are very...

Church of England staff could man picket lines outside the Archbishop of Canterbury’s historic residence for the first time ever, in a dispute over pay.Union leaders who are balloting the national church’s lay workers over industrial action next month claim that it is not “Christian behaviour” to freeze their pay. About 100 members of Church staff are members of the Public & Commercial Services Union, which also represents thousands of civil servants. Some work at Church House in Westminster for the Church Commissioners, who manage a £5billion property and investment portfolio; the clergy pension board; and the Archbishops’ Council, a...

To me, this seems to be a central issue, if not *the* central issue in the Christian claim. For this reason, I thought it might be worthy of discussion. I've intended to post something like this for a while, as it seems to get at the heart of virtually all the debates we wrangle with here on FR, and yet never really gets discussed. I was particularly motivated today, not just because I am trapped for the 3rd day in my home because of this danged snow, but because of this post here , an interesting exchange between RnMomof7 and...

Religious Racketeers 70. It's my opinion that religion is a racket, designed to provide a living for those who propagate it. Do you know anything at all about Christ? Can you find anything in the four Gospels to hint that He designed His religion to provide a living in this world only? When He called His apostles to leave their ordinary means of a livelihood, He did not offer them an easier and more lucrative profession. Religion, of course, like anything else is liable to abuse. Some people undoubtedly have made a money-spinning racket out of religion. And they cannot...

Thanks for the info! I never knew that about Calvin. I knew he believed in sacramental salvation. Similar to RC and Luth., but with a twist. But I do have to agree with Calvin about Jesus in Hades. Acts 2:24 makes that clear, "God ended His agony" by raising Him. There are a few other verses that help. If anyone is interested there is a study on the topic @ www.gnmc.us