I have stumbled upon a tremendous blog dealing with witnessing to the faith and in the cause of the protection of life. Give it a vist at:
http://bluewavecanada.blogspot.com/
The May 2010 Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Newsletter can now be found at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter108(May2010)(RGB).pdf Bill C-384 was soundly defeated by a vote of 228 to 59. Check how the Members of Parliament voted at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/HowTheyVoted.pdf On June 5, 2010, we are co-hosting the US/Canda Push-Back Seminar at the Radisson Gateway Hotel at the Seattle/Tacoma Airport. The overwhelming defeat of Bill C-384 proved that we can Push-Back the euthanasia lobby in the US and Canada and convince people that euthanasia and assisted suicide are a dangerous public policy. Register for the Seminar at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/2010SeminarFlyer(RGB)(LetterFormat).pdf The Schindler family are being attacked by a Florida television station and Michael Schiavo. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is standing in solidarity with the Schindler family. My blog comments: http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2010/05/att...
Greetings Tim.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say non-Catholic churches such as say Reformed churches subsist within the Catholic Church, do you mean the Roman Catholic Church?
In our (Reformed) church, we confess the Apostle's Creed which speaks about the holy catholic church. But I take this to mean the universal church made up of all believers down through the ages. This catholic or universal church is also composed of existing local churches today, just as in the days of the apostles. But to qualify, in my opinion, a local church must be a true church. A true church must be preaching and believing the truth which God was pleased to give us in the Bible. Would you agree?
According to the Bible, one of the basic doctrines which a true church must have to be considered as a true church is the true gospel or the way of salvation. (1 John ch.4) What do you believe in a nutshell is the way of salvation?
Also, I was a little surprised to find you describe yourself as evangelical. That is interesting because I just looked up the definition of that word in my Oxford Dictionary and the second definition is "of the Protestant school maintaining the doctrine of salvation by faith." The first def. is "of or according to the teaching of the gospel". I am not sure you would approve of the second definition being applied to yourself. What is the gospel in your opinion?
Greetings,
ReplyDelete1. All Christian churches who share in baptism have within them something of the universal church that Christ inaugurated. As a Roman Catholic, I believe that as the Church led by the successor of Peter, the entirety of this church that Christ began subsists (lives within) our Church. This does not mean that everything that is the RC Church contains this universal church. Your Church, by virtue of baptism shares in the same entity that was founded by Christ.
2. I absolutely agree with this second point. As a Catholic (please let me use this term to mean Roman Catholic - less typing, no insult intended) that the tradition of the RC Church is the accumulated wisdom by which we interpret scripture.
3. Yes I do consider myself an evangelical Catholic priest. Are you familiar with ECT (Evangelicals and Catholics Together). They have hashed out a common position on the issues you are raising. I have come to understand that if we can set aside our preconceptions about each others community, we will discover that in fact Evangelicals and Catholics are far closer in their beliefs than RC's are with most mainline protestant churches.
Missed one point: the Gospel is the divine word of God revealed to humanity. It contains everything necessary for salvation. This too is a Catholic teaching.
Wayne,
ReplyDeleteHere is a link that explains the ECT project and it includes a list of all the participants.
http://www.seekgod.ca/ect.htm
Tim,
ReplyDeleteDear sir, Thank you for your reply. I also just found your webpage entitled "What is Evangelical Catholicism?" I will read that and what you have said here and consider it over the weekend and possibly leave another comment to you sometime in the next few days. I have to go out of town during the day and evening tomorrow so I am not sure I will be able to do much until after tomorrow.
I grew up as a RC and stopped going to the RCC around the age of 28. It's a long story which I won't go into right now, but the RCC did not seem to have the answers for the marriage crisis in my life at that time and later as well. Suffice to say I have read a fair amount about the RCC since that time and am familiar to a certain extent with it. I recall in my early 20s a friendly priest staying overnight at my place on weekends in a small community he serviced and the bishop he brought along one time to stay with us. But all of that is ancient history.
The important thing now is that the Lord saved me about 30 years ago, when I was about 35 yrs of age, through the preaching of the gospel on the radio one evening in my apartment. The message was on 1 Corinthians Ch.15 vs1 to 4. How Christ died for my sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised from the dead the third day according to the Scriptures. The preacher quoted Romans Ch10 vs 13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Up to that evening, I had felt in a desperate and hopeless situation in life, but by God's grace, upon hearing the message, I immediately called upon the Lord to save me. I believe He did save me entirely by His grace, as Romans 10:13 says. All I can do is thank and praise Him continually.
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Psalm 31 vs 1,2.