Get the Word out!

I’ve taken the liberty to copy an article from WorldNetDaily. The reason that I copied it is so that the context of the article can be seen as I write my response. The bold and narrow assertion made by Pope Benedict XVI recently is not only offensive, it goes against the very thing that it proposes to uphold. This discussion could go on for pages, so I will try to stay to the issue at hand. I will keep short the background information in hopes that readers will study what is said on their own.

Pope Benedict XVI has ignited controversy across the world by approving a document saying non-Catholic Christian communities are either defective or not true churches, and the Roman Catholic Church provides the only true path to salvation.

The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) is headed by pope Benedict XVI. It stands on some beliefs that are hard to support with scripture. The RCC (but not necessarily all of it’s constituents) believes that they are the only church that Christ started. They believe this because they say that the pope is a successor of Peter, and that Peter was the first pope. They base this on Matthew 16:18. Jesus says that He will build His church on the rock (petra). The rock that Jesus is talking about is the confession that Peter (petros) makes in verse 16 (that Jesus is the Son of God). They also believe that the pope is infallible. The definition of infallible is without error. Many Roman Catholics (RCs) will try to say that they don’t believe that the pope is unable to commit error, only that he is unable to commit error when he is acting in the office of the papacy. This means that when the pope takes an action like he has, to call any other church but the RCC “defective”, or “not a true church”; he is considered to be infallible. The problem with all of this is the fact that the pope is human and still very much capable of error, even when he acts in the office of pope.  On to the statements made. Pope Benedict says that non-Catholic Christian communities are defective or not true churches. To say this implies a lot. First, it means that all of the people that have accepted Christ outside the RCC are not truly saved, but are deceived and still going to hell. Let’s look at this logically. If what the pope says is true, that the RCC provides the only path to salvation, then non-RCs are not on the path of salvation. This means that non-RCs are not saved, which in turn means that non-RCs are going to hell(purgatory isn’t an option because we don’t believe in it). This is a very dangerous place to tread for any man regardless of position. I would say with 100% certainty that the pope cannot see the condition of my soul. I would be just as bold to say that he cannot see the condition of the hundreds of thousands of other souls that he has just condemned to hell. Matthew 7:1 is a well known scripture that is often severely taken out of context. It says, “Do not judge and you will not be judged”. The contextual scriptures say that we will be judged with the same measure we mete and that we should take care of the log in our own eye before we worry about the speck in our brother’s eye. This is usually used by Christians and non-Christians alike who wish to hang onto sin that has been exposed. Instead of admitting it and moving toward repentance and reconciliation, they say, “Don’t judge me”, and continue in their sin. In this context, however, it is very true. No one but God Himself knows the state of our soul, and only He will be able to make an accurate judgment of our eternal destination. To say that you can, without fail, determine where thousands of people will spend eternity is to place yourself on the throne of God. I will just say that that is not a position I want to be in…“

Christ ‘established here on earth’ only one church,” said the document, reasserting the primacy of Catholicism.

Christ did establish one church, but it isn’t the RCC (or the hundreds of other denominations that make the same claim). The church that Christ established was/is the universal body of believers in Him. The word church used in Matthew 16:18 is the Greek word ekklesia which simply means a congregation or gathering of people. It is those who are “called out” from the world. To say that the primacy of the RCC has been reasserted, is a statement that actually carries value only to those who believe it ever had any primacy to begin with.

It said other Christian communities such as Protestants “cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense” since they don’t have what’s known as apostolic succession – that is, the ability to trace their bishops back to the original 12 apostles of Jesus.

As I stated above, to say that other Christian communities cannot be called churches, is to see the scriptural definition of the original Greek word completely ignored by someone who is supposedly infallible. The proper sense of the word “church” is that of a congregation. In that sense, I don’t recall seeing too many churches that don’t fit that definition. To say that you have to be able to trace your bishops back to the original 12 Apostles is to apply restrictions on the body of Christ that neither the scriptures nor the Greek grammatical structure bear out.

The document said the Orthodox church suffered from a “wound” because it did not recognize the primacy of the pope, adding the wound was “still more profound” among Protestant denominations.

The wound suffered was that there is no harmony between different denominations due to minor differences of doctrine (most of the time). Nowhere in scripture does it say that we are to recognize the pope as the leader of the body of Christ, or as His main representative on the earth. It does say, however, that Christ is the head of the body, and that we are all His representatives.

It was “difficult to see how the title of ‘Church’ could possibly be attributed to them,” said the statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, purporting Roman Catholicism was “the one true Church of Christ.”

This only sounds like arrogance coming from a church that is steeped in it’s own tradition.

“These separated churches and communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation,” the document read. “In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church.”

This is double talk and a complete contradiction of what was said above. If non-RCs are not on the path of salvation, then how can they not be deprived of the “significance nor importance” of it? The pope says that other churches suffer from defects. Is the RCC the spotless bride that Christ is returning for? Why is salvation described as a mystery? It seems pretty simple to me. Man messed up and separated himself from God through sin. He could not (and still can’t) restore that relationship on his own. To remedy this, God came down in flesh, lived a sinless life, died as a substitute for those who believe in Him, and restored the relationship with God. Is that truly that difficult? It is awfully nice of the pope to give the Holy Spirit the credit of using us lowly non-RCs as “defective” instruments of salvation. But to say that the value of salvation is “derived from the grace and truth that has been entrusted to the RCC”, is outrageous. The grace of God is available to all men to lead them to salvation through faith in Christ. This was how it worked before the RCC rose up, and this is how it will always work. For the RCC to take the glory for the work that God did through believers before it was even established is shady to say the least.

The document, formulated as five questions and answers, repeated sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, “Dominus Iesus,” which angered Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches and did not have the “means of salvation.”

Here again, the pope says that non-RC churches lack the “means of salvation”. What type of salvation are we talking about here? If it is salvation by works, then we should all lack that. If it is true salvation, then how can we lack the free gift that God has given the entire world through His Son? The bible says in Acts 4:12 that there is “no other name under heaven by which men might be saved but the name of Jesus”. If the name of Jesus is how we are saved, and it is through belief in Him and confession of Him as Lord that we are saved (Romans 10:9-10), then who is the pope to say that non-RC churches lack this?

The Vatican’s statement, signed by American Cardinal William Levada, was approved by Benedict June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in the Catholic faith.

Protestant leaders wasted no time attacking the statement.

 “It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity,” said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a group of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries. “It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church.”  

Today’s edition of the London Times gave the story prominence with a headline reading: “If it isn’t Roman Catholic then it’s not a proper Church, pope tells Christians.”

Its online edition also features a messageboard where readers from all over the world are reacting to the pronouncement, including:

·  The pope is being honest in saying what all right thinking Catholics believe. (Brian O Cinneide, Durban, South Africa) I

In light of scripture, can this truly be called “right thinking”?

·  The Roman Catholic Church IS the true Church, all others are “off shoots,” “break away” or denominations. (Connie, Billings, Montana)

·  I guess the crux of it is that if you don’t accept the pope as your leader, then the church you are in is illegitimate. This is most offensive and insincere considering the Roman Catholic Church keeps telling us that it wants to reach out to other Christian and non-Christian faiths. I would say that the Catholic Church is “not proper” for issuing this provocative article not the Christian churches. (Niki Saliba, Melbourne, Australia)

·  I am embarrassed to be Catholic. I feel as if a major part of my ongoing and increasingly difficult decision to remain in the Church has been excised. The pope is going to take the Church back to a time when it was populated by only a hard-core, self-congratulatory few. I guess that will mean fewer parishes to keep open and more donations per capita. (Janet, Ohio)

·  Just shows why it is almost impossible to remain a practicing Catholic. The medium is more important than the message. Do you really think Christ would think it was more important to belong to one brand of Christianity than to live by his teachings? (Maria, Sydney, Australia)

·  The early Christians set a bad example for everyone. They prayed in other tongues, engaged in prophesy, laid hands on the sick, cast out demons and met in services in the catacombs. They stuck together even until death and crucifixion. They acted like they were in love with God as a result of a supernatural experience through the Holy Spirit as a result of Christ’s death of redemption. Those improper Christians never did get it right with their early Church practices! (Mark, Houston, Texas)

In John 13:34-35, Jesus tells us to love one another because that is how the world will know that we are His disciples. Colossians 3:14 says that love is the perfect bond of unity. Is this type of divisive speech and attitude toward other believers founded in the love of Christ? Below is posted 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. It is the chapter that describes love. I believe that it is necessary to understand the love being talked about here. It is the agape love. This type of love is the God kind of love. It is the sacrificial kind of love. 

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.  

 Is the statement made by the pope the type of agape love that would sacrifice itself for others? Is this truly representative of our Lord and Savior. I would have to say definitely not. Sadly, the RCC isn’t the only one that is misrepresenting the true love of Christ. For many it is no longer about being a disciple of Christ, it is about an image, or about power, or about being associated with the name Jesus and not the character of Jesus. It is truly heartbreaking that the one group of people that should be changing the world have the hardest time changing themselves because they try to do it under their own power. Jesus said that He was coming back for a spotless bride. At this point in time the bride of Christ hardly looks spotless…