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Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship

Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship

This blog will be written from an orthodox Christian point of view. There may be some topic that is out of bounds, but at present I don't know what it will be. Politics is a part of life. Theology and philosophy are disciplines that we all participate in even if we don't think so. The Bible has a lot to say about economics. How about self defense? Is war ethical? Think of all the things that someone tells you we should not touch and let's give it a try. Everything that is a part of life should be an expression of worship.

Keep it courteous and be kind to those less blessed than you, but by all means don't worry about agreeing. We learn more when we get backed into a corner.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Opus 2013-57: Headlines: Pope Benedict XVI, One of the Good Ones

You may have already heard that Pope Benedict XVI has announced his retirement.  I wish him well and will be praying that the Roman Catholic church will find a worthy replacement.

I am not a Roman Catholic.  I have serious differences with the church of Rome, but then I have serious differences with the Baptist church down the street.  As a Bible believing Protestant I have always viewed the Roman Catholic church as a denomination of brothers in Christ that I disagreed with but expected to see represented in Heaven.  I know, that is big of me.  I offer that in humility, not judgement.  As that type of Protestant I have always felt that Benedict was one of the “good ones.”

I teach history.  I have taught the time period identified with the Reformation.  One of the points that I have always tried to get across to the kids is that the popes of that period are not representative of the Papacy.  In that era you had politicians and frauds becoming Pope to use the church for their own personal aggrandizement.  I think even the Catholic church would agree.  I try to point out that in spite of that most popes have been men of good will, trying to be faithful to the call of God as they see it.  I don’t agree with them on their theology, but that doesn’t mean they were not forces of good.

Protestants agree with the Catholic church on many basics:  The divinity of Christ, the trinity, the physical death and resurrection of Christ, and believe it or not, Catholics accept Ephesians 2:8,
(Ephesians 2:8 KJV)  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
At least the serious Catholics I know agree with the statement. 

We disagree on the authority of the Pope, the place of Mary, the nature of communion, and many other issues.

Let us pray that the next Pope is one of the “good ones.” 

We live in interesting times.  Let us hope that is not a curse.

homo unius libri

2 comments:

  1. I think you're very generous in your estimation of the goodness of most popes, but I agree, there have been some good ones. I think they usually ended up being murdered. I also agree that many Catholics will be present in Heaven, and maybe even some of those Baptists down the road! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of the joys of Heaven will being the faces of those Baptists when we walk in. They might wonder if they came to the wrong place.

      Grace and peace.

      Delete

Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.