other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.I'm happy to read that. Perhaps evangelicals who have fallen in love with all things Catholic will wake up and realize that the Roman Catholic gospel and the Biblical gospel are not the same. Benedict XVI is happy to have ecumenical dialogue on these issues, as long as you bow to Rome:
"...if such dialogue is to be truly constructive it must involve not just the mutual openness of the participants, but also fidelity to the identity of the Catholic faith," the commentary said.So there you have it. Be ecumenical and join with the papacy, or stand for a gospel that is based wholly on Jesus Christ rather than on church membership and papal supremecy. Emergent leaders like Brian McLaren must be shuddering, either with horror at these non-inclusive words of Benedict, or with eagerness at joining Frank Beckwith in swimming the Tiber. Time will tell.
Welcome back, Scotter. Your friend must be a committed guy. Now we just need him to get committed to Biblical authority.
I've done a bit of swimming this summer already, but I'm not swimming across the Tiber. I hear there is quicksand on the other side.
Did I tell you about the guy I met in June who drives from Paducah, Kentucky to St. Louis, Missouri every Sunday so that he can attend a Latin mass? Funny thing is, he doesn't know much Latin. Used to be a baptist, then used to be a pentecostal, then used to be a Church of Christ guy. A strong strain of naive restorationism seemed to be driving him on that long journey.
In case you haven't noticed. I'm back.
Scott