Subject: Why Papal rule all wrong? |
Bible Note: EdB: You already know of my respect for you. Having said that, I have a problem or two with what you said in your previous post. You write: "Are they not claiming what could be considered divine interpretation of the Scripture? Are not their findings then viewed as infallible within the denomination?" My answers are no and no. That is NOT what they are doing. Catholic and Baptist or Pentecostal church leaders are not the same. It's like comparing holy water with the Holy Spirit. I have never in my life heard a Baptist or Assemblies of God leader who claimed he was infallible. Nor will you find the word infallible applied to any man in the written statements of what each denomination believes. Nor do the churches or individuals in those denominations view the leaders' findings as infallible. In the first place, the demonational leaders of those two churches, when they publish a statement of beliefs, they are not writing or publishing "their findings." They are merely codifying beliefs that the Baptist or AG church already held. Those beliefs came over a period of time and after much studying and growing. No Baptist or AG leader sits in a palace and confers with a church hierarchy to make up doctrine that they claim is infallible. What they do and what they claim is completely different than the practice of the popes of the Roman Catholic Church. If no one in a church takes the responsibility for codifying, writing and publishing what the church specifically teaches, then who would know WHAT the Baptists or AG believed? And it's not enough to say, "Well, we just believe the Bible." As has been illustrated numerous times on the Forum, one must ask the question: What interpretation of the Bible do you hold to on various doctrinal points? We all use the same Bible and all quote the same verses, but we do not all see eye to eye on the meaning of those verses. If the AG modified or cancelled a certain policy, so what? Never did any of the leaders claim for himself infallibility. Would you rather they stuck rigidly to some past century and refused to walk in increased light as God gives it to them? I just think it's ludicrous to compare AG and Baptists leaders to the Pope and to insinuate that these Protestant denominational officers are pretending to be infallible, when in fact they are not. EdB, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that YOU are ludicrous. I'm just making an obeservation on what you said. I must say that, if anything, I am your defender not your attacker. Your colleague, not your critic. Grace to you, John |