(Skipping ahead to this post) With all due respect, Robert, do you believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God? Because I don’t know any Catholics that hold that belief. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any out there, only my experience. It’s hard to hold a meaningful conversation when one side is speaking about Truth, and the other side has never cracked a page in the Bible based on what someone else has told them about the Bible’s reliability.
Evangelical churches will continue to thrive as long as it’s members allow themselves to be told the Word of God instead of reading it themselves - same as Catholics. jmo
So, I just want to make a couple of quick comments here.
I’m Catholic and I believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. I believe the last 40 years or so there has been a breakdown in the catechesis process for Catholics and I also beleieve that issue is being addressed. I recevied my catechesis from and Evangelical Church and returned to the Catholic Church.
To your point about Evangelical Churches thriving. And when I’m speaking about Evangelical Church’s I’m talking about the “seeker sensitive” Churchs, Willow Creek, Saddleback, etc. I believe these churchs thrive for new believers, people that have not heard the word of God or have not had proper catechesis.
One problem is that because the folks attend these churches DON’T read the word of God, they never grow in their faith and after a few years their faith fizzles out or they become stagnant. The “process of sanctification” stalls. Please see the link I put in this thread last week. This is not my opinion but the opinion of the “seeker sensitive” churches themselves. This was a stated problem in the Church I attended and also a stated problem by the Mega Churchs.
Another problem, how much of the teaching of scripture is about God and much has to do with the Senior Pastor? Again, in my experience, at the Evangelical church I attended the Senior Pastor was an EXCELLENT teacher and a great guy, helped lots of people, etc. When he wasn’t giving the message on a particular Sunday for whatever reason the church attendance was literally halved. Many in the Congregation weren’t interested in listening to any other members of the staff. What happens to this congreation if this Senior Pastor retires, God calls him somehwere else?
Each and every person is responsible for his own journey with God. To delegate that responsibilty is to remain one that needs to be fed milk and not solid food. Catholics not studying scripture, along with the guidance from the Magisterium of course, IMO are a consequence of the catechesis problem stated earlier. My parents generation (in there 80s) know their stuff, my generation (in my 40s) lost it somewhere. My kids generation (teens) is starting to be different, i.e. beginning to know their stuff again.
), you need more than one estimate by one diplomat based on conversations he had with survivors.