Anna,
true. I was a Baptist minister and trained in a Southern Baptist Seminary.
John Carroll and his work was laugh at and dismissed. No one denied
they, Baptist, came out of the Reformation. In fact they were and are
proud of that fact. In my old Association, the only and I mean the only pastor who
held to the “we came from John the Baptist” was an older minister who never
went to seminary or recieved any formal training. When he went on about
this, if the younger pastors could roll their eyes any harder they would come out of their heads. We all quickly learned you could not reason with him and facts meant nothing,
unless it supported his error.
Mark
Mark,
I just came across a Fundamentalist Baptist website comparing Baptist and Catholic beliefs. I was so disturbed by what it said; I just sent the pastor an e-mail. It’s 1:27 a.m. and I’m really tired. I hope the e-mail did some small justice to the Catholic faith. I can’t link the Baptist site because it is an anti-Catholic site (against forum rules.)
I can post a copy of my e-mail:
Dear Pastor,
I read Baptist vs. Roman Catholic Beliefs. I am a conservative Anglican convert (I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church.) However, I am very familiar with Catholic doctrine. You have seriously misrepresented Catholicism in your comparison. Please review the following quotes from The Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Catholics do not worship icons or statutes. Veneration does not equal "worship."
1192 Sacred images in our churches and homes are intended to awaken and nourish our faith in the mystery of Christ. Through the icon of Christ and his works of salvation, it is he whom we adore. Through sacred images of the holy Mother of God, of the angels and of the saints, we venerate the persons represented. Link:
scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1192.htm
Catholics do not believe in "salvation by works."
1067 “The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He accomplished this work principally by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension, whereby ‘dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life.’ For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.”’
Code:
For this reason, the Church celebrates in the liturgy above all the Paschal mystery by which Christ accomplished the work of our salvation.
Link: [scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1067.htm](http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1067.htm)
183 Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:16). Link:
scborromeo.org/ccc/para/183.htm
161 Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. “Since “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ‘But he who endures to the end.’” Link:
scborromeo.org/ccc/para/161.htm
2044 The fidelity of the baptized is a primordial condition for the proclamation of the Gospel and for the Church’s mission in the world. In order that the message of salvation can show the power of its truth and radiance before men, it must be authenticated by the witness of the life of Christians. “The witness of a Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit have great power to draw men to the faith and to God.” Link:
scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2044.htm
1816 The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.” Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
Link:
scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1816.htm
Catholics do not “re-sacrifice Christ” during Communion.
1364 In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present. “As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed’ is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out.”
Link:
scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1364.htm
I’m not sure where you found these false claims regarding the Catholic Church. I would urge you to edit your comparision between Baptists and Roman Catholics to reflect the truth.
May the peace of the Lord be with you and your congregation. +
After the Baptist site made the comparisons, some terrible things were said in summary. I won’t quote them here. I find this all so disturbing. Somehow, there has to be an end to hate.
Peace,
Anna