scylla:
…They go to Calvary Chapel.
Oh boy…
You know, I think there was a debate taped between some calvary chapel person(s) and Tim Staples…and maybe even Jesse Romero, wasn’t there? Other’s on this board can clarify this if I’m wrong. I haven’t heard the tape yet, but I’m sure it would be a wonderful piece of media for you to hear in order to understand what your family member’s calvary chapel believes. But even better yet, it would be a great piece for YOU to understand what the true Church believes.
I had the luxury of listening to a calvary chapel preacher who had his own call in radio show in Denver. I called a few times. His name was Gino (Don’t know the spelling of his last name). He was very confident in his beliefs and I could tell he was raised catholic. He wasn’t anti-catholic to say, but he wouldn’t hesitate to bring somebody out of the Church. My only problem is that he is so confident when he is speaking (and very educated…) that he can easily make others think that the catholic Church is an idolistic church. I caught him on the so-called “apocropha” one evening. Let me give you the background…
One evening Gino was gone for the night show so a sit-in was hosting the radio show for him. Well somebody called in and asked why the catholics had 7 more books in their bible. Loosley quoted, this guy says, “The catholic Church added those seven books in response to the protestant reformation. In order to fortify their claims of praying to the dead, the books were added. The books are completely false and there is absolutely no reference to them by Jesus or the apostles.” There was a kind of humor and down play of the subject and the caller was faithful in this host’s reply, by his closing statement.
I heard the whole thing and was like, “wow…did I just hear that?” Needless to say, I couldn’t call in or get through. I can’t remember which it was. But a week or so later I called in and let Gino know about this host’s comments. I asked Gino, who is very educated in theology of some sort, to clear up the untruthful statements made by his friend. He sure as heck did, in his own words! Very loosley quoted…again
, He said, “well the books weren’t added to answer the protestant reformation. They are called the apocropha. They were’t part of the Jewish “canon” because of a few reasons. They weren’t written in Hebrew, they weren’t written before a specific date.” I can’t remember the rest. But I was like, “wow!..did I just hear that?”. He had alot of the historical reasons why not, but completely danced around the reasons why they are in the Bible. (Just as a side note and not trying to get off the subject…even though I was raised protestant, I thought the true “Apocrapha” was the set of books, letter, etc that were part of the group that didn’t enter the Bible? Even then, aren’t they just books that don’t really have a designated group name? I recall hearing books referred to as, “apocraphal”.)
The confidence in which calvary chapel speakers talk is amazing and very enthusiastic with heartfelt emotion. This doesn’t mean that they are in truth! As a matter of fact, I’m sure this applies to all fundamentals and protestant faiths. The “togetherness”, “strong preaching”, “feel the holy Spirit”, “loving”, “more than once a week services”, etc is NOT truth. Remember that old saying, “…the truth hurts…” I’m sure Jesus felt much hurt as he took on the truth of our human nature. And I know dang well that I hurt when I see how my local parish is when it comes to turning their back on Church beliefs. The catholic Church always has and always will hurt until Jesus returns. He never said it would be the smoothest, most passionate love filled, charismatic Church. But it is HIS Church given to our early fathers, the apostles under the authority of Peter to preserve the fullness of the faith and truth.
“The CHURCH is the pillar and foundation of truth.”
