True Church Disqualifiers

Obviously, we don't have the original autographs, but I believe they are without error. Translations may have copyist mistakes, and some words are difficult to translate. But the Scriptures are infallible and without error in every area of reality. The are a reliable revelation.

I recognize that there are some seeming conflicts, but I have read credible explanations for most all of them.

 

Your profile says you are a Southern Baptist pastor. I assume, and I'll trust you to correct my assumptions, that you hold to historic Baptist beliefs.

I assume you
1. Hold to salvation by grace through repentance and faith.
Catholics add any of a number of things to that: baptism, the eucharist,

2. You baptize only believers by immersion.
Catholics will sprinkle babies and adults to cleans them of sinl

3. You preach that Jesus is the only way to salvation.
Catholics believe Mary is also the co-Redeemer and is the object of worship.

4. You believe that only God can forgive sin.
Catholics believe a priest can.

Would you expand on why you believe the RC church is a "legitimate expression" of the Church if its doctrines are 180 degrees from yours?

 

Folks, this is sort of an inside joke. Saturneptune and I serve as deacons together in our church, so he's aware that I'm a closed communionist (I almost typed closet communist) I'm such an easy target and he can't resist.

Since prechinjesus deems the RCC a legitimate NT church, I wonder if he would hold the same about the C of C. Surely he knows neither group would be as generous to him They consider him a heretic at best and unsaved at worst.

By the way, saturn, up to now, nobody has labeled the Church of Christ as not a NT church. You seem to. Wanna make it official?

 

So far, we have the following nominees:

Roman Catholic Church (with one dissenting vote)
United Pentecostal Church (Oneness)
Seventh Day Adventists

Pending is the Church of Christ, awaiting saturneptune's official stamp of disapproval.

Nobody has mentioned Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. If nobody else will, I'll nominate them.

 

Thanks, Marcia and saturneptune.

The Church of Christ is now officially not a NT church

Marcia, your point about Mormons and and JWs is well taken. Let's put them on a different list for the time being and look for non-cult groups to evaluate.

 

Jim, you are the resident expert on the C of E. I'll defer to you until I've done more research. Others, of course, may render an opinion.

As an aside, last March wife Janice and I went to London to visit a family she lived with during a six-month stay back in mid-80s. On Sunday morning, we attended their Anglican service in High Barnet. They were low church, reasonably informal, traditional hymns, and the homily was quite biblical. The only shock I had was the presence of drums, but the drummer did not play during the prayers or the sermon.

For the uninitiated, low church is opposite from high church, which is more ritualistic and liturgical. By informal, i don't mean that the pastor wore faded jeans and an earring and said stuff like, "Dude;"

 

TC, I've looked, and I don't find anybody who said they weren't believers. Maybe I missed it. Can you point it out to me?

As the official scorekeeper, I can tell you that they are not yet nominated for The List.

I'll remind everybody that I distinguish between believers and the churches they belong to. We're not judging one's salvation here.

 

We were treated like family by our hostess, now 88 years old, whom she calls her "English mum." She survived the Blitz, and her next door neighbor grew up in Nazi Germany. You talk about a first person history lesson. It was great.