Baptist Press 11/13/97

EVANGELICALS AND CATHOLICS TOGETHER

Reformers' view of salvation embraced by Catholic theologians

By Dwayne Hastings

NEW YORK (BP)--A decidedly Protestant view of salvation was affirmed in "The Gift of Salvation," a statement released Nov. 12 by a loose-knit group of Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians who have been meeting for prayer, study and discussion over the past three years.

>[People need to understand that what a few Roman Catholic "theologians" have to say about theology has nothing to do with official RCC teaching.]

>[The underlined words indicate that those issuing this statement are a "group" which has been meeting for over three years. The group's first statement was issued in 1994 called the ECT... and defined the group's intent to "correct" both Roman Catholic teaching and evangelical teaching in order to facilitate the unity that Christ prayed for in John 17.]

>[Throughout this statement the effort to amalgamate Protestantism into evangelicalism is obvious. There are many groups, many Southern Baptists, who for good reason do not consider themselves Protestants at all. To call them such causes division.]

The meaning of salvation has been a matter of fundamental disagreement between Roman Catholics and Protestants since the Reformation more than 450 years ago.

>[This statement is true, but also leaves the impression that this is now over. The debate still exists and divides the RCC gospel from the biblical gospel, making not two versions of the same, but rather two different gospels altogether.]

The statement grew out of an initiative known as "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" begun in 1994. The group's initial report that year noted a growing "convergence and cooperation" between evangelicals and Catholics in many public tasks, according to Neuhaus.

The statement on salvation released Nov. 12 bears the signatures of Southern Baptists Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship and Timothy George, dean of the Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, Birmingham, Ala., and a former faculty member at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky.

>[George is the biggest surprise in this new ECT document. I suspect his belief that Baptists are Protestants opens the door for this involvement. If Baptists as a protesting group did originally break off from Rome, then Rome was originally "the church" and it does behoove us to make all attempts to reform the RCC rather than to call people out of its false religion and to the true Gospel. Actually though, to be truthful to the Protestant reformers, they agreed with the evangelical believers of their day in at least this one area... they considered Roman Catholicism to be the Whore of Babylon and the Roman pope to be an antichrist. Throughout SBC history most Southern Baptist leaders have believed similarly... until very recently.]

Land, who reversed course Nov. 13 and removed his signature from the current document after agreeing to sign it earlier in the week.... Yet in a letter to Colson, Neuhaus and George, Land said after additional "reflective and objective" study of the statement, he concluded that readers will "misunderstand the document and possibly even feel the document is contradictory," so he was removing his name from the document. Land said it was "abundantly clear" that he would be unable to convince Southern Baptists and others that he was signing as a private individual and not as a part of his "ministry role with the ERLC."

>[Again, as on April 6, 1995, Dr. Land arrogantly asserts that Southern Baptists are not as intellectually or theologically astute as he is, "they will misunderstand the document." Actually, Southern Baptists are not as uninformed and stupid as Dr. Land here seems to again assert. This kind of arrogant attitude pushes people and churches away from the SBC. Southern Baptists all over the convention are rebelling against this kind of superior attitude from some individual SBC leaders.]

>[Who "got to" Richard Land on the very day of the issuance of this new ECT statement? It seems obvious that someone or some several did. If these individuals exist with such influence, then why have they not demanded that Land repent of his continued endorsement of the original ECT statement which is by far more explicit in its perversion of the Gospel?]

Campus Crusade for Christ

Baptist Press

IMB missionaries to integrate Crusade grads into strategy

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ and the Southern Baptist International Mission Board have penned an agreement to combine the enthusiasm of one of the world's largest Christian student movements with the church-planting expertise of Southern Baptist missionaries.

[While this effort may be well intended, it does foreshadow some problems. Campus Crusade does operate interdenominationally (ecumenically). The founder and director of Campus Crusade is involved in the ECT "group" and is a signatory on both of this group's reports. Practicing Roman Catholics are involved in leadership in the organization.]