Wednesday, December 12, 2007

A brief excursus on Roman and Reformed Unity

I just want to take a second to reflect on something that has been happening on Reformed Catholicism. The site has had a few dust ups about Roman Catholicism and especially the pope. Most of these seem to have been cause by Tim Enloe. One of the ironies of this dust up is that Mr. Enloe often holds to a much more Roman view on many issues, just not the pope apparently. The comments got pretty heated, and Mr. Enloe seems a little surprised that Romanists would comment in such a manner.

I mention this because it highlights my major problem with Reformed Catholicism. It is an oxy moron. It is nice to speak about a dialogue between the Romanist and the Protestants, but it is not possible in the manner they desire it. Protestants and Romanists cannot agree on the gospel. We cannot agree on justification by faith alone, what dialogue can happen? None. We cannot even agree upon what books are in the bible. What should one expect when one presents a critique, historical or otherwise, about the Pope, which like it or not, is the defining characteristic of Roman Catholicism. Just another issue Protestants are Romanists do not agree upon. The Bible is clear, ‘How can two walk together lest they be agreed?’ There is no agreement between Romanists and Protestants, especially Reformed believers. So, I am all in favor of a Roman – Reformed dialogue. I just think that if that dialogue does not start with a call to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, then no good is being done.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Not exactly on topic but it looks like today that Mark Horne is recommending that Schaff and Nevin as defenders of Reformed orthodoxy.

It seems to me that is really just more evidence that you're right on with your likening of the FV to Mercersburg.

Lee said...

Andrew,
I saw that post, and I have a brief response, I will post before the night is over, Lord willing.