Registering a protest
March 2, 2015
For what it is worth, and taking account of the fact that the series has yet to run its course, I would like publicly to distance myself from the stance that has been taken in the recent articles on Evangelicals and Catholics Together over on the corresponding page. I hope that this protest is not interpreted as a matter of insecurity with regard to my doctrine or a lack of confidence in my confessional standards. It is intended rather as the reverse.
I will not be surprised to find the Roman Catholic contributor standing for what he believes, and that would be his prerogative. I hope that Carl Trueman's contributions to First Things will not have blunted his edge. However, I am persuaded that what Mr George calls "a shared life in Jesus Christ" presumes a shared faith in the Christ of the Bible, with the whole biblically defined, and that such a shared faith in the Christ set forth in the gospel is absent from Roman Catholic dogma to the extent that salvation in the Roman Catholic communion would be despite rather than because of official Roman Catholic teaching. Mr George is also free to believe what he believes, but I am not persuaded that his dangerous convictions need to be so publicised.
"Timothy George (a Baptist)" does not represent this Baptist, and I imagine - I sincerely pray - that he does not represent a good number of other Reformation21 readers. I do not know where this series originated and I do not think that an apologia for ECT and the implied soft-pedalling of damning doctrine, under any guise, is worthy of page-space at a website dedicated to Reformation principles. As far as I am concerned, that is a "conversation" that has already taken place, and my notions of the appropriate "dialogue" are evidently different from those of others.
I am not sure, at this point, what else to say - this is a brief and rapid response. I am not necessarily speaking for anyone else and neither am I accusing my fellow-bloggers of fiddling while Rome burns (yes, I know). It may be just me. Here I stand, and all that ...
I will not be surprised to find the Roman Catholic contributor standing for what he believes, and that would be his prerogative. I hope that Carl Trueman's contributions to First Things will not have blunted his edge. However, I am persuaded that what Mr George calls "a shared life in Jesus Christ" presumes a shared faith in the Christ of the Bible, with the whole biblically defined, and that such a shared faith in the Christ set forth in the gospel is absent from Roman Catholic dogma to the extent that salvation in the Roman Catholic communion would be despite rather than because of official Roman Catholic teaching. Mr George is also free to believe what he believes, but I am not persuaded that his dangerous convictions need to be so publicised.
"Timothy George (a Baptist)" does not represent this Baptist, and I imagine - I sincerely pray - that he does not represent a good number of other Reformation21 readers. I do not know where this series originated and I do not think that an apologia for ECT and the implied soft-pedalling of damning doctrine, under any guise, is worthy of page-space at a website dedicated to Reformation principles. As far as I am concerned, that is a "conversation" that has already taken place, and my notions of the appropriate "dialogue" are evidently different from those of others.
I am not sure, at this point, what else to say - this is a brief and rapid response. I am not necessarily speaking for anyone else and neither am I accusing my fellow-bloggers of fiddling while Rome burns (yes, I know). It may be just me. Here I stand, and all that ...
