# "Protestantism must never forget its duty......"



## dudley (Jan 29, 2011)

.I. Good in his Origin of the Reformed Churches in Germany said , “Protestantism must never forget its duty — to protest against popery outside or inside itself.” Do you agree and have many Protestants forgotten why we are Protestant and become too soft on their positions towards Roman Catholicism?


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## Edward (Jan 29, 2011)

Perhaps the threat is broader now than it was at the time of the Reformation. While the Roman threat certainly hasn't gone away, excessive focus on it may cause us to miss other real, and perhaps today, greater threats, both internal and external.


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## Pergamum (Jan 29, 2011)

Not sure I like this quote. 

Is Islamic unbelief also popery? Has one forgotten their duties if they focus on this, instead of Popery?


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## Jack K (Jan 29, 2011)

Better to say that if it is our duty to protest, then we ought to protest anything that sets itself up in opposition to the gospel of Christ and the saving grace that's found in Jesus: _"Every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ"_ (Acts 5:42).

In some times and places, that will primarily mean protest against established churches that deny the gospel. In other times and places, it will mean opposition to other cultural forces and institutions.


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## jwithnell (Jan 29, 2011)

After the break with Rome, i.e. after there was no hope of redeeming the church, I think many of the protestants would be aghast at the idea that they were anti-Rome rather than _for_ a scripturally-based gospel. Those of us who come from the English speaking traditions are perhaps most likely to hold an anti-Rome viewpoint due to the swings in the English church between protestantism and Romanism and the nasty habit of killing people who were not in agreement with the church de jure. (I think the Pope as the anti-Christ in the first WCF reflects this.)

So no, we are in no danger of forgetting our duty to fight the Roman church. We are in danger of pursuing "another gospel," of forgetting God's word in favor of man's traditions, of having an ignorant laity that never moves past milk and is constantly knocked about by the newest trend, and we are in danger of being "tolerant" until we are run over by those who will kill us for naming Christ.


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## C. M. Sheffield (Jan 29, 2011)

I think what he means by Popery is really the sins of the Roman Church (i.e. idolatry, formalism, works righteousness, &c.) Which is why he identifies it as both "outside or inside itself." In that sense I say "Amen!" And he isn't saying its the Church's _only_ duty - but an important one. So we may "protest" "popery" while at the same time confronting the other challenges of the day, in short we can walk _and_ chew gum!


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## MarieP (Jan 29, 2011)

dudley said:


> .I. Good in his Origin of the Reformed Churches in Germany said , “Protestantism must never forget its duty — to protest against popery outside or inside itself.” Do you agree and have many Protestants forgotten why we are Protestant and become too soft on their positions towards Roman Catholicism?



I actually expected the question to be about the latter half of the quote rather than the former! I'd say we're too soft on our positions against popery anywhere.

Our time of focused corporate prayer was opened today with Jeremiah 17:



> 5 Thus says the LORD:
> 
> Cursed is the man who trusts in man
> And makes flesh his strength,
> ...


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## Edward (Jan 29, 2011)

I don't see Rome as a significant external threat these days. It is an internal threat - the FV folks, the ECT crowd - but even there, there are other threats as well.


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## louis_jp (Jan 29, 2011)

jwithnell said:


> the nasty habit of killing people who were not in agreement with the church de jure. (I think the Pope as the anti-Christ in the first WCF reflects this.)



I don't think that the identification of the papacy with the antichrist was primarily due to persecution. It had to do with the nature of the Roman system, which needs to be emphasized, because that system hasn't changed one substantial bit since the Reformation.


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