I am a student in university and am on the Christian Union committee and this is actually to do with which method to use in the university setting and not church.
My university has a large number of Roman Catholics. The aim of the Christian Union is to give every single student on campus the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. There are 17,000 people in my university. Very few of them have been reached in times past by the C.U because of liberal methods of evangelism, namely the 'bait method' of enticing unbelievers in to events using entertainment and throwing a 5 minute gospel talk in at the end. A method I despise.
So. I thought that one way to reach Roman Catholics with the gospel would be to advertise a Catholic or Protestant debate to be held in a big lecture theatre known by all. In Scotland of course this is a very topical issue and it has been for hundreds of years, and I'm confident a well run advertising campaign featuring banners and posters and all kinds of things receive much attention.
It would involve a Protestant minister, I know some who are well equipped for such a debate, and some RC representative, maybe a priest. The debate would run by topics being thrown out for short talks by each person successively. E.g, justification would be given to them and they could talk for 5 minutes each, then church tradition, then Mary, and so on. I would ensure the RC spoke first, giving the Christian the obvious advantage.
So my question here is, is it right to hold a debate which gives an RC the chance to put Roman Catholic views across?
Here are my thoughts:
Yes: For Catholics to come, they need to see it as a debate rather than a talk on Protestantism, who's reputation has been tarnished by sectarianism here. I just know they would never come otherwise, yet this would be a very interesting event for them. The Holy Spirit works in the hearts of the elect, this way though RC views are put across by one side, the gospel is clearly and plainly shown to everyone in the room by the other. This already gives everybody in the room the chance to hear the gospel - many for the first time ever - and respond to it. The Holy Spirit enlightens the mind to know truth from error, therefore false views put across by an RC would be a small price to pay for giving everyone the chance to hear the gospel for the first time and respond to it.
No: Should the CU ever give a reprobate a platform at all? I am cautious before thinking of going ahead with this because of the damaging doctrine of the RC church, and I'm not sure if it's ever right to give them a platform like a debate does.
My university has a large number of Roman Catholics. The aim of the Christian Union is to give every single student on campus the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. There are 17,000 people in my university. Very few of them have been reached in times past by the C.U because of liberal methods of evangelism, namely the 'bait method' of enticing unbelievers in to events using entertainment and throwing a 5 minute gospel talk in at the end. A method I despise.
So. I thought that one way to reach Roman Catholics with the gospel would be to advertise a Catholic or Protestant debate to be held in a big lecture theatre known by all. In Scotland of course this is a very topical issue and it has been for hundreds of years, and I'm confident a well run advertising campaign featuring banners and posters and all kinds of things receive much attention.
It would involve a Protestant minister, I know some who are well equipped for such a debate, and some RC representative, maybe a priest. The debate would run by topics being thrown out for short talks by each person successively. E.g, justification would be given to them and they could talk for 5 minutes each, then church tradition, then Mary, and so on. I would ensure the RC spoke first, giving the Christian the obvious advantage.
So my question here is, is it right to hold a debate which gives an RC the chance to put Roman Catholic views across?
Here are my thoughts:
Yes: For Catholics to come, they need to see it as a debate rather than a talk on Protestantism, who's reputation has been tarnished by sectarianism here. I just know they would never come otherwise, yet this would be a very interesting event for them. The Holy Spirit works in the hearts of the elect, this way though RC views are put across by one side, the gospel is clearly and plainly shown to everyone in the room by the other. This already gives everybody in the room the chance to hear the gospel - many for the first time ever - and respond to it. The Holy Spirit enlightens the mind to know truth from error, therefore false views put across by an RC would be a small price to pay for giving everyone the chance to hear the gospel for the first time and respond to it.
No: Should the CU ever give a reprobate a platform at all? I am cautious before thinking of going ahead with this because of the damaging doctrine of the RC church, and I'm not sure if it's ever right to give them a platform like a debate does.