Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

[Miller]

With the Pope making news people are talking. In my class the other day the teacher asked "WHy can't we all just get along?" I thought I'd ask you guys exactly why can't we get along with Catholics, I'd also like to add, what is the stance on the CoC, or Pentecostals or any other group that holds to a works based salvation? Would it be the same as Catholics?

 

[etexas]

With the Pope making news people are talking. In my class the other day the teacher asked "WHy can't we all just get along?" I thought I'd ask you guys exactly why can't we get along with Catholics, I'd also like to add, what is the stance on the CoC, or Pentecostals or any other group that holds to a works based salvation? Would it be the same as Catholics?

If you take Covenant Theology at it's roots, there is a concept of being called and set apart in the OT and NT, we are called to be salt and light, we are called to be in the world but not of it. Frankly, I think your teacher asked an unfair question which is at heart touchy feely and humanistic, I can only assume this rot came from the mouth of an Infidel.

 

[Blueridge Believer]

You can't get along with a religious prostitute like the Romish church. If she had her way today we would all convert or be burnt. Just a quick glance at the COUNCIL OF TRENT will confirm this. As for me, I do not consider the Cambellite church a true christian church. I do not however, fear that they will try to kill me as Rome would do if they had the chance.

 

[Civbert]

Irreconcilable differences.

 

[Timothy William]

You can't get along with a religious prostitute like the Romish church. If she had her way today we would all convert or be burnt. Just a quick glance at the COUNCIL OF TRENT will confirm this. As for me, I do not consider the Cambellite church a true christian church. I do not however, fear that they will try to kill me as Rome would do if they had the chance.

I was heartened by the Pope's comments: they simultaneously illustrate the divide that exists between Protestant at RC churches, and demonstrate that the Pope is, if nothing else, a man of intelligence and some intellectual integrity, who will not lightly paper over cracks in inter-church unity in order to promote false ecumenism. We are better off when we know where we stand.

And I agree with you regarding Cambellite churches.

 

[blhowes]

With the Pope making news people are talking. In my class the other day the teacher asked "WHy can't we all just get along?"

Did he give his answer to the question?

When he says 'get along', what are his expectations?

 

[Staphlobob]

I was heartened by the Pope's comments: they simultaneously illustrate the divide that exists between Protestant at RC churches, and demonstrate that the Pope is, if nothing else, a man of intelligence and some intellectual integrity, who will not lightly paper over cracks in inter-church unity in order to promote false ecumenism. We are better off when we know where we stand.

Good point. As an ex-Roman clergyman I would recommend you seemy blog on Ratzinger & Rome at http://redeemerchristiancongregation.org/

I'm afraid the post is seen as a bit, uh, "caustic" by some (so I no longer blog), but I think it makes a point similar to yours.

 

[JohnV]

If we take the question seriously, presupposing for a moment that we all only want what is right, then it seems to me that too many of us are busy trying to justify our own lies by pointing to others' lies, rather than recognizing our own foibles in others. "We're good because they're so bad." But the fact is that the things about others that irk us the most are the very things that we try our darndest to avoid facing in ourselves. Instead of saying, "There but for the grace of God go I", we're saying, "I thank thee Father that I am not like these others."

If we're looking for a serious answer to the question, then this is likely where we should begin. A little less pride, and a little more humility.

 

[weinhold]

I get along every day with Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Athiests, Buddhists, etc. with zero problems. How do I do this? Well, I attend a university, a uni-verse-ity, if you will. In other words, the liberal arts provide the context for a great conversation about ideas. At its best, such a conversation is charitable and meaningful, focused upon understanding as much as possible about one's discipline. In my case, that is literature. What I have found in studying with people from other Christian traditions, other faiths, and no faiths, is that their insight into literature many times challenges, qualifies, and often improves my own understanding. Dialogue with them has been extremely rewarding, and I hope that they have equally benefited from my presence on campus.

Two things I try to keep in mind as I speak with anyone outside my own religious tradition:

1) If they are a Christian, I try to remember that the person I am with is a member of the body of Christ, and that my own tradition teaches that I will worship with this person for all eternity.

2) If they are not a Christian, I try to remember that my own tradition demands that I recognize the image of God in him or her, which gives each person inherent worth as a human being.

After that, I just try to have good manners. It's worked pretty well so far.

 

[Ivan]

In my class the other day the teacher asked "WHy can't we all just get along?"

Frankly, I think your teacher asked an unfair question which is at heart touchy feely and humanistic, I can only assume this rot came from the mouth of an Infidel.

Was this question posed by a professor at Wayland?

 

[Miller]

Did he give his answer to the question?

When he says 'get along', what are his expectations?

This was his response: Vatican II said Protestants (and Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox and Church of the East) are "separated brethren."
You can't be a brother if you aren't part of the same family, can you? If you are part of the family of God, how are you then "Hell bound"?
Problem with most Protestants is that they still view the Catholic Church through the eyes of the 16th century and not the 20th/21st century.

Was this question posed by a professor at Wayland?

Yes.

 

[Ivan]

Originally Posted by Ivan -- Was this question posed by a professor at Wayland?

Yes.

Sad.

 

[blhowes]

This was his response: Vatican II said Protestants (and Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox and Church of the East) are "separated brethren."
You can't be a brother if you aren't part of the same family, can you? If you are part of the family of God, how are you then "Hell bound"?
Problem with most Protestants is that they still view the Catholic Church through the eyes of the 16th century and not the 20th/21st century.

He's got a point. Since Vatican II declared that those who pronounced all those anathemas at the Council Trent, etc were in error, and that the beliefs that prompted those anathemas actually reflect Biblical teaching, perhaps its time that Protestants change how they view the Catholic church.

 

[Herald]

Getting along is not synonymous with agreeing. I can get along with a Mormon, Jehovah's Witness or Roman Catholic at work. However I cannot agree with them on spiritual matters. Being a presuppositionalist I couldn't help but consider the above groups to be wrong in regards to spiritual matters.

 

[Anton Bruckner]

"Come out from her"

 

[Bandguy]

Getting along is not synonymous with agreeing. I can get along with a Mormon, Jehovah's Witness or Roman Catholic at work. However I cannot agree with them on spiritual matters. Being a presuppositionalist I couldn't help but consider the above groups to be wrong in regards to spiritual matters.

I like what Al Mohler recently wrote on his blog about the Catholic Church and the current Pope:

No, I'm Not Offended