Tuesday, May 08, 2007

More in common than not, methinks


Michael Spencer, a.k.a. The Internet Monk, addresses the outbreak of Evangelicals Behaving Badly after evangelical scholar Francis Beckwith, who was raised Catholic, swam back across the Tiber.

He lays into the general lack of Christian charity toward Beckwith, a professor at Baylor University -- good luck to him . . . he'll need it -- who just resigned as president of the Evangelical Theological Society. Likewise, Spencer (who's the campus minister at
Oneida Baptist Institute in Kentucky) takes on anti-Catholic bigotry that, like a Timex,
"takes a licking but keeps on ticking."

Here's a prime example of such, as blogged by James White, director of Alpha & Omega Ministries:

Let's ponder the hypothetical situation of a President of the Evangelical Theological Society converting to Roman Catholicism in the midst of his tenure. In 1998 I attended the national meeting of the ETS in Orlando, Florida. At one of the sessions some of the founding members were being asked questions about why they did certain things, why they wrote the statement of faith as they did, etc. A woman asked a question of the panel. "Why did you write 'the Bible alone' in the statement of faith?" The ETS statement of faith is very, very short. It reads:

"The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory."

Roger Nicole rose, slowly, and made his way to the podium. He looked out at the lady and said, "Because we didn't want any Roman Catholics in the group." He then turned around and went back to his seat. While most sat in stunned silence, I and a friend with me broke into wild applause. The brevity of the response, and Nicole's dead-pan look, was classic. Most looked at us like we were nuts, but we appreciated what he said. Here, one of the founding members made it clear that the ETS was founded as a Protestant organization and that primary to their own self-understanding was a belief in sola scriptura.
YOU KNOW, if sola scriptura were a legitimately big sticking point regarding ETS' aims, there are a lot of ways Nicole could have framed his response to the question. And any reframing Nicole might have chosen would have been more precise, because Roman Catholics aren't the only Christians running afoul of the sola scriptura standard.

But nooooooooooo . . . Nicole said "because we didn't want any Roman Catholics in the group" because they didn't want any Roman Catholics in the group. Period.

Substitute "niggers" for "Roman Catholics" and it doesn't get any more offensive. Well, at least he didn't use the words "popery" or "papists," nor did he call us "mackerel snappers."
As far as I know.

ANYWAY, Spencer continues over on The Internet Monk:

I admit that I struggle in the area of a charitable and Christ-honoring attitude and I need the prayers of other Christians. Much of my own upbringing was saturated in hateful, ignorant anti-Catholicism and that sinful residue still remains in my own personality. I anticipate future conversions to the RCC among those I love. I need to be able to embrace what is a shared experienced of Christ, but I also must know how to differ without, frankly, being a jackass (something so common among some segments of the reformed and fundamentalist world it’s embarrassing.). And I can assure you that despite my love of Merton and Kreeft, my occasional attendance at Roman Catholic services, etc., a good attitude is a challenge for me. Those deep prejudices plug directly into my emotions and control far too much of what I say and feel. I need the forgiveness of God and of other people.

AND THERE LIES a giant area in common between me, Catholic-convert layman and general smartass, and Michael Spencer, Southern Baptist preacher and campus minister.

I was raised by an ex-Catholic mother and an anti-Catholic father (though, to be fair, my old man was anti-everything . . . not just Catholic). I have had to wage a fight to the death with a bigoted upbringing in the Deep South -- struggling to rise above it and stay there, despite all the residual scars and conditioning.

As well, a good attitude is a challenge for me as I attend Mass every week.

I weary of the constant politically-correct "God-God-Goddity-God" in the hymnody (for lack of a better description, like "crappy '70s show tunes"). I long for the soothing sound of personal pronouns, as applied to the Almighty.

In a Church with 2,000 years of theology, tradition and culture, I ache for some liturgical or practical sign that such once was . . . still is. Dang it, Poprah just ain't cutting it for me.


Finally, like Michael Spencer, all the above plugs "directly into my emotions and control far too much of what I say and feel." And I, too, need the forgiveness of God and others.

Hell, maybe the Mighty Favog and the Internet Monk ought to scandalize the Christian world by forming a common front against Marty Haugen and Joel Osteen. Of course, this would be accomplished over beer and polish-sausage dogs at an Omaha Royals game -- preferably before they tear down Rosenblatt Stadium in favor of a new "family-friendly" ballpark downtown.

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