It is that time of year when it is useful to remind people that christmas means Christ's mass. That is, the Roman Catholic mass. Some Dutch people call it Kerstfeest 'Christ’s Feast' to avoid the element of the Roman Catholic mass. Scotland used to celebrate the New Year more than christmas until commercialisation took over, promoting anything …
Category: Roman Catholicism
What is a Christian?
A Christian is the term describing a person who has been baptised as a disciple of Jesus Christ into the Christian church. Jesus Christ had disciples, literally meaning 'a student', some of whom were in due course baptized as His disciples Jn 4:1-2. The Jews were disciples of Moses Jn 9:28 and John the Baptist …
Christian discipleship baptism
Christian Baptists teach “believer's baptism”, that one should only baptize those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as their Saviour. In practice, this means that they baptize adults and do not baptize infants. The problem with this is that the Bible does not teach this. A second problem is that these Baptists baptize only Christians …
Matthew 24v24
A Canadian friend asked me how Matthew 24:4 applies in our day. "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and they shall give great signs and miracles, and in this manner to deceive if it was possible even the elect." Jesus Christ: Matthew 24:24 This follows Jesus' command: "Jesus answered and said to …
Infallibility back on the agenda
Three mistakes within five minutes on the BBC lunchtime news today. An EU spokesman excused the EU Commission's mistake in triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol last Friday by saying that "only the pope is infallible". This is the first mistake. He is not infallible. The BBC newsreader carried on the theme and …
Biblical repentance
Roman Catholic doctrine continues to be seen in the presbyterian practice of repentance. Whereas presbyterians may preach biblical repentance, some presbyterian procedures involve Roman Catholic penance in practice. Whereas preaching may not be legalistic, practice can be. It reminds us of the Saviour's warning to do as officialdom says, but not to do as they …
Compounding one error with another
As if it was not bad enough to discover child abuse scandals in the Church of England, but its General Synod meeting in York has voted to formally recognise monks and nuns for the first time since the 16th-century European Reformation. These two errors are compounded by trying to justify one for the sake of …
Pastors and teachers
Scripture makes a distinction between pastors and teachers. "He gave ... apostles ... prophets ... evangelists ... pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints." Eph 4:11 The apostle Paul distinguishes pastors and teachers. Pastors are shepherds and preachers are teachers. Some preachers call themselves pastor, such as Pastor Jack Glass, but a preacher …
Misreading public confession
The predictable media storm has erupted around the notable example of public confession by Liam Neeson that he once felt that he wanted to kill a black man and that he harboured the intent for about a week almost 40 years ago. The reaction on social and main stream media is predictable. The public opening …
How far does shame go?
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said that he has "learned to be ashamed again of the Church (of England)" after three weeks of studying the accounts of sexual abuse by Church of England clerics. How does this compare with Roman Catholic cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who regularly studied the accounts of abuse by Roman Catholic priests …
Donald's Thoughts 