Pope Benedict meets German Muslim leaders

"The Pope, on a four-day visit to his native Germany for a Catholic youth festival"
"
Not just any youth festival. World Youth Day. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4155552.stm
They are expecting 800.000 participants during the main event.
Interestingly enough one of the organizations that donated places to sleep for the participants is a large mosque in Cologne/Köln.

 

People will flock in those numbers to see the anti-christ too. Doesn't mean he's right, or worth worshipping!!

Peace,

Tam

 

Tam
You think there is anyone left on this board who needs the reminder?

 

I wonder if anyone will show up and share the gospel with the Muslims?

Mike

 

There certainly is an interesting opportunity for that in Cologne at the moment, but will anyone make use of it? And do we want Roman Catholics making use of it?

 

Good grief!



Ratzinger (now Benedict) is not the antichrist -rather he is just another Christian following his own not so right denominational path.

 

Amen...Charles Meadows

I will second that. How about we stop demonizing Catholics. If you truly believe that Catholics are wrong, shouldn't you be out trying to tell them the truth rather than speculating about which Pope is the Anti-Christ and trashing Catholic dogmatics. C'mon people. If Catholics aren't Christian (or whatever...I believe they are), I don't think God is going to look too kindly on you guys sitting around trashing their Church and not lifting a finger to be the Hands and Feet of Christ to these people. Sheesh!!!!

 

And you know he is a christian how?

 

I don't think anyone is "demonizing catholics" here. I believe there will be some catholics in Heaven, and some catholics in hell. This goes with any denomination that believes Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to salvation. Unfortunately, the catholic church doesn't teach this, in fact it teaches the church is the ONLY way to salavation and salvation is "earned" through the sacraments. Most people in the catholic church believe the church is the sole authority on scripture interperation, which is false according to the Bible. If people put more faith in a religion than on God's Word, and have faith in the church for salvation, they will be pretty surprised someday when they stand before the Lord and He says "depart from Me, I never knew you!"

 

And that lethal belief that "the hiearchy" are the only ones able to correctly interpret the scriptures literally cripples Catholics...and renders them almost completly unable to hear from God through the scriptures.

In adition, the Catholic Church vigorously fights against the gospel of Jesus Christ in that they vehemently deny justification through faith alone. Along with that, they deny the truth that it is to the scriptures alone that we are to turn to for authoritative truth. Also, their theology and practice is filled with heresy, idolatry, superstition and "christianised" magic.

Their will be many people surprised on that day. People in all denominations. But in groups like the RCC that number with surely be an exceedingly overwhelming majority.

Sadly,

Mike

 

webdog
That's the wrong question.
He is cleary a christian.
The question between him and God is: Is he Saved?
The questions about him for us are: How bad is his theology? And more importantly: What is he going to do and how will that affect us?

 

mioque,

You didnt adress your post to me, so dont feel obligated to respond if you dont want to.

I certainly hope he is, but how do you know? Does he acknowledge justification through faith alone, or is he also trusting in his obedience, the sacraments, the fact that he is part of "Holy Mother Church", etc etc etc?

Depends on where his trust lies, and whether he knows Jesus Christ personally, or whether he is just a "professor" of Christ.

Thats easy. He is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, so its very very bad.

I think he will mostly affect Catholics. I dont think there are very many evangelicals who can say that any Catholic Pope has any significant affect or relevance for us as all.

Mike

 

D28guy
I'm seeing a weird contradiction in your position.
On the hand you see the RCC as believing the wrong gospel.
On the other hand you want them to share the gospel with the Moslims they are in contact with in Cologne.

 

mioque,

I dont think I was as clear as I could have been.

When I said this...

...I meant someone else who isnt there now.

Now...having said that, I'll say that I dont know this new Pope very well. I know that the previous Pope...and I personally liked him in many ways more than any other Pope in my lifetime...met at Assisi at prayer gatherings and did not share the gospel with Sihks, Buhddists, Zoroastrians and tribal Voodoo practitioners, but rather joined in prayer with them and called them his spiritual brothers.

Again, I dont know this Pope that well so maybe he does in fact acknowledge justification through faith alone and maybe he will take it as his mission to bring the Catholic church to that understanding. I would leap for joy if that were to be the case.

Make no mistake...the truth of justification through faith alone is no small thing. It is as primary and foundational as anything can possibly be and it can make the difference between heaven and hell for millions.

Concerned,

Mike

 

"how do you know?"
"
The man is the head of the largest christian denomination in the world. You do the math.
The fact that you don't like the RCC doesn't enter into it.

To be more precise.
Christian does not equall Saved.
If one believes in the Apostles' Creed one is a (small c) christian. Well Ratzinger does that.


"I dont think there are very many evangelicals who can say that any Catholic Pope has any significant affect or relevance for us as all. "
"
The day an unbelieving woman told me that my (IFB) church was bad because of the celibacy thing , was the day I realized the pope potentially has an impact on the lives of Evangelicals.

 

Mike
"I know that the previous Pope<...>met at Assisi at prayer gatherings and did not share the gospel with Sihks, Buhddists, Zoroastrians and tribal Voodoo practitioners, but rather joined in prayer with them and called them his spiritual brothers."
"
Let's be honest here, he got them to show up in the first place by telling all of them they would pray for peace together, showing the world that murdering eachother in the name of religion was wrong.
If he had done a 360' on them when they showed up, telling them that he was not going to pray together with them, because they worshipped false gods and started to share his version of the Gospel with them, they would have simply walked out of the meeting rather irritated about the whole thing.
Many of the same people on this board who are angry at him for not sharing the gospel, would have been just as angry with him for making Christianity look bad.

Mike you said:
"I wonder if anyone will show up and share the gospel with the Muslims?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
...I meant someone else who isnt there now."

Considering the situation it makes no special sense to share the Gospel with the Moslims there now. It's more of an opportunity to do it with the 100.000's Catholics in attendance.

 

I'm sorry, but numbers don't mean one is a christian. The Bible also says NARROW is the path to righteousness and WIDE is the path to destruction. It seems the "numbers" favor hell.

It's not just the RCC, it's any church that teaches false doctrine and tries to minimized the death and resurrection with legalism and deceit.

According to the Bible it does. What is a christian? A CHRIST FOLLOWER, not a RCC dogma follower.

There is not big "c" little "c" mentioned anywhere in scripture. I would think it is more along the lines of "cc" (christian cult)

You are correct, he is just a man. Unfortunately the RCC calls the pope the "vicar of Christ". Vicar means "substitute". He is supposedely the substitute for Christ. Heresy.

He has absolutely no impact on my life. If I were to meet him in person I would refer to him as "Mr. Ratzinger".

 

Webdog
"According to the Bible it does. What is a christian?"
"
In the bible the term Christian is used only 3 times.
1 Peter 4:16, Acts 26:28, Acts 11:25-26.
It's a term invented by those who did not follow Christ and it was not intended as a compliment in those days.
Ergo, the Biblical definition of the word christian seems to be: anybody who appears to be a follower of Jezus Christ to those who aren't.

 

webdog
As for Ratzinger's impact on your life.
Just reread the bottom of the first post on page 2 and see why he potentially can have an indirect impact on your life.