ecumenism

Being lumped in with killers, at a time when 9/11 and 7/7 is still fresh in our collective memories, seems like a very significant put-down of Christian fundamentalism. Whilst I originally wondered whether it might have been a title that was attached to the lunatic fringe of the "US Christian right", who, so the smear campaign goes, are only ever a whisker away from shooting an abortionist with their morning coffee, instead, to my amazement, you explain that…

When I say “fundamentalist Christian” I’m referring to those that adhere to… strict literal interpretation of the bible… 6-day creation, virgin-birth, literal afterlife

Ecumenism:

What do the members here think of ecumenism of evangelicals with Roman Catholics? Do you think the Catholic church has a false Gospel? I have many years of working with and dealing with Catholic Charismatics and have my testimony of this on the net.

The Signs of the Last Day in the Hadiths of the Prophet (saas)
War and Anarchy
The Destruction of Great Cities: Wars and Disasters
Earthquakes
Poverty
The Collapse of Moral Values
The Rejection of the True Religion and the Moral Values of the Qur’an
Social Deterioration
Science and Technology
The Return of ‘Isa (as) After the Emergence of False Prophets
The Golden Age
After the Golden Age

Can’t we see that the end of the world is coming……The hour is near.

It looks as though we can all sleep peacefully in our beds at last then. My recollection of things is unfortunately very hazy - was it John Paul’s namesake who presided over Vatican 2? And wasn’t it he who on his deathbed repeated the prayer "A new Pentecost …". And my dates may be confused, but I think it was around then (or shortly thereafter), in the early/mid 1970’s, that many parts of the Catholic church in Europe began to experience pentecostal phenomena - the signs of a new life. In Brussels in 1983/5 I met Catholic brothers who were reaching out for fellowship with believers from other Christian traditions - and were experiencing this move of new life, which was expressing itself in a renewed interest in the creative arts, drama, etc as ways of demonstrating the faith. Here in Guildford, in the mid 1970’s, the Catholic church also experienced signs of renewal, accompanied by a reaching out to the rest of the body of Christ. In Brussels, Cardinal Suenens was at the centre of this renewal movement - though renewal in the protestant meaning of the word; for the Catholic, renewal is the new birth - the beginning of new life.

Are there any other Protestant-rooted individuals out there who have taken the time to really examine the significance of Mary to the Church from a Biblical point of view? I was reared in a strictly Evangelical home and brought up to believe that all Catholic doctrine (especially Marian devotion) was heretical hogwash. Now I am convinced to the contrary.

Having read Presbyterian-turned-Catholic theologian Scott Hahn’s amazing spiritual biography, ‘Rome, Sweet Home’, I was presented with Catholic doctrine in a way I had never considered it, i.e. Biblically-based arguments to defend their truth. Consequently I was lead to do a lot of digging of my own and realised that Mariology is as much Bible-centred as any other cornerstone of the faith.