Because I can in good conscience, as a Catholic, affirm the ETS doctrinal statement, I do not intend to resign as a member of ETS.James White addresses this on his blog:
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:I have no idea how Dr. Beckwith deals with that problem, but it is certainly a sad day for ETS. How this situation is handled may well affect if I retain membership. I almost left along with Norman Geisler over the open theism issue, but we shall see how this turns out.
"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.
Greg Koukl, a close friend of, and co-author with, Frank Beckwith reported on his May 6 radio show that Beckwith "still considers himself an evangelical, and there are no significant changes in his foundational theological beliefs." So what view of justification did the president of ETS hold that allowed him to swim the Tiber? Very strange.
Since Beckwith has resigned from not only his leadership but his membership in the ETS, (which I think is appropriate since it is a specifically Protestant evangelical organization) what I'm about to write is no longer relevant for him, but the ETS statement of faith is not, as I understand it, necessarily incompatible with Catholicism, or any other Christian church. The reason I write this is that it says, "The Bible alone...is the Word of God written." Now other churches may believe in God's Word being also spoken, or revealed in His direction for the Church, but as for the Word of God written, the Bible is it. Inerrancy and its understanding among evangelicals might pose a bigger problem for some, but probably not all, Catholics. The ironic thing is, the whole idea of the Bible being the Word of God came to the Protestants via the Catholics. After all, where did Luther learn that the Bible is God's Word for us? In the Catholic Church.
Hey Randy! I was just looking at archives of my old blogs and rediscovered you. Good to see that you are still around.
Joel, good to hear from you again. Thanks for stopping by.
Rick, the big problem with Roman Catholics and ETS is that the ETS founders meant the 66 books, excluding the apocryphal writings. They probably should have specified that, but Roger Nicole made it clear that they did not expect Catholics to be able to sign the doctrinal statement when they prepared it.
Another perspective is here.
The ironic thing is, the whole idea of the Bible being the Word of God came to the Protestants via the Catholics. After all, where did Luther learn that the Bible is God's Word for us? In the Catholic Church.
That's a bit of a misdirection play. Yes, the Reformers like Luther and Calvin came out of the Catholic church, but why did they have to do so? Precisely because they were convinced the RC church was not abiding by Scripture. It's not that the Catholics informed the Protestants. Some Catholics became Protestants. There's a difference.
My biggest concern in all this isn't the nature of the Bible, but rather the topic of justification. Beckwith has abandoned the completed work of Christ for a Mass that offers up the same sacrifice again and again without perfecting, in contrast to Hebrews 10. It's not hard to picture RC priests filling the role of the Hebrew priests in this passage:
Hebrews 10:11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Dear All: I saw the interview by Marcus of both Dr. Russell and Deborah Rentler(?) on the Journey Home by Marcus. I was impressed. I am 72 and a retired male educated as a Chemical Engineer at the University of Detroit and also went to a Jesuit High School in Chicago by the name of Loyola Academy. Both my wife and I live in an over 55 community and belong to a Bible Study group loaded with non Catholics. Most of them are Evangelicals and I realized that I was blessed with a very thorough Jesuit religious training. I am still learning since the group reads their King James version and I still read my Douay version created in France. We have to realize that we Catholics have such a remarkable depth of faith to learn and practice. One of our key worships is the Mass and the Eucharist. We were in Spain and Portugal last month for two weeks and saw some magnificent Catholic Churches in Seville, Madrid, etc. where the old Mosques built by the Moors were converted to great churches. We also saw Fatima in Portugal that was interesting. As I grow older I gain Wisdom that there is a lot of Intelligent Design in our everyday life that the secularists try to deny. The Human Body alone proves that a supreme being like God created us.
Keep up your "born again" Faith in the Blessed Trinity and God's Mercy and Plan. We all have to maintain Faith, Hope, and Charity in our lives.
Gene
Mr Soule', thanks for visiting. The history of Roman Catholicism is definitely fascinating. My concerns involved the doctrinal differences being blurred when historically evangelicalism and RC teaching are very different.
Click here for my rant about Geisler.
Pinnock did some minor recanting and Boyd didn't pay his dues so his membership lapsed.
My church is not official SBC, but in fellowship with SBC, or something like that. The SBC has strong anti-Calvinists as well as strong Calvinists. The early days were much more Reformed than most realize, but Mohler's Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has quite a bit of pull now. I haven't heard anything serious about trying to ban all Calvinists. That would make a big dent and would betray the roots of the conference.