by Douglas R. Johnson
September 4, 2000
Introduction
Jesus prayed:
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." [John 17:20,21]Note first that He prayed specifically for us with the phrase: "for them also which shall believe on me through their word". This reference is not just for the Apostles but for us who are Christians because of the Apostles and their writings.
Note second that Jesus wants us to "be one". Since we Protestants broke off from the Roman Catholic Church in about 1500, we are not now just two (Protestants and Catholics) but now many, many different denominations. For the first 1000 years, Christians understood this Scripture to mean "one holy catholic and apostolic church" [Nicene Creed].
Note third that the purpose if this being one was so "that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Jesus is saying that "not being one" is a false witness that "God did not send Jesus". If we Christians do in fact believe that God did in fact send Jesus, then we have a holy obligation to bring about the oneness Jesus prayed for.
I am offering these articles as an effort (with requested help from God) to bring oneness to the present body of all Christians.
For me to choose one of the very many Protestant denominations and say this one is right and all others should accept it, is in my mind an even harder sell that what I am attempting with these articles, namely that the Roman Catholic Church is the Church we should all be in fellowship with.
When Protestantism first started in the 1500's, it was widely held that the Pope was the "anti-Christ" and the Roman Catholic Church was therefore a "non-Christian" religion wholly given to idolatry. It is now believed by most evangelical Christians that the "anti-Christ" is someone who has not as yet been revealed and thus the Pope is not the "anti-Christ". "In fact, as far as I can determine, most Christians now believe that the Roman Catholic Church is a "Christian" church and has, in the minds of the average Christian, the same "standing" as any "main line" Protestant denomination.
What I intend to demonstrate in this series of articles is that the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, as detailed in the official "Catechism of the Catholic Church", are entirely consistent with the teachings of Scripture.
About the Author
I was born in 1942 in Jersey City, New Jersey to parents who attended the Vroom Street Evangelical Church there. Before my first birthday, we moved to Kearny but still attended the same church in Jersey City.
Kearny was mostly an Irish Catholic community and my first experience with the real life Catholics was through my neighborhood and school friends. If I were to have made a "hasty generalization", I would have lumped them as being godless liars and thieves. Of course, I fit right in but, in my mind, they were bad and I was good. I perceived that to them "Jesus" was a curse word and white lies were not bad. One of my neighbors got his picture on the front page of the New York Daily News. It was a picture taken by a bank's hidden camera showing him robbing that bank.
It took two busses to get to our Jersey City church so we tried various independent churches in Kearny.
Somehow I started going to the Assembly of God Church in Kearny and experienced what is referred to as the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit". During the course of attending this church, I was baptized by emersion in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
In 1957, during the Billy Graham New York Crusade which lasted all summer, I got re-introduced to our cousins, the Turners, who attended a Plymouth Brethren church in Kearny. I started attending there and was accepted into fellowship which meant that I could partake of the Lord's Table with them. For the Brethren, it was a closed event which they did weekly.
The Brethren had a youth group which included evangelical Christian youth from various denominations. I went out with a girl from that youth group who attended the Christian Missionary Alliance church in a neighboring town. I went to that church a number of times. She died of pneumonia in 1964.
I dated a Catholic girl in the mid 1960's who I met at college. After a period of time, I decided to not pursue the relationship just because she was Catholic.
After getting my MS degree, I moved to the Washington, DC area and started attending a Southern Baptist Church which I did officially join. It is there that I met my wife and we were married in 1968.
We moved to New Jersey shortly thereafter and joined an American Baptist church in Oakland, New Jersey. My wife sang in the choir and I became a "deacon".
We somehow became involved with the "Jesus Movement" of the 1970's. We visited the Maranatha Nazarene Church in New Milford, NJ and the Mustard Seed Coffeehouse.
About that time, I also became involved with the Full Gospel Business Mens Fellowship International. My wife and I went with the FGBMFI in 1974 to a week long convention in California and the following week in Hawaii. While in California, we had an opportunity to have lunch with Norvel Hayes and Kenneth Hagin. When we went to Hawaii, we were on the same plane as Kenneth Copeland and stayed in the same hotel. These three individuals are well known teachers of faith for healing and financial prosperity.
We moved to Rockaway, New Jersey in 1979 and started attending the Assembly of God church. In the early 1990's, I started keeping track of my reading the Bible on a daily basis, at least one page from the New Testament and one page from the Old Testament. With the size print of my Bible, I went through the OT every year and a half and through the NT twice a year.
Sometime in the late 1990's, I started watching programs on EWTN, the Catholic television network. Some of the teachings were very close to some of the teachings I heard in connection with the FGBMFI. I did not, however, like what I considered a heavy emphasis on the role of Mary.
We moved to Virginia in early 1999 and visited both the Methodist church Peg's Mom played piano for and the Baptist Church which my wife's brother attends. On Christmas Eve 1999, I visited Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church for the first time.
In August of 2000, I started teaching math part time in a Christian High School. It uses materials produced by Bob Jones University, the very school George W. Bush got into controversy over because they were still holding to the teaching that the Pope is the anti-Christ.
We could say "it's a small world", or we could say "God may be trying to tell us something".
Ground Rules
These series of articles are being presented on an "information only" basis. This is not intended to be a selling job of any type. Should you disagree with the information presented, please check my sources and if they do not line up with my conclusions, please let me know (in a friendly way).
The desired result is to bring oneness to the various Christian churches and is not designed to encourage conversion to the Roman Catholic Church. Jesus prayed that we might be one even as Jesus and God the Father are one. My understanding is that Jesus desired that all who call themselves Christian be in fellowship one with another.
For the purposes of these articles, we are assuming the Scripture to be the infallible Word of God. I have always held the concept of "if the Bible says it, I believe it". What follows from that is "if you can show me from Scripture that a position of mine is against clear Scriptural teaching, then I will instantly change my position". These articles then are intended to be based on what the Scriptures teach and the Scripture is taken to be the final authority.
These articles are being written to Protestant Christians who firmly believe in Jesus and the authority of Scripture. This leaves out "modernists" who have left everything about the faith except the word "Christian". It also leaves out Roman Catholics, not because of anything concerning their faith but only because of the perspective being presented and not the actual material presented. In fact, Roman Catholics could very well gain from what is presented.
The information presented will also assume that you have an honest interest in learning. This means that you will be open for new truth if backed up with facts. The New Testament refers to one particular group who "searched the Scripture" to see if what the Christians were telling them was true to Scripture or not. This was considered a positive attitude. I would not want anyone believing me just because I said it. I want whatever beliefs that are generated to be based on the source documents not on the way they are presented.
The format I will use in these articles is one where I try to cover the subject with enough thoroughness that the readers questions will be answered in advance. This will be a goal which I expect to miss somewhat. Therefore I encourage feedback of questions that I will answer in the next article.
Confrontational questions, however, will not be entertained as they are generally generated out of intense negative emotion and the author of such questions is normally not interested in the answer no matter how much it might be grounded on Scripture and/or reason.
I intend to answer all questions. Depending on the quantity and nature of the questions received, only those beneficial to most readers will be answered in the next article. The others will be answered by e-mail. If you have a question and do not have e-mail and you want a question answered, the only other choice you have is to have a friend e-mail for you. You have to include a valid return e-mail address to receive a response. No response will be give to regular mail questions.
Topics to be Covered in Series
There will be five subjects covered, one in each article, namely:
Private Interpretation refers to the Reformation concept that every Christian has the opportunity and thus responsibility to decide for himself/herself just what Scripture means. We will discuss this in the light of Scripture. We will also bring out what the early church believed and how that relates to us here and now. We will also discuss the authority of Church including:
Before I present the next article of this series, any questions and or comments concerning format of this series would be appreciated. If you would like something included that does not seem to fit the categories listed or you want to be sure something specific that does relate to one or more of those categories, please let me know.
I do ask however, that only positive comments be given even if you are in total disagreement with this project. Even if you are sure certain specifics are entirely against the Scripture, I do solicit your opinion as long as you can put it in a civil and logical written presentation. (Please do not send me any tapes.)
There are two specific materials that I suggest you have in order to "check out" what I will be presenting. The first is a Bible in a translation that you can understand. I will be quoting strictly from the King James Version but you should re-read those verses from the version you choose just to be sure that nothing is lost in the translation nor added to. The second resource material you should have is the "Catechism of Catholic Church", preferably the second edition. With that document, you can identify just what you do not agree with and what you do agree with.
It is my desire that you find these articles to be both enlightening and helpful to you. I hope it helps moving the total body of all Christians towards the oneness for which Jesus prayed.