Post # 250, Swiss Cheese

A blogger dedicated to revealing the truth (condemnations) about Catholicism had posted the following:

"...Peter: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" ... Jesus: "You are right Peter, Upon this ROCK (THE TRUTH that I AM GOD'S SON), I will build my Church. And the gates of hell (extra-biblical doctrines and man-made rituals for salvation), will not prevail against it!" Matthew 16:18"

The first problem is that he cannot even disclose the truth about the scripture he's using! Here's the entire section of Matthew 16 he was editing:

16 Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Now, I'm a context junkie, and really get annoyed when people turn Holy Scripture into holey scripture. I'd hate to tar all Protestants with the same brush, but like Jack Chick's cartoon theology, I see too much strategic omission when Protestants try to make a case against the Church. Why is that?

Evangelicals Rediscover Reconciliation

Only, they won't admit that that's what it is, for fear of appearing to be Catholic, and they won't declare it's sacramental nature. Ted Haggard's fall from grace has suddenly focused attention to sin, and how the Evangelical churches handle sin. Here's the four-step plan for rehabilitating Mr. Haggard, as presented in CNN's 'What is Spiritual Restoration?':

1. Submit to the authority of his couselors
2. Admit his sins
3. Make restitution
4. Be humbled

Wow, sounds like that Papist ritual, popularly known as 'Confession'! Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that since the Protestant Reformation, sinners only had to ask Jesus for forgiveness, and voila, sins are forgiven. This 'Spiritual Restoration' plan sounds like a tacit endorsement of Catholic sacramentality. I wonder if the megachurches are going to start installing confessionals in their facilities.