Kevin Goddard - 23 August 2007 01:20 PM

Nice one Craig. A well produced and edited video - and under 3 minutes too. How many guys/gals were involved in this tape ? Have you done many others before ? Makes the book look enticing. Congratulations to all.

Cheers, Kevin

Hi Kevin,

All up, about 40 members of our church were involved in the production of the resource. That covers everything from make-up to typesetting.

As you would imagine, we’ve got a fair bit of “in-house” expertise in all these areas now. Our main use of video to date has been the weekly TV program, “Building God’s People”. (Dominic did “Introducing God” several years ago, but a lot of new people have joined the church since then).

We’ve received a heap of good feedback for this resource, including the following -

Today a Catholic friend and I watched Grace Alone. With tears of joy she talked about how the burden of guilt she carried had been lifted, as God had done it all for her, and she gave her life to the Lord. Your DVD presents the Truth (capital T) clearly, strongly and yet very lovingly. What an awesome tool to have!

Today a Catholic friend and I watched Grace Alone. With tears of joy she talked about how the burden of guilt she carried had been lifted, as God had done it all for her, and she gave her life to the Lord. Your DVD presents the Truth (capital T) clearly, strongly and yet very lovingly. What an awesome tool to have!

Hi Craig,

What an awesome quote. Now that’s what I call positive feedback !

Cheers, Kevin

Did anybody else notice this slightly bizarre piece on WYD in the SMH last week?

From the article:

The Catholic Church has given a commitment that it will not try to convert members of other religious denominations taking part in inter-faith forums and volunteering facilities.

Can Christians actually promise this without disobeying Jesus?

It is also calling for 8000 people, including those of other faiths, to volunteer for the largest Catholic event on the 2008 religious calendar. There will be roles in areas including operations and crowd management, customer service, language and translations, staffing, hospitality and catering, accommodation, production, communications, liturgy and evangelisation.

Perhaps a few SydAngs could ring up and volunteer for “evangelisation” - there are jobs going for people of all faiths apparently.

I suspect this is simply a byproduct of the dumbed-down religious affairs reporting we’ve become so used to.  But what if it’s not…

Tom Barrett - 23 August 2007 03:30 PM

Did anybody else notice this slightly bizarre piece on WYD in the SMH last week?

From the article:

The Catholic Church has given a commitment that it will not try to convert members of other religious denominations taking part in inter-faith forums and volunteering facilities.

Can Christians actually promise this without disobeying Jesus?

Hi Tom,

It seems to me that a short-time, limited scope “tactical” limitation is a reasonable wisdom choice:

1 Peter 3:15 :
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
[ESV translation, my bold]

In any case, personal evangelism is not generally emphasised in modern Roman Catholic teaching/practice.

There are other outreach approaches....
For example: establish a massive church school system!

Much of the RC expectation for WYD will be that it will encourage “lapsed” Catholics to a greater level of spirituality.

Grace & peace,

Terry

Terry Gallagher - 23 August 2007 04:08 PM

Tom Barrett - 23 August 2007 03:30 PM

From the article:

The Catholic Church has given a commitment that it will not try to convert members of other religious denominations taking part in inter-faith forums and volunteering facilities.

Can Christians actually promise this without disobeying Jesus?

Hi Tom,

It seems to me that a short-time, limited scope “tactical” limitation is a reasonable wisdom choice:

1 Peter 3:15 :
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
[ESV translation, my bold]

Gentleness and respect - absolutely, and also wisdom and discretion - but 1 Peter 3 is not the only NT text about evangelism - surely the great commission commands a more proactive approach, at least for the church as a whole (which is what is in view above - “The Catholic church has given an undertaking...").

Aren’t we selling Jesus short if when we take part in inter-faith forums we suspend our commitment to the mission of extending his kingdom?  If we promise not to convert people aren’t we promising not to proclaim the gospel?

Whats the purpose of WYD?

it all comes down to, can you trust that the only church that could have been in existence as a historical entity since the time of the apostles (you may think it hasn’t been, but no one could claim that anglicans can trace back to then) could have a better understanding of truth faith and morals than someone who picks up the bible, reads it, and then deduces from that the meaning. as i understand it, protestants believe that the spirit of truth will guide your interpretation, but the thousands upon thousands of churches springing up each with a different view would tend to indicate otherwise! simply, the bible is a result of catholic tradition and the correct place to intepret it is within her. even in the first century disputes about doctrine were always refered to rome, and she was always accorded first place in the lists of early churches, just as st peter the first pope was always the first apostle listed in each gospel tradition.

Hey Jude.
A proper articulation of the Protestant teaching of Sola Scriptura is that the Bible alone is our ultimate authority, not that each person can interpret the Bible for himself without reference to tradition, history and the teachers God has given us.

However, when it comes to a decision between competing voices, the Bible alone is our ultimate authority. This was expressed well in this Sola Panel article.

The teaching that each person can interpret the Bible for himself quickly degenerates into not the Bible alone but my personal interpretation of the Bible alone.

G’day Jude,

Jude Jones - 14 July 2008 01:09 PM

even in the first century disputes about doctrine were always refered to rome

Like this one? Or perhaps this one?

Cheers,

Timbo

Hi Jude,

Regarding your comment:

can you trust that the only church that could have been in existence as a historical entity since the time of the apostles (you may think it hasn’t been, but no one could claim that anglicans can trace back to then)

I think you’ll find that the Orthodox churches would lay equal claim to being a historical entity since the time of the apostles.

However, whilst having that historical link is great, ultimately it’s faithfulness to the apostle’s teaching, not organisational links, that matter.

Others would say that the Roman Catholic Church began properly in about 600 AD.

It’s very interesting how you can’t even put a date on the alleged apostasy!

For nstance a Baptist must wind the clock back even further....as there is abundant evidence of infant baptism from the second century on.

No ,the more you intelligently look at the apostasy theory , the more it becomes untenable.

Centuries before 600 AD the Church was believng:

!) the real objective presence
2) the Eucharistic Sacrifice
3) prayers for the dead
4) Invocation of Saints
5) the necessity of episcopacy
6) the pre-eminence and authority of the Bishop Of Rome.

Indeed the Church that finalised the New Testament canon believed al these doctrines.

As for the Orthodox, they accept divorce and re-marriage, have given way on contraception and teach hersey about the procession of the Holy Spirit.

I just read the item “Sydney chalks up ‘certainty’ for WYD” and was rather dismayed by the proposal. 

I know that when one moves from one tradition of the Christian faith to another, as I did some years ago, it becomes hard to understand why others can possibly stay where you left. 

However, WYD seems to me to be an amazing gathering of very clearly committed Christian young people from all round the world.  How sad to caricature them all as cowering in fear of purgatory and an uncertainty about their eternal future. 

Yes there may well be some young people there for the ride, but aren’t all our churches privileged to have a few souls like that?  I regard these people as being in a good place to hear something from God that they weren’t expecting, and it might even be the Pope’s words that do that for some.

Catholics understand evangelism and mission just as we Anglicans do.  Let’s not use such a gathering to do a little sheep-stealing.

John Clapton - 15 July 2008 12:13 AM

I just read the item “Sydney chalks up ‘certainty’ for WYD” and was rather dismayed by the proposal. 
...
Let’s not use such a gathering to do a little sheep-stealing.

Yes, of course we have our (significant) doctrinal differences but I fear this does more to foster antagonism and disunity between denominations rather than being a helpful avenue* for healthy and respectful dialogue.

*excuse the pun :)

it is only if you believe that when jesus called the apostles to establish the church he intended for it to be a visible historical reality as well as a spiritual one that the argument i put forward has any weight to it. its difficult to understand for me how the anglican, or any protestent church, can make any claims to teaching truth when the only link they can make to the apostles original mission is that they are teaching the identical faith they taught, by somehow jumping back through 1500 odd years of history and grasping onto the early christian faith when the apostles had never heard of a bible, infact the first 300 years of christianity passed by without any fixed cannon, and for when the cannon finaly came accepted the authority or the church of rome from which it was authorized!