World News and Trends- The Pope: other Christian faiths defective
A midsummer Associated Press report from Italy stated: "For the second time in a week, Pope Benedict XVI has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, reasserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and saying other Christian communities were either defective or not true churches" (July 10, 2007).
A midsummer Associated Press report from Italy stated: "For the second time in a week, Pope Benedict XVI has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, reasserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and saying other Christian communities were either defective or not true churches" (July 10, 2007).
Also, according to the International Herald Tribune, "The Vatican document repeated many of the contentious claims of a document issued in 2000 by the Vatican office on orthodoxy, which Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed for more than two decades before being elected Pope in 2005" (July 12, 2007).
From the papal point of view, the bottom line as to what constitutes a church is the capacity to trace one's line of bishops all the way back to the original apostles. The AP report quoted the recent Vatican document's assertion that "the other communities [religious denominations] ‘cannot be called churches in the proper sense' because they do not have apostolic succession . . . and therefore their priestly ordinations are not valid."
Naturally leaders in the Protestant world objected to these assertions from the papacy. "It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the Reformed family and other families of the church," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which represents 75 million believers in 214 churches in 107 countries.
They rightly see it as a putdown and as endangering the ecumenical efforts for Christian unity between Catholics and Protestants during the past century. They generally claim that the Bible itself rather than church tradition is the key determining factor when evaluating ecclesiastical validity.
Sadly, mainstream Christianity in general—including Catholicism, Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy—has drifted far away from the doctrines the early Church believed and practiced as revealed in Scripture. To understand the real truth of this matter, request or download our free booklet The Church Jesus Built. (Sources: Associated Press, International Herald Tribune.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: September - October 2007
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
