Simplistic Thinking

It seems very easy for a one-trick pony from Iowa to sit there pontificating on how we all ought to be Catholic, as if anyone who is not a Catholic is a Moslem. Ha! Only in Mark's sick mind. How does a German Catholic from Pakistan pretend to represent a Protestant denomination? And how is this dualistic, ying-yang system working for France? Not so well, obviously, as Paris is almost a northern annex of Algeria nowadays according to some reports. Maybe someday it will be unavoidable, this reduction of Moslem vs. Christian conflict to an "us vs. them" mindset in order to curb the aggressiveness of the Arab onslaught short of war. Nevertheless, it is not necessary for all Christians to be Roman Catholics let alone Southern Baptists. We often think that we are right and you are wrong but anyway we cannot assume that anyone who is not a Catholic is unitarian rather than trinitarian in their thinking. Or that anyone who is unitarian is either Moslem or Jewish. Lots of non-Catholics are trinitarian while lots of Christians are unitarian. It is sadly a very complicated issue not so easily reduced to an either/or choice on that basis. In some circumstances we Protestants might prefer to think of salvation as the basis for accepting the Chinese Pentecostals as Christian brethren even if their theological understanding of the deity requires some refinement, whether in actual understanding or perhaps a resolving of linguistic misunderstanding. The Chinese have arrived late to the table of Christian creed makers, having missed out on two thousand years of church developments, both good and bad, which explains why they are sometimes not on the same page. The Bible tells us that the Lord our God is one. We adhere to the Ten Commandments and yet the New Testament presents many mysteries that are difficult to understand. It is possible to be saved and yet be wrong on some theological points. The salvation code is problematic for Catholics because they do not believe that a Christian can know whether they are saved. Catholics look forward only to purgatory. Catholics preach a doctrine of good works, believing that they will earn their way to heaven by doing good things and impressing people by their deeds. They compare themselves one to another and flatter themselves on their own superiority in comparison to us. And yet they are foolish in this respect. "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) You boast of your superiority and yet the Bible says: "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. (2 Corinthians 10:12, 13)" All of this tearing us down to build up yourself proves only that you are really not a Christian in the biblical sense. "You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do." (2 Corinthians 10:7)