Many people have e-mailed, wondering if I plan to comment on the Pope’s death. I pray for the loved ones of people who die, and the Pope’s loved ones are included. While I am not up to theological discussions about the matter just yet, I will say, preliminarily, that if the Pope believed Christ died for his sins, and that we are saved through faith alone in Christ alone by his grace alone, the Pope, like anyone else who believes these things, will be spared from God’s righteous and just punishment.
At some point I will address the theological points directly, but in the meantime, I’ll refer you to the writings of Dr. James White, a Reformed Baptist and Christian apologist. He speaks for me and many other Reformed Christians by declaring God’s word:
I encourage you to listen to this talk he gave about the Pope’s death and the need for evangelical Christians to be bold and share the truth in love. His talk probably will not be popular with Catholic readers, but I think you should listen nonetheless. Albert Mohler also has an interesting post on this subject.
One of the things I have to deal with in hosting a public web site is that there are no shortage of opinions from readers. I will open comments on this thread, but I think it’s only fair to tell you I have lost patience with the personal attacks. I now have ZERO tolerance for it. If you wish to address me directly in comments rather than via e-mail (which is preferable), I implore you to tread lightly.
I feel like a shrew having to give such warnings, but some of you don’t seem to understand the way I do things around here. I will not be bullied or “told off” on my own blog. There are plenty of bloggers out there who spend their time attacking and “refuting” me. To keep company with them, visit Technorati, and do a search for my blog address. If they’ve ranted recently, you will find them. If you want to refute my positions or arguments or assertions in a reasoned manner, you may do so here.
Now, I hope you can have a civilized discussion.
Addendum: Part of my reluctance in writing about these issues is that it invites all sorts of readers and commenters, some who want to know the truth, others who simply want to dispute back and forth. Responses to posts like this are generally frustrating because people seem to have no interest in finding the truth and/or they are not familiar with the Bible. (That is frustrating. Perhaps I should restrict commenting to people who’ve not only read but studied the whole Bible at least once.) As a consequence, I’m compelled to try to respond to every single commenter and every single assertion. But rather than doing that, I will direct you to sites that you may visit for clarification or explanation of what I’ve written in the post and in the comment section. Unfortunately, I know many of you will not visit these sites, are not interested in visiting these sites and will continue to “refute” my assertions.
For a primer on the Gospel of Jesus Christ see this link. Also see 40 Objections. In fact, the whole site is a great resource.
What is Reformed Theology?
Update (7:26 p.m.): I’m closing this post for tonight. I fear that the errors I’ve read so far will continue, and I don’t have time to address all of them tonight. I will enable commenting on this post in the morning. In the meantime, you may e-mail your responses to me. I will seriously considering posting a few tomorrow.
As a result of this post and links included, one reader has already declared herself a “former reader.” So be it.
