____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ October 27, 2002 ____________________________________________________ Contending for the Faith Catholicism Negates Jesus' Death, New Birth by Larry Ray Hafley From an article by Alan Cooperman in the Washington Post, and published in the Houston Chronicle, (8/18/02, 4A), it appears that "a committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has negated the death of Christ, and invalidated his declaration, 'Ye must be born again' (Jn. 3:3-7). "Campaigns that target Jews for conversion to Christianity `are no longer theologically acceptable in the Catholic Church,' a committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has declared. "Summing up a series of Vatican pronouncements since 1965 that has reversed the church's historical approach to Judaism, the bishops said last week that the Old Testament covenant between the Jews and God is valid and that Jews do not need to convert to Christianity to be saved. While the Roman Catholic Church `must bear witness in the world to the Good News of Christ...this evangelizing task no longer includes the wish to absorb the Jewish faith into Christianity and so end the distinctive witness of Jews to God in human history,' they said. "....Eugene Fisher, director of Catholic-Jewish relations for the bishops' conference, said the document contains `no new doctrine' but `distills a lot of things that have been said and steps that have been taken' since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Fisher noted, for example, that in the 1970s, the church changed its official prayer for the Jewish people, which used to call for their conversion. Now the prayer, recited on Good Friday, asks God to help Jews intensify their faith in their covenant, he said. "While the Southern Baptist Convention and other evangelical groups run campaigns to convert Jews, the Catholic church gradually has abandoned such efforts. `If an individual Jew wants to convert to Catholicism, that can still happen,' said Monsignor Francis Maniscalco, spokesman for the bishops's conference. `But the point is that proselytizing campaigns are not compatible with the respect with which we hold Judaism.' "The document makes clear that this attitude is unique. `Though the Catholic Church respects all religious traditions...and though we believe God's infinite grace is surely available to believers of other faiths, it is only about Israel's covenant that the Church can speak with the certainty of biblical witness,' it says. "Although he played no role in drafting the document, Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, hailed it as `groundbreaking.' Some Catholic leaders have renounced proselytizing among Jews in the past, but `this is the first time the Catholic leaders of a whole country have stated it officially,' he said." Old Testament Not Nailed To The Cross? The law of commandments, contained in ordinances, has not been "nailed to the cross if those bishops are correct; but, they are not, and it has been (Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14). Though the Hebrew writer argues that God has taken away the first covenant that he may establish the second, this committee of Catholic bishops says "that the Old Testament covenant between the Jews and God is valid." Do these bishops read the book of Hebrews? Consider the awful implications of Hebrews 9:8 ("that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was still standing") if the Old Testament covenant is still "valid." (a) If the Old Testament is still "valid," Christ cannot be our High Priest, since there is no place for one to be a priest from the tribe of Judah under the law of Moses (Heb. 7:11-14; Heb. 8:4). (b) If that is so, Christ is not our High Priest and we have no offering for our sins (Heb. 10). (c) Christ has not yet entered into heaven itself to "appear in the presence of God for us." We are yet in our sins! (d) Paul uses the marriage relationship to establish that we are not under the law of Moses and that we may, therefore, be married to Christ (Rom. 7:1-6). Otherwise, we would be spiritual adulterers! Despite the fact that these bishops say "the Old Testament covenant between the Jews and God is valid," in 2 Corinthians 3, Paul says it "is done away" and "is abolished" (vv. 11, 13). Those Catholic bishops who contend to the contrary are "blinded" and are unwittingly forbidding men to receive "liberty" through the Spirit (vv. 14, 17; Cf. Gal. 3:1-5). If Jews Saved Apart From The Gospel: If it is true "that Jews do not need to convert to Christianity to be saved," as per the report above, then a number of things must follow. 1. The "new birth" is null and void, at least as far as the Jews are concerned. Remember, though, that it was to Nicodemus, a "ruler of the Jews," to whom Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:1-7). Why did the Savior say that to Nicodemus? Since it is now claimed "that the (Catholic) Church can speak with the certainty of biblical witness" that Nicodemus need not be born again, why did Jesus say that he "must be born again"? 2. The gospel is not now, and never has been, "the power of God unto salvation...to the Jew first and also to the Gentile" (Rom. 1:16). Jesus said that "repentance and remission of sins" was to be preached "in (his) name, beginning at Jerusalem" (Lk. 24:47). Why, though, begin at Jerusalem, if the Jews have no need for "repentance and remission of sins" in the name of Christ? If the Jews are saved through faithfulness to "Israel's covenant" and not by the gospel, as Catholicism now claims, (a) why did John the Baptist tell them that their fleshly ties to Abraham were no guarantee of Divine deliverance (Matt. 3:7-12)? (b) Why did Jesus tell them, "your house is left unto you desolate" (Matt. 23:38)? Further, (c) if the Jews may be saved by the Old Testament, why did Jesus say, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matt. 21:43; Cf. Heb. 12:28 and 1 Pet. 2:5-9 which shows the threat was fulfilled)? Has that verdict been repealed? Does modern Judaism possess the "kingdom of God"? The Holy Spirit says it does not (Col. 1:13; Heb. 1:8; Heb. 12:28)! Specifically and directly including and indicting the Jews, Paul said that "the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:18-23). If he is correct, the Jews today, who still consider the gospel "foolishness" are those who "perish" in contrast with those who believe it and "are saved." Is it possible that a committee, a conference of men, can simply wipe Paul's words out of existence and cancel their meaning? No (Matt. 24:35; Lk. 10:16; 1 Cor. 4:6; 14:37; 15:11)! (d) Paul taught that the gospel he preached was "the word of...salvation" prophesied by the prophets (Acts 13:26). He also taught that it was only through the gospel they could have "the forgiveness of sins" and be "justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38, 39). When the Jewish audience rejected the gospel and clung to "Israel's covenant," Paul said they had "judged (themselves) unworthy of everlasting life" (Acts 13:46). How could that be true if the Jews are saved without obedience to the gospel and by cleaving and clinging to "Israel's covenant"? 3. Jesus erred when he said to the Jews that their unbelief would condemn them. If it is true that Jews may be saved without faith in Jesus as the Son of God, how do we explain the following texts, spoken to Jews, by the Lord himself? "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (Jn. 3:18). "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (Jn. 8:24). "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (Jn. 14:6). Did Jesus err when he made those statements to the Jews? If not, this segment of Catholicism is wrong when it declares that the Jews may be saved without faith in Christ. Jesus said that those who, like the Jews, do not believe in him, do not believe in the Father, nor do they believe in Moses or his testimony. "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me" (Jn. 5:46). If Jews today reject Jesus, they also reject Moses, "for he wrote of me," Jesus said. So, though Catholicism claims that the Jews are saved if they abide in the Old Testament, Jesus denies it. Again, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me" (Jn. 6:45). Where was that written? It was "written in the prophets," that is, in the Old Testament. So, that covenant says that those who hear and learn from the Father will believe in Jesus. Thus, the Old Testament prophets did not say that Jews were to be excused from the New Covenant of Christ (Cf. Matthew 26:28; Heb. 9). Jesus says that if one has "learned of" (or from) the Father, he will come "unto me." Thus, Jews who reject Jesus have not "learned of the Father." Neither are they truly abiding in "Israel's covenant," for if they were, they would believe in Jesus as the Son of God (Jn. 5:46; 6:45). (Peter, who was allegedly Catholicism's first Pope, spoke to the same effect and appealed to the testimony of Moses to prove that Jesus is Lord -- Acts 3:22, 23; Cf. 2:36; 3:13-15, 24-26). The apostle John testifies to the same point. "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?...Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also..." (1 Jn. 2:22, 23). "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son" (2 Jn. 9). Jews who do not believe in Christ have neither the Father, nor the Son, so in what way can it be said that they are saved apart from Christ? According to the Holy Spirit, the "liar" is "he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ." However, a Catholic committee of U.S. bishops says those liars, if they be unbelieving Jews, may be saved! (We shall not bother to mention that "all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" [Rev. 21:8]). Note what the Holy Spirit said is done to God by those who, like the Jews, refuse to believe "on the Son of God." "He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son" (1 Jn. 5:10). The unbelieving Jew makes God a liar "because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son." Is it possible that such a man can be saved if he remains in that state of unbelief? Catholicism, it appears, would say, "yes." Did the Lord and the apostles tell the truth? If so, the Jews do not know God since they have spurned the Savior. This means that Catholicism is in error when it claims to the contrary. If their committee of bishops is not teaching falsely, is the Bible wrong? It is one or the other. Both cannot be right. Either the doctrine of the Catholic Affairs Committee is wrong, or the Bible is wrong. What say ye? ...Concluded next week. -- Via The Watchman Magazine ___________________________________________ News & Notes I was sorry to hear that Mary Laursen had passed away recently. Her son Keith had been the first friend I met when moving to Dunedin, Florida, back in 1962, just shortly prior to my beginning the fourth grade. I had spent many a time in her home and enjoyed her hospitality. She was a kindhearted woman. Let those of us who are Christians pray for all her family and friends. Faye Wallace, Agnes Shuff's sister, is doing well, following her surgery last Friday. She should be returning home either today or tomorrow. Pam Farmer, of the Park Forest church of Christ, also had surgery last Friday and is already home. Let us prayer for a speedy recover for these people. If you are visiting with us today, we are glad for your presence; and we hope you'll be back again soon. ________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ________________________________________