This was my reaction to reading this:
“For instance, the Roman Catholic Church officially teaches that the pope has the power to dispense merits, to forgive sin, to extend indulgences,” he said. “When you consider that you realize just how unbiblical this office is. The Roman Catholic Church, by its symbolism and by its formal teaching, says that the pope, whom they claim to be the successor of Peter, actually holds the keys of the kingdom to which Jesus refers in Matthew Chapter 16. We understand that the keys of the kingdom do indeed exist, that they belong to Christ and that they are handed to the church as a stewardship, not to Saint Peter.”
I have to wonder why he felt the need to attack ‘“some liberal Protestants and careless evangelicals” seeking theological consensus and common ground on social issues like marriage and the sanctity of human life.’ Maybe he feels threatened? Seems to me he doesn’t alike anyone challenging his own cardinal crown.
Note the official UMC announcement and the difference there.
Oh well…
Related articles
- Two Chairs of Peter: Reform, Orthodoxy and the Papacy (orthodoxyandheterodoxy.org)
- Pope of the Americas (world.time.com)
- Pope Francis embarks on ground-breaking papacy (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
- New pope slips out of Vatican for morning prayer visit – Reuters UK (uk.reuters.com)
- St. Peter Hold’s the key’s to the Kingdom (thecitymuse.wordpress.com)
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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In other news, water is wet and yoga is good for your health.
Also, Mohler seems to forget that bit about Jesus giving the power of forgiveness to his disciples in John—”If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven,” etc., etc.
Mohler is a particularly devious character (and a god-awful hermeneut to boot), and deserves to be treated with much more caution than is usually afforded him. It’s largely due to his machinations that the president of my seminary was ousted from her position as professor of theology at Southern back in the early 90s.
sorta agree here. Plus, his understanding of the Gospel is just silly.