[aron]

Originally Posted by MacDuff

Neither my Catholic view nor my Biblicist view corresponds in any way to Evangelical Protestantism.

As a card-carrying Protestant who grows ever more appreciative of the Bible, specifically for the Christ it portrays to me, I want to say I've also appreciated your often skeptical comments. Christians shouldn't be afraid of the fire. They should embrace it. The fire "prunes" our faith, and makes it more humble, more right-sized. Folks who question the collective are often unpopular, but in some sense they are "most valuable players" on the team.

I always like to think, "What if I'm wrong?", and it's also helpful when others come alongside to aid with this necessary question. Because we probably have more in common than we realize, here in our brief sojourn on earth, it is also good for us acknowledge and respect each others' differences. God in His wisdom made each of us similar, but unique, and for good reason. Your skepticism may be God's skepticism.

Witness Lee was a bright guy, but in the end it seems that the only person he was interested in listening to was himself, and this spelled his doom theologically, if not spiritually. "In a multitude of counselors there is safety".

I am thankful for two things since coming on this forum. Concerning Al Knoch, I already mentioned in a post to Igzy on another thread. And to Aron for introducing me to another side of Erasmus, I didn’t know before. Having read his entire book that Aron quoted from, he appears to be midway between Catholicism as it existed in the 16th century and the Reformation of Martin Luther so called. I think Erasmus would fit in rather well with Catholicism as it exists today...

As I said elsewhere, perhaps the Protestant Reformation was an over-reaction to the short-comings of the Catholic Church. I grew up a Protestant and will probably remain one (as Paul wrote, "Each one of you, in which you were called, in this let him remain"), but I have the "Catholic lifer" Erasmus at least partly to thank for this. Because in Erasmus' example we can really see the practical wisdom of Paul's counsel to the Corinthian believers.

And I think Erasmus wrote simply because it was a joy for him to do so, not because it was a chore or a way to make a living. In his writing one sometimes senses the simple power of finding oneself alive, and having an at-least-partly rational brain, and being allowed to exercise it. It is as if he were discovering God, and the exuberance of his journey of discovery awakens something similar in us.

Erasmus doesn’t appear to me to be one who argues simply to argue.

Nor to me. I think he argues because the truth is worth pursuing. "Come, let us reason together, saith the LORD."