No doubt by now most Christians have heard of an ecumenical document titled, “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience.”
As a practice I have an aversion to ecumenism simply because it waters down the gospel for the sake of unity; unity that is primarily in effort on matters of mutual concern. Now I am not against cooperating with those of other beliefs for political reasons if we are of the same mind.
However, this declaration proclaims:
-
It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.
This begs the question, do we as “Christians…Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians…who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences” even proclaim the same gospel?
Do Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians believe in the sufficiency and authority of Scripture, aka Sola Scriptura?
Is the Bible alone sufficient for all matters of faith and practice, or is sacred tradition equally binding on the Christian?
Does the Church alone have the power and authority to interpret the Bible, or does the Bible teach of the priesthood of all believers and the individual believer’s trust that the Holy Spirit can guide in the reading and interpreting of Scripture?
Does Ephesians 2:8-9 teach that man is saved by faith alone, aka Sola Fide, or must a Christian be saved through faith and meritorious works?
Does the Apostle Paul’s writing in Romans 4 teach justification as a one-time act or must I build upon my salvation with good works to merit God’s grace?
If these four questions are not answered in agreement by Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, four very serious doctrinal issues, it is beyond my understanding of how the signatories can possibly, in a unified manner, fulfill their “duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness.”
Please don’t get me wrong; I am thankful that people of faith, of differing doctrines, want to unify and “to speak and act in defense of these truths.”
We must understand that if we do so, it will not be done by proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness because ecumenism does not make agreement in that Gospel possible.
As for some of the signatories of this declaration, I will share with you what Steve Deace and Gregg Jackson have written on that subject.
I personally will not be signing the declaration.
I will however, continue to strive to bring political and moral clarity into the fog of political correctness, knowing fully that will at times bring me at odds with many of my readers.
I look forward to your comments here.
-
Copyright © 2009 www.saltandlightblog.com
Tags
Abortion, Bible, Christian Activism, Christianity, Conservatism, Constitution, Corruption, Culture, Democrats, History, Judiciary, Media, Morality, Patriotism, Politics, Prayer, Republicans, Revival, RINOs, Sin
I read about this the other day, but not the whole article. I agree with you David, which is why I didn’t read the whole Declaration. I too appreciate the different nuances, I guess you could call them, which different Christian denominations bring- but in growing up Episcopalian (Anglican in Canada), knowing so many Catholics (my step daughter is one of many who believe non catholic churches are “fake” churches) and during my first marriage into a strict southern Penticostal/Baptist and now being Southern Baptist- I KNOW there are many differences which would be fighting to promote each view in order to do their duty. The way I compare it, is last year during the national day of prayer, the Name of Jesus was not proclaimed the way He should be, in order not to offend those of other beliefs. It all comes down to compromise- and you know how I feel about that 🙂 In the words of GH Bush, “not gonna do it”. God Bless you David!
David, I believe that God is raising up His people outside of any denominations. It is apparent to me that in the endtimes there will be a one world government and a one world church. I for one does not want to compromise what the Holy Spirit has taught me in the name of being tolerant. It is those of us He is raising up that will be targeted by the likes of those signing this declaration because we refused to join them. The body of Christ has failed this nation, when He said if my people who are called by my name will repent and turn from their wicked ways……..His people! And, His people is this country have sat, silent, to long. We can no longer be afraid to call sin, sin. To many souls need to hear the true gospel. I am very surprised to see Dr. Dobson’s name, as well as others, on this declaration. This nation is at a crossroads and He is going to seperate the goats from His sheep. I look at the political scene and I see weak men and God is raising up a Deborah, a Jael to lead this nation back to it’s roots. I believe people are hungry for God and I can tell you my young brother-in-law and family were led to a small, depressed community in Oregon a year ago, and they have seen large numbers accepting Christ. Christians need to be harvesting, not signing declarations to coddle the world.
Quite astute of Steve Deace to point out that there was no such major outrage about the Bush Administration tolerating homosexuality!