The Church
Ecumenism…Mission Impossible

Is rapprochement possible between the Roman Catholic Church [RCC] and evangelical churches? Carolyn Nystrom and Mark Noll in their book Is the Reformation Over, attempts to draw some sort of symmetry between the RCC and evangelicals. Carl Trueman of Westminster Seminary sees that as a flaw in the book. He claims there is no symmetry:

…at the outset, we have an institutional church, with clearly defined authority structures, creeds and an identifiable history—in other words, a self conscious identity—being discussed in relation to a movement which lacks all of these things and is really only unified by a somewhat nebulous and ill-defined field of family resemblances—and family resemblances which have, over the years, become increasingly vague.
[His full review can be read at http://www.reformation21.org/ ]

To Trueman, it is a categorical error to assume that the RCC with a clear place to stand can find common ground with evangelicals who cannot agree where to stand.

Trueman believes whether the Reformation is over is the wrong question. The more important question is: Why does the collection of churches calling themselves evangelical “not possess a thorough, clear and God centered account of our faith as the Catechism offers to Roman Catholics?” He suggests a simple straightforward answer:

…one cannot abandon elaborate theology as a point in principle in order to build a trans-enominational movement then hope to produce something akin to the Catholic Catechism which, by definition, requires an elaborate theology to express; it simple cannot be done.

This failure of theology in the contemporary evangelical church was thoroughly analyzed and critiqued in David Well’s No Place For Truth which sent shockwaves through the evangelical world.

The contemporary evangelical mishmash of churches have no cohesive theological beliefs that provide a foundation for faith. Thank goodness for the confessing churches that have enunciated what they believe. But for the most part, those churches with “no creed but the Bible” have a difficult time knowing what they believe and why. What the Bible teaches us about God, us, what He has done and what is expected of those who belong to Him requires an understanding, sometimes called a Christian worldview, which permits Christians to be in the world but not of the world. Right living begins with right belief that transforms us to be more like Christ. Not knowing what you believe and how to apply it where we are is the primary reason that professing Christian behavior is like pagan behavior in this world.

And, for those who say, “I’m not into doctrine, I just love Jesus”, that is itself a doctrinal statement. Who is Jesus? Why did He come? Where is He now? How does He relate to us? How do we come to know and love Him? What does it mean to love Him? These are questions that must be answered based on that simple statement. And, that requires a cohesive and clear set of beliefs known as doctrine. In his discussion of the “mystery of lawlessness [that] is already at work”, Paul says those who perish “refused to love the truth and be saved” [2Thess. 2:10] and God sends strong delusions to those who will be condemned “who did not believe the truth” [2 Thess. 2:12].

Paul teaches that loving, believing and knowing the truth is tied to salvation. What do you believe and why do you believe it? A very good question for every church and believer to ask as this New Year begins. Living the Christian life depends on it.