{"id":70,"date":"2002-08-29T21:15:29","date_gmt":"2002-08-30T05:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/archives\/2002\/08\/29\/a-pentecostal-and-a-catholic-discuss-the-essence-of-christianity\/"},"modified":"2009-06-28T12:38:12","modified_gmt":"2009-06-28T20:38:12","slug":"a-pentecostal-and-a-catholic-discuss-the-essence-of-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2002\/08\/29\/a-pentecostal-and-a-catholic-discuss-the-essence-of-christianity","title":{"rendered":"A Pentecostal and a Catholic Discuss the Essence of Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been meaning to mention for a while now that I\u2019ve started a blog conversation with Sean Gallagher<\/a> (a Catholic who runs a blog title Note Bene<\/i>) about the reason Petencostal missionaries seem to target Catholics.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the rundown so far: it all began when I read Sean\u2019s August 24th post about Pentecostal proselytism<\/a>. I made a comment on that posting explaining my point of view.<\/p>\n

As a Pentecostal missionary (albeit to Stanford and not Latin America), I\u2019d like to comment. <\/i><\/p>\n

Some people who attend Catholic churches are followers of Jesus, and some are not. My strong impression is that here in the Americas the majority are not. <\/p>\n

By way of disclaimer, I would like to add my belief that the same problem exists in most denominations (including mine): too many people are involved because of momentum and not because of faith. I do think the problem is particularly acute in the RCC. <\/p>\n

That being said, I never deliberately seek to proselytize people who are faithful adherents of another Christian tradition. In general, if a student tells me they are a Christian I believe them, and I try to help them grow in their faith. If I am of significant help to them, they often wind up switching their adherence. <\/p>\n

However, when I meet someone without a vibrant faith (such as the infamous Easter and Christmas only crowd), I try to help them either reawaken a faith grown cold or discover true faith for the first time. Whenever that happens, they almost always switch their adherence. This is what I believe is happening in South America. <\/p>\n

The switch has two roots, I think: one is an emotional intuition that what\u2019s working for us might work for them since we were so helpful to them, the other is that we express significantly different doctrinal positions from the RCC that if believed make a switch virtually inevitable.<\/p>\n

He thought that what I said was pretty interesting<\/a>, and brought it to the attention of his readers. Shortly thereafter, he posted a series of questions for me answer<\/a> <\/p>\n

divx pearl harbor<\/a><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

I answered his questions via email, but for your convenience, here they are:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll answer your questions as best I can, just remember that I\u2019m not a spokesperson for my denomination<\/a> (much less for all of Pentecostalism)\u2026 I come from the strand of Pentecostalism that values other traditions without compromising the integrity of my own (much like the founders of the Society for Pentecostal Studies<\/a>).<\/i><\/p>\n

First, what is a follower of Jesus?<\/b> I should state for the record that I am using this term synonymously with Christian. The authors of the New Testament seem to have been incapable of conceiving of a Christian who was not actively seeking to emulate Jesus. Jesus\u2019 call was (and is) to \u201ccome, follow me.\u201d In fact the very label Christian refers to the concept of \u2018little Christs.\u2019 Having said that, I would define a follower of Jesus as someone who has embraced the teachings and example of Jesus as the foundation of their lives and has brought their lives under the influence of the God (become citizens of the Kingdom). The classic word for this action is repent: to turn from a self-directed life to a God-directed life.<\/p>\n

Second, defining a faithful adherent is always tricky.<\/b> I mean both faithful (consistent participant in a local community of Christian faith) and faith-full (conforms to the definition above). Allow me to demonstrate by way of counterexample what I\u2019m getting at: <\/p>\n

* Suppose that I\u2019m in conversation with a student and they discover that I\u2019m an ambassador for Christ. They make some sort of comment along the following lines, \u201cYeah, I was raised in church, but I just don\u2019t find it meaningful. I stopped going when I was a teenager.\u201d In my mind, they flunk both tests\u2013they need to be introduced to the King and enrolled in a local community of like-minded believers. <\/p>\n

* Suppose that I meet a student who says, \u201cYeah, I love going to church\u2013that\u2019s where all the cute girls go!\u201d (and upon investigation I discover that they really are that shallow). They pass the consistency test but fail the follower of Jesus test. <\/p>\n

* Suppose that I meet a student who says, \u201cYeah\u2013I really admire Jesus. But I hate the church\u2013they\u2019ve really let me down. I\u2019ll never set foot in a church again!\u201d Perhaps they pass test #2 (further investigation is needed), but they fail test #1. <\/p>\n

I would consider all these people in desperate need of God\u2019s grace expressed through human love in the context of a community earnestly following Jesus. Please note that I never mentioned a specific denominational background for any of them\u2013it\u2019s irrelevant to these examples.<\/p>\n

Third, how would I as a Pentecostal help a Catholic grow in their faith?<\/b> That\u2019s an excellent question! Basically I do it the same way I help anyone to grow in their faith: love them unconditionally, pray for them consistently, encourage them in righteousness, and rebuke them in sin. Teach them the lessons of Scripture (I should note that my interpretation of Scripture differs from the Catholic understanding at points. I obviously teach what I believe to be true). Give reasonable answers to honest questions. In addition, here are a few other actions I\u2019d take with someone from a churched background: <\/p>\n

* I\u2019ve noticed that many college-aged people engage in liturgy by rote and fail to understand its significance (confirmation notwithstanding). I\u2019d try to help them see it with fresh eyes: as a heartfelt expression of worship and devotion to God. I\u2019d probably also give them a copy of something like Peter Kreeft\u2019s One Catholic to Another.<\/p>\n

* I\u2019ve also noticed that many students raised in church (of whatever tradition) have a very juvenile understanding of faith\u2013their religious education stalled at a junior high level and they\u2019ve never probed their faith at an age-appropriate level. Incidentally, I think that\u2019s one of the reasons so many college students bail on the church. They\u2019re trying to incorporate irreconcilable worldviews in their minds: one a 7th-grade understanding of the good news and the other a college-level understanding of secular philosophy. Guess which one wins? To that end, I\u2019d try to help students reframe their questions and seek answers in a more sophisticated manner. <\/p>\n

* Another high priority on my list is to help students experience the immediate supernatural power of the Holy Spirit (including the charismata). The Bible portrays charismatic Christianity as the normative model for followers of Jesus. We are to exhibit not only the fruit of the Spirit but also the gifts of the Spirit.<\/p>\n

Fourth, I think I\u2019ve addressed this question in my response to questions one and two. A vibrant faith is a combination of belief and trust that makes a difference in one\u2019s day-to-day opinions, feelings, and behavior.<\/b> <\/p>\n

I hope I\u2019ve answered your questions meaningfully. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll have some comments in response.
\n<\/p>\n

So far he\u2019s posted his reponse<\/a> to my answer to his first question: What Defines a Follower of Jesus? I\u2019ll try to respond as soon as I can (although my in-laws are visiting<\/a> and that will make computer time harder to come by).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In which I talk with a Catholic about the nature of Christianity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-of-random-interest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-18","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1857,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/1857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}