Romish Theology: Advocate an Imperfect Atonement

"According to Romish theology, all past sins both as respects their eternal and temporal punishment are blotted out in baptism and also the eternal punishment of the future sins of the faithful. But for the temporal punishment of post-baptismal sins the faithful must make satisfaction either in this life or in purgatory. In opposition to every such notion of human satisfaction Protestants rightly contend that the satisfaction of Christ is the only satisfaction for sin and is so perfect and final that it leaves no penal liability for any sin of the believer" (John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 51).

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We live in strange times. Belief in purgatory within Protestantism is currently on the rise, see Christianity Today's guest column - "Purgatory is Hope" - by Kevin Timpe. The column begins:

A recent study suggests that belief in purgatory among Catholics in the United States is on the decline. But there is also reason for thinking that belief in purgatory is on the rise among Protestants. My own attraction to the doctrine comes primarily from the work of a Wesleyan philosopher, Jerry Walls. While Walls' Hell: The Logic of Damnation (Notre Dame, 1992) is one of numerous extended philosophical treatments of hell, his Heaven: The Logic of Eternal Joy (Oxford, 2002) is a rare book-length treatment of the philosophical issues surrounding heaven. Heaven also contains a chapter providing the best philosophical defense of purgatory that I'm aware of. Walls there argues that the Christian doctrine of "salvation must involve changing us to love God as we ought [for] the aim of salvation is to make us holy, and this is what fits us for heaven." Walls completed his trilogy with Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation (Oxford, 2011). It is dedicated to defending the doctrine of purgatory "as a rational theological inference from other important biblical and theological commitments … for those who take seriously the role of human freedom in salvation."

 Wesleyan-Arminian theology and Romish theology are kissing cousins: both advocate an imperfect atonement. Since their understanding of the atonement is not fully biblical, so too inferred doctrines, e.g. purgatory, human participation in salvation, etc., are not fully biblical.

First Native American Saint: Witness

You can go to USA Today to read an AP article about Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint. Kateri was beatified by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 10/21/2012.

The article covers in detail that her canonization has sparked both skepticism and pride. On the one hand, "Traditional Mohawks" worry that "Kateri's sainthood could be used as a way to encourage Native Americans to eschew their ancestral values for Catholic dogma," but on the other hand, the article also cites that many don't think her sainthood is a contentious issue.

It will be interesting to see how this skepticism/pride develop in the upcoming years. I'm not Roman so I don't have a clue what is coming down the sainthood pipeline, but I would imagine that other Native Americans are slated to be beatified, canonized, et cetera by Rome in the upcoming century. I don't know the vesting particulars for someone to officially be recognized as a saint, but if the matriculation process has concluded for at least one Native American saint, then my assumption is that other Native Americans can't be very far behind. Take that with a grain of salt, it being an ill-informed assumption by an outsider of Roman Catholicism.

What I do know is this. "Traditional Mohawks" should be worried. Jesus Christ is Lord, contra the traditional-religious-mythological views of the Mohawk/Iroquois League of Nations.

Traditional Mohawks should be worried, the Lord probably will use Rome's sainthooding of Kateri to draw additional Mohawks to himself. God does, after all, use means, and church history is full of conversion stories attesting that God used godly Christians as means by which sinners were exposed to and heard the Gospel, repented and were drawn unto Christ the Redeemer (e.g., God used Saint Ambrose's ministry to prepare Augustine for conversion).

Kateri is a witness to non-Christian Mohawks, other non-Christian Native Americans, and non-Christian Americans alike. Kateri is a witness that all of them need to to stop their foolish raging (Psalm 2:1), repent of their sins, and "Kiss the Son" and put their trust in Jesus Christ (Psalm 2:12).

Popish Mass

Question 80 from The Heidelberg Catechism: "What difference is there between the Lord's supper and the popish mass? Answer: The Lord's supper testifies to us, that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself has once accomplished on the cross; and, that we by the Holy Ghost are ingrafted into Christ, who, according to his human nature is now not on earth, but in heaven, at the right hand of God his Father, and will there be worshipped by us. But the mass teaches, that the living and dead have not the pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests; and further, that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and therefore is to be worshipped in them; so that the mass, at bottom, is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry."

Travel here to read an article about the University Chorale from my alma mater, who sang last year at a Wednesday evening Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Unsettling, that.