Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Something Baptists & Catholics agree about



Baptists and Catholics have our differences, but one thing we agreed about is the sanctity of human life. This past Sunday afternoon I stood with Catholic and Baptist Christians for an hour in front of our church in a "Life Chain." That's me holding the sign that says "Jesus forgives & heals" and the man in the red shirt with the sign "Pray to end abortion" is Allen Bazemore, organizer from St. Boniface Catholic Church.

Our church is along Highway 21, a very busy four-lane highway. Traffic tended to slow down respectfully, and quite a few people waved, gave us thumbs up, and honked, although at least one person gave us a thumbs down (which is better than a Life Chain I was in a couple of years ago, when I got a different finger than the thumb).

Our purpose was to make an impact and get the attention of people, especially a young person who might be considering an abortion. It was also great to cooperate with other Christians in the effort.

Read the article about the event from the Effingham Herald here.

3 comments:

Bloodiest of Ladies said...

I'm glad things went well, and you didn't recieve anymore rude appendages. :)

Mark said...

Bob,

While I can appreciate you standing with other Christians on this issue it looks like it was just your church and Roman Catholics. Actually, like it was organized by RCs. Would you call the Roman Catholic church a Christian church?

What do you consider the biggest difference between Catholics and Protestants?

Thanks,
Mark

Dr. Bob Rogers said...

Mr. Bazemore, who goes to St. Boniface Catholic Church, called me and asked if we could have the Life Chain in front of our church. I got the event permit from the city. We invited other churches, and we had representatives from two or three other churches who participated, including Lutherans and members of the Church of God, but most of the participants were Catholic and Baptist.
Yes, I would call the Roman Catholic Church a Christian church. They believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Do I agree with Catholics? Clearly I disagree in many ways, as you can read my earlier blog criticism of Mother Teresa's and other Catholic views that tend toward universalism.
What do I consider the biggest difference between Catholics and Protestants? I would consider the biggest differences to be our view of authority and our view of salvation. Catholics tend to see their authority for truth as coming from the church's interpretation of the Bible and church tradition, while Protestants believe it comes directly from the Bible. Catholics believe in salvation by the death of Christ on the cross, but they have a great emphasis on sacraments, signs of grace, as being given to the believer by the church, and a necessity for good works, whereas Protestants believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and cannot be given by the church.
Despite all of these differences, we can stand together with Catholics to say that we oppose abortion. That was the sole purpose of our participation in the Life Chain, and I was glad to do it and would do it again.