that they may all be one (Jn 17:21).
That's a Catholic prooftext I've discussed a more than one occasion. Some additional observations:
i) Catholics mentally translate this into a prayer that all Christians be (or become) Roman Catholic. But on the Catholic construal, not only has Christ's prayer gone unanswered for 2000 years, Catholicism has lost ground over time. For instance, Europe, Quebec, Great Britain, Latin America, and the USA are far less Catholic than they used to be.
ii) Furthermore, what hinders the Father from granting the Son's request? If it is God's wish that every Christian be Roman Catholic, God could greatly facilitate his wish by providing unmistakable evidence for Roman Catholicism in Scripture and church history. Instead of Catholic apologists laboring to piece together a case for Roman Catholicism from isolated prooftexts and quote-mining church fathers, God could have inspired the Bible to make very explicit statements about Roman Catholic theology, to establish a Roman monarchal episcopate from the get-go, and to give Roman Catholicism a monopoly on miracles.
I grew up as a "good Catholic" boy, arguing for Roman Catholicism with my Protestant friends. I was quite shocked to read the New Testament and to find that there really was nothing like Roman Catholicism in there. Roman Catholics will make the case that the language of "the Mass" is virtually all taken from the New Testament, but the verses that are used are taken so far out of context as to be unrecognizable.
ReplyDelete