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Monday, July 03, 2006

 

"Evangelical", "Laymen are also priests"

In response to questions raised by micheline_fong on June 27, 2006.
 
Yes, the Pentecostals are consistently the fastest growing Christian group in the entire 20th century.  They attracted a lot of Christians from "mainline" denominations too.
 
The term "Evangelicals" is also used by European Protestants who do not want to call themselves "Protestants". 
 
We Catholics need not be afraid or feel shy to call ourselves "evangelicals" or "evangelical Catholics" or "Catholic Evangelicals".  Don't give way to the Protestants as if they alone have monopolistic ownership over terms like "Christian", "Evangelicals", "Biblical", "Born-Again", "Saved", etc.
 
For different shades of the meaning of the word "Evangelical", check out:
 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelicalism (Rich in content on this topic)
 
The term "Reformed" refers to the Christian tradition associated with or inherited from John Calvin, the 17th-Century Protestant Reformer.
 
"Lay people are also priests".  This biblical belief is also taught by the Catholic Church, and is founded on 1 Peter 2:5,9:
 
"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood...But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people".
 
This refers to the "universal priesthood" wherein all Christians are members of, as distinct from the "ministerial priesthood" belonging only to the clergy.  1 Peter 2:5,9 is a reference to the Old Testament "universal priesthood" found in Exo 19:6: 

"And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."

Read the Catechism: 
 
Click Picture
 
http://www.elearningstreams.com
 
Free Access To A Video Seminar By Brian Tracy For Weekend Listening And Relaxation:
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 4:56 PM
Subject: [catholicACT] ACT talks

Hi,

I attended the talk last Fri on "Understanding Our Separated
Brethren". For future talks, can the Pentecostal churches be
included too? I think they're pretty important since some of the
most active churches in S'pore are Pentecostal (City Harvest, New
Creation, FCBC etc). I think more people are converting to these
churches than the mainline ones.

Of course this will make the talk longer, but maybe you could have a
part 2 the following week.

I'm sorry I couldn't stay for the whole talk but I have 2 questions
to ask :

1. Still not very clear on what an "Evangelical" church is. From
what Jason said it seems it's a church that is not mainline, like
Baptist. But I think that there are Anglican churches that are
Evangelical (such as in Thomas Howard's book "Evangelical is not
enough"). Isn't the Anglican church considered a mainline church? Is
there a better definition? "Not mainline" can be anything. Do they
have a particular theology? I've been trying to find out for ages.
I've read conversion stories where the author says,"I knew I was
looking for a church that is both evangelical and Reformed..." but
have no idea what that means.

2. What does it mean when one says that lay people are also priests?

God bless

Micheline


# posted by Matthew Tan Yew Hock @ 2:59 AM
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