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Posted by barrykind (Member # 35) on :

Baptist Leader Rips Evangelical 'Truce' Between Catholics, Jews

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matthew 28: 18-20)

By Jim Brown
August 22, 2002

(AgapePress) - A Southern Baptist leader says a recent declaration from U.S. Roman Catholic bishops affirming that Jews should not be targeted for conversion to Christianity betrays an undeniable loss of biblical authority.

Jim Sibley is coordinator of Jewish Ministries for the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board. Sibley says things went from bad to worse when the Roman Catholic Church replaced "replacement theology" with "dual-covenant theology" -- which says that Jewish people are saved by virtue of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12), and thus do not need Jesus to be saved.

Sibley says "there can be no more extreme form of anti-Semitism" than the Catholic position.

"If the gospel is the means of establishing a personal relationship with God, of finding forgiveness for sin, a new way of life now, and eternal life to come, then to withhold that good news from the Jewish people would be the most hateful thing that could be done," he says.

The joint statement released August 12 stated the following: "A deepening Catholic appreciation of the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people, together with a recognition of a divinely-given mission to Jews to witness to God's faithful love, lead to the conclusion that campaigns that target Jews for conversion to Christianity are no longer theologically acceptable in the Catholic Church."

Jim Sibley says the bishops' stance indicates they lack a true understanding of salvation.

"On this particular issue, I don't know how they can stray from the Great Commission without also straying from the gospel itself," he says. "But I think the tragedy and the thing that confuses many is that they are leaders in a church and claim to be Christians -- and yet, in all likelihood, have never known the saving grace of our Lord."

Sibley says every born-again believer should react against the statement from the Catholic bishops -- and he calls the ongoing dialogue between Catholic and Jewish leaders just another step toward the coming "world church" prophesied in the Bible.

See Baptist Press story on this issue

See Earlier AgapePress story on this issue

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