Hard-core Southern Baptist Seminary President moves towards the Church's position on contraception

One of the Southern Batists' most articulate leaders is moving Romeward. In his friday radio call- in show, Dr. Mohler pays particular honor to Humanae Vitae and its insight. Dr. Mohler, the president of Southern Theological Seminary in Louisville, noted that in two instances, i.e. abortion, and 'the pill' it was Rome who first 'manned the barricades' while evangelicals initially sat on their hands to keep from getting involved in a 'Catholic issue'...

http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2009-08-14

the following is an excerpt of Mohler's 2007 response to Dominus Iesus, the Church's reiteration of the doctrine that there is no salvation outside of the Church. He clearly likes the document.....

>>>>Aren’t you offended? That is the question many Evangelicals are being asked in the wake of a recent document released by the Vatican. The document declares that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church — or, in words the Vatican would prefer to use, the only institutional form in which the Church of Christ subsists. ...


No, I am not offended. In the first place, I am not offended because this is not an issue in which emotion should play a key role. This is a theological question, and our response should be theological, not emotional. Secondly, I am not offended because I am not surprised. No one familiar with the statements of the Roman Catholic Magisterium should be surprised by this development. This is not news in any genuine sense. It is news only in the current context of Vatican statements and ecumenical relations. Thirdly, I am not offended because this new document actually brings attention to the crucial issues of ecclesiology, and thus it presents us with an opportunity. ...


The Vatican document is very brief — just a few paragraphs in fact. Its official title is “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church,” and it was released by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on June 29 of this year. Though many media sources have identified the document as a papal statement from Pope Benedict XVI, it is actually a statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that was later approved for release by the Pope (who, as Cardinal Ratzinger, headed this Congregation prior to assuming the papacy).
The document claims a unique legitimacy for the Roman Catholic Church as the church established by Christ. The document stakes this identity on a claim to apostolic succession, centered in the papacy itself. As the document states, “This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him.” ...


Lest anyone miss the point, the document then goes on to acknowledge that the churches of Eastern Orthodoxy also stake a claim to apostolic succession, and thus they are referred to as “Churches” by the Vatican. As for the churches born in whatever form out of the Reformation — they are not true churches at all, only “ecclesial communities.”[...]
Evangelicals should appreciate the candor reflected in this document. There is no effort here to confuse the issues. To the contrary, the document is an obvious attempt to set the record straight. The Roman Catholic Church does not deny that Christ is working redemptively through Protestant and evangelical churches, but it does deny that these churches which deny the authority of the papacy are true churches in the most important sense. The true church, in other words, is that church identified through the recognition of the papacy. Those churches that deny or fail to recognize the papacy are “ecclesial Communities,” not churches “in the proper sense.”
I appreciate the document’s clarity on this issue. It all comes down to this — the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the Pope as the universal monarch of the church is the defining issue. Roman Catholics and Evangelicals should together recognize the importance of that claim. We should together realize and admit that this is an issue worthy of division. The Roman Catholic Church is willing to go so far as to assert that any church that denies the papacy is no true church. Evangelicals should be equally candid in asserting that any church defined by the claims of the papacy is no true church. This is not a theological game for children, it is the honest recognition of the importance of the question.[...]
I actually appreciate the Pope’s concern. If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Of course, I am convinced that he is not right — not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right on the church.....


The Roman Catholic Church believes we are in spiritual danger for obstinately and disobediently excluding ourselves from submission to its universal claims and its papacy. Evangelicals should be concerned that Catholics are in spiritual danger for their submission to these very claims. We both understand what is at stake.[...entire article...]- Source: No, I’m Not Offended, Albert Mohler, July 13, 2007, at http://www.albertmohler.com/. Links added by Apologetics Index. <<<

I will try to improve this post later on..... What is noteworthy is Dr. Mohler's willingness to simply state the truth as he sees it and let pieces fall....

I would like to think that with this attitude, Dr. Mohler, were he ever to convert, would be quite willing to jettison the excess baggage that some of our more recent convert 'super stars' have insisted on stuffing into their overhead compartments.

pray for him

pray for k.c.

k.c.