Denominational affiliation should not be based upon personal preferences, but upon sustained biblical arguments and convictions. One should not attend a church merely because they enjoy a particular mode or expression of worship. Instead, individuals ought to attend a particular church because they are convinced the doctrines that church teaches are explicitly taught in Scripture.
Today there seems to be a growing trend among younger evangelicals to commit themselves to more liturgical forms of worship (e.g., Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy). Specifically, there is a growing trend among Protestant apologists to embrace Roman Catholicism because of its liturgical expressions, history, tradition, academic respectability, and so forth. Consequently, many of those same people leave Protestantism because they believe its doctrine of Scripture is inadequate (i.e., they no longer, if they ever really did, embrace the Protestant doctrine Sola Scriptura) and the Protestant concept of canonicity.
This trend raises the question:
How should confessional Protestant apologists respond to individuals, specifically those who claim to be Protestant Christian apologists, who are embracing Roman Catholicism (and in the eliptical sense, Eastern Orthodoxy and select versions of Anglicanism)?
To answer this question, I provide a short list of articles and links by Greg Bahnsen, who was one of the 20th Century’s foremost Reformed and Protestant Christian apologists and theologians. Bahnsen was troubled to the core of his being over the issue of Protestants swimming the Tiber towards Rome. Therefore, he offered a full and complete response to the topic of Protestant conversions to Roman Catholicism.
Specifically, I provide articles from Bahnsen addressing the two big issues presented by Protestant converts to Roman Catholicism: Sola Scriptura and the Concept of Canonicity.
Bahnsen also addressed the latent trend towards ecumenicism between Protestants and Roman Catholics during his day. In many respects, these latent trends are now explicit manifestations in our day (e.g., Evangelicals and Catholics Together—ECT and The Manhattan Declaration).
Here’s a list of articles and videos by Greg Bahnsen discussing these very issues between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
It is my prayer these articles and videos will equp Protestants to convictionally remain Protestant. Let us not swim the Tiber, nor float around somewhere in the middle of the Tiber. Instead, let us plant our feet firmly upon the Protestant Solas.
NOTE: This list will continue to grow as I continue to find more articles by Greg Bahnsen. If you know of more online articles, please contact me and I will update this short post.
Articles:
- Is Sola Scriptura a Protestant Concoction? A Biblical Defense of Sola Scriptura
- Bahnsen Debates Sola Scriptura
- The Concept and Importance of Canonicity
Videos:
williamroach.org 