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Inside File Vatican II vs. Bob III

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Ray O’Hanlon

Bob Jones III doesn’t confine his defense of his pal the Rev. Ian Paisley to simple polemics. In his letter to Rep. Peter King, Jones, president of Bob Jones University, also delves into the tricky waters of comparative theology.

"With regard to Dr. Paisley’s religious views, he is in the line of the Protestant reformers and says nothing more or less about the system of Roman Catholicism than the Bible maintains. Revelation Chapter 17 and the historic doctrinal documents of Protestantism all state clearly the views which Dr.. Paisley enunciates. He preaches no new thing. The Presbyterian Confession of Faith and the Baptist Confession of Faith confirm this. He does not hate any individual Roman Catholic, as his works and writings testify. But he does reject the papacy which has the audacity to claim that all men must submit for salvation to the Church of Rome, outside of which, they maintain, there is no salvation. Surely, such teaching needs to be condemned. He has no apology for what the Bible says about Rome in Revelation Chapter 17."

"IF," being a simple soul and all, had to run off in search of Rome’s word on the matter of salvation. Ol’ Bob’s notion that only Catholics could be saved sounded rather outdated. Equally, his view of Revelation Chapter 17 sounded a bit off. There is no mention of Rome at all in its lines, but it does make for uneasy reading. It’s really all a matter of interpretation.

Anyway, back to salvation. "IF" reached into the Libreria Editrice Vaticana to see what the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" says about this ultimate religious issue.

Sure enough, the catechism states that the church is necessary for salvation. But the point is not made as bluntly as Bob Jones and his pal Big Ian would have us all believe. The line taken is that if you know for sure that the Catholic Church is the way to salvation and knowingly reject the church despite this, then you can’t be saved.

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But that’s not the end of the matter. The text continues: "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience — those too may achieve eternal salvation."

"The dictates of their conscience." Sounds rather, well, Protestant. Some might take the view that this also sounds rather condescending, but the text, drawn up by Vatican II, nevertheless makes it clear that heaven will be a diverse place. Guess ol’ Bob might be saved no matter how much mud he throws, sincerely and in good conscience of course, at the much maligned Eternal City. Memo to Bob: Before you get saved, get a life!

Mean Mets

There they go again. The New York Mets have hiked prices again for seats at the shambles called Shea Stadium. For the third season in a row, Mets management has jacked up the average ticket price at Shea in excess of 20 percent. This year’s rise is 22 percent. All things considered, the Jeanie Johnston people were probably lucky to get as much as $855 for that Irish Night in ’98.

Atomic pigeons

What do you call a radioactive pigeon? Coo-ked. "IF" was running for the nearest bunker after reading the recent New York Times report on plans afoot for British Nuclear Fuels to get stuck into the problem of atomic waste strewn across the U.S. from sea to, eh, glowing sea.

BNFL is responsible, of course, for Sellafield, that leaking nuclear tub in northwest England that happens to spill its radioactive guts daily into the poor beleaguered Irish Sea. The Times report raised all kinds of warning flags, not least the fact that Sellafield, formerly Windscale, is such a mess that not even the Cumbrian pigeons are safe in its vicinity. Studies have revealed that the poor creatures are less the picture of radiant avian health than quite simply radioactive. Heavens adove!

Pete speaks

Apart from mixing it up with Bob Jones, Rep. Pete King has been keeping his own counsel, more or less, since his man John McCain’s presidential campaign went into suspension. King was in Ireland last weekend for the Sinn Féin ard fheis, but before flying east he took a moment to reflect on George W. Bush, the GOP presidential candidate and the man he parted ways with in favor of McCain.

"I hope he [Bush] will continue Clinton’s policies on Ireland or at least not go against them," King told "IF." "Apart from his statement on Ireland just before the New York primary, there hasn’t been very much. I would hate to think that people from his father’s administration will end up advising him. It’s possible he’ll be OK, but right now we don’t know."

Clearly, not every bandwagon rolling around is to King’s particular liking, but if "W" ends of as prez, the Long Island congressman’s ability to influence a Bush administration’s attitude to Ireland could be crucial. But that will mean a kissy-kissy makey-up between Pistol Pete from Long Star Island and Gunslinger George from the Lone Star State. Ugh icky!

Slippery hazard

And speaking of icky. More news of Vertigo Anguistor, that rare species of snail that calls the duned shoreline of County Clare its home. Readers will recall that a proposed golf course scheme for Doonbeg — with none other than former Sen. George Mitchell to the, eh, fore — has been held up over concerns that the rare snail might get bopped on the head by balls and squished under numerous golf shoes in the event of a large chunk of oceanfront being turned into an 18-hole course with holiday homes and a leisure center just to keep everyone happy after dark.

Hearings are being held on the standoff in the Dublin High Court. According to the Irish Times, environmental scientist and "conchologist," Evelyn Moorkens, told the court that the Vertigo Anguistors would have a better life of it in a well-managed golf course than they would if the area was used for cattle grazing. And so the case proceeds. Whether the snails will have to squeeze deeper into their shells when they hear "fore" or "moo" remains to be seen. "IF" is, um, sticking to this story like ooze.

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