First let me start by thanking everyone who posted a comment on my last entry. It was very encouraging to me.

There's been a bit of hubbub about what the Pope said the other day concerning the Catholic church and the other different churches, as i'm sure most of you know. To paraphrase what was written in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pope's reason for saying that was because the "other churches" cannot trace their leadership back to the apostles. Now i've been thinking about something regarding the gospel--specicically, what kind of people the gospel is for. "Adoption" is a very New Testement thing. Adoption in this case refers to the idea that Christ came for all, not just one group of people. John 3:16 uses the word "world" to convey a sense of this. I dont know what the greek word is, but i've read in a few books that it connotates a sort of non-ethnic, non-lineage idea. Thus, the gospel is for all, not just a certain group. Correspondingly, i dont see how it's a problem for church leaders to be unrelated to the apostles. The fact that church leaders are from all different parts of the world (if anything) lends credibility to the message of the gospel.

Finally, i'll be out of town for a bit, so i wont be able to post any updates, nor send out a thank you letter if you send support to me. I will get letters out immediately upon my return.