A La Carte (02/14)

  • Tim Challies
  • 02/14/06
  • 1

Tuesday February 14, 2006

Theology: John Divito has finished a series on “Free Grace or Lordship Salvation?” You can find the series index here.

Politics: Dennis Swanson (who is in the enviable position of being Librarian at The Master’s Seminary), is writing a series on the Evangelical Climate Initiative. You can read it here.

Celebrities: Fox has an interesting article detailing the private chapel Mel Gibson build with the proceeds from The Passion of the Christ. “Mel Gibson made so much money from "The Passion of the Christ" that he's now putting it where his mouth is, so to speak. He's continuing to build a religious compound in Malibu for Catholics who reject Vatican II, and is implicitly endorsing his controversial father's beliefs by helping him launch a similar church in Pennsylvania.”

Islam: Rick Pearcey posts an article by Prabhu Guptara in which the author writes that the Koran does not forbid images of the Muhammad.” He then asks, “What's really going on?” “The matter has to do primarily with the need for Muslim fundamentalists to mobilize and motivate the Muslim masses in relation to their cause. And if they don't find Danish cartoonists and newspapermen to use for this purpose, it is clear that they will find something else to do so.”

Comments (1)

1
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Joel • 02/14 @ 7:45pm
› visit my web site.

I wonder what Mel will do if Papa Ratzi makes good on his talks with the SSPX. There’s talk that the pope may reinstate the Latin Mass (it’s an option now, but there are restrictions on it), which seems to be the cruz of Gibson’s beef with the Church. I get the feeling that he’s not the Sedevacantist his father is, although I’m having trouble pinning down his actual affiliation. He doesn’t seem to be SSPX, but he’s distanced himself from his loony-toon dad’s Sedevacantism.

The difference between the two is that the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) is only formally in schism (their ordinations having been illicit because their leader was excommuincated), but they still acknowldge the pope’s authority. All they have to do is repent and submit, which isn’t at all unlikely with Benedict at the helm. The Sedevacantists, as the name suggests, claim that the election of John XXIII in 1958 was invalid (and by extension, the four popes elected after him) and so he had no authority to convene Vatican II. (Or the other way round; it’s hard to follow the rantings.) As I say, I’m not sure which category Gibson fils falls into.