Talking Out Of Turn

I haven’t said anything about the death of the pope this weekend; it seemed wrong to me to allow his death to overshadow that of Terri Schiavo’s, at least on my corner of the web.

A discussion list which I frequent has had quite a lively exchange about how we as Protestants, who believe that the Catholic gospel is a false one (in rejecting justification by faith alone, and by denying solus Christus or “Christ alone” in so many ways in favor of a Marian or saint-oriented faith and a salvation based on works), should respond to this crisis. It is a defining moment in the lives of one-sixth of this world’s population, and the ripple effect will be felt by anybody with any contact, no matter how peripheral, with western civilization. Can we as children of the Reformation say that a Pope was a great man, while affirming that he was both deceived and a deceiver? Is this anything like Time magazine’s “Man of the Year,” which is often not a good man (or woman, or group, or thing, these days), but a great force for change?

With that said, I want to point out two responses that I believe are equally good and complementary:

• James White has written (mostly in a hurried afternoon) Reports on the Pope’s Death, Peace, The Pope to Be an Intercessor, Pat Robertson Lauds the Pope, and Thoughts on the death of John Paul II. All of these are good but short; there is some followup related to discussions that exploded after he wrote these things, too, elsewhere on his website. He promises to discuss this further on his internet radio show tomorrow.
• Al Mohler presents us with John Paul II—The Man and His Legacy, which is a very thoughtful and balanced view of the Biblical, evangelical response.
• Update: Dr. C. Matthew McMahon assures us that the Pope is in hell. And, honestly, I wouldn’t want to trade places with JP2, whether or not it is politic to speak as forthrightly as Dr. McMahon did.