A Baptist Knocking At My Door

On the afternoon of July 21, as I was reading the book, A Severe Mercy, three young Baptist missionaries came knocking on my door. There were two boys and one girl. The older boy, who is in college, did all of the talking. The other two were silent. They were going door-to-door inviting people to come to a dinner and a movie at some small non-denominational community in Steubenville.

I asked them besides inviting people to dinner, why were they here in Steubenville. The older boy, Matthew (name changed), said to me that they were here to investigate the spiritual formation of Steubenville. I was taken back a bit and sort of chuckled and replied by saying, "Do you have any idea where you are?" Matthew said no. I went on to tell him that Steubenville is home to Franciscan University of Steubenville. It's one of the most orthodox and passionate Catholic universities in the country and maybe even the world. He picked up on the word catholic and informed me that he has "catholic" friends at school, but they don't seem to know what Catholicism teaches. I said well you have come to the right door. I am working on a Masters in Theology from Franciscan. I would enjoy informing you on what the Catholic Church teaches, but that I had to get back to reading my book for class.

Instead of just saying okay, the next question out of his mouth was, "Do you think you are saved?" I thought to myself okay we can talk for a bit. Once I began to engage him he automatically began to quote different scriptures to me. He was jumping from scripture to scripture and not really making much sense at all. I should have gone and got my bible, but since I was so involved in my book, I chose not to get it. We spoke about the scriptures a bit, sacred tradition, and some other topics. He told me that the Catholic Church's view on history has been skewed and is not correct. I found this humorous since many Protestants leave off at St. Paul and pick up again at Martin Luther. They clearly leave out 1500 years of Christian history. Realizing that he is young, I let it go...for now.

His interpretation of scripture was incorrect and he was constantly on the defensive. He thinks that the "Word of God" is only the Scriptures. I informed him that the "Word of God" is both the written word (scriptures) and oral (tradition). I asked him where in the scriptures does it say, sola scriptura - scriptures alone, he kept on referring to the Word of God. He then catapulted into sola fide - faith alone. After that, he then jumped from that subject and asked me, "When you stand before God Almighty, what will you tell him so he lets you into heaven?" He was really all over the place the whole time.

After we danced a bit on a variety of subjects, I asked him to give me his email so I could write him when I was finished with my class. Matthew gave me his email and they left my porch.

A Baptist Knocking At My Door -To Be Continued...