Fiery fundamentalist anti-Catholic preacher Ian Paisley has softened in recent years. He said some time ago that he ‘loves Catholics.’ He has compromised to share power with his former enemies in Northern Ireland and here he says that he preaches about St Patrick every year and thinks St Patrick’s Day would be a good public holiday for all of Ireland.
Paisley was good friends with the late Bob Jones Jr. and used to preach at BJU every year when I was there. He was a strong character, an excellent preacher and a man of integrity despite the error of his theology and inflammatory political views.
It’s good to see that he is softening his opinion about Catholics.
… although his view of Catholicism leaves a little to be desired. I saw him interviewed on a political chat show last weekend. He is a transcript of what he was asked:ANDREW MARR: What about Catholicism itself? I mean do you still think that the Pope’s the antichrist and the previous Popes are burning? IAN PAISLEY: Well I’m not, I am a Protestant and I accept the cardinal truths and have always been taught by Protestantism and all the reform churches all have that in their confessions of faith. ANDREW MARR: Mmm. IAN PAISLEY: And I accept the reformist doctrine on Rome, and everybody knows that. I am a Protestant without apology. Everybody knows where I stand. ANDREW MARR: But you can get on with them, I mean you can regard them as fellow Christians? IAN PAISLEY: The bible makes it clear that within the system of Romanism there are people that are the Lord’s people. I mean in just the same way I might turn it and say you know the Roman Catholic church and their systems all teach that there’s no hope for anybody except they are part and parcel of the Roman Catholic system. So they’ve already sent me to hell and Hades and all rest of it. So that is their teaching but that’s not what I believe, I believe that there’s one thing necessary for salvation and it’s faith in Jesus Christ.Source: BBC On Line…
Well miracles do happen!
Clearly, the poor man hasn’t read much of anything in the line of actual Catholic doctrine. But then, such reading might destroy some of his biases and misinformation and his anti-Catholic stance would not be as much fun as it has been. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose. I can he have be alive in the world as long as he has been and still say that the Catholic Church has sent him to hell simply because he is not Catholic? I, for one, would be happy to send him a free copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
From Professor R. Scott Clark, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in California regarding “actual Catholic doctrine” and true confessional Protestantism: According to the confessional Protestants, the Roman communion represents the visible church of Christ in about the same way as the Cathars did in the 13th century. Having eternally condemned the blessed Gospel of our Lord in session 6 of Trent (1547), Rome has done exactly what the Apostle Paul said could (morally) not be done, i.e. to reject Apostolic doctrine (see Galatians) and thus by her own actions, has brought herself under the divine and apostolic anathema. That Roman communion has repeatedly re-affirmed the Tridentine doctrine of justification (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church) magisterially and informally (John Paul II and Benedict XVI both publicly re-affirmed the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent in their papacies) has only intensified the problem.”I place this extract because here you have a real confessional Reformed Protestant who knows his Catholic Catechism and these are the kind of Protestants that truly represent what historical Protestantism really teaches especially over against Rome. So if Catholics really want to know what Protestants really teach about Protestantism to begin with here is one of many, unlike Mr. Ian Paisley. I am concern more about accurately representing historical Protestantism doctrine and practice, and like wise, truly Catholic teachings, rather than falsely miss-representing a whole or any teaching because of one man. FULL content of the article athttp://heidelblog.wordpress.com/2008/03/15/will-peter-repent-again/Tole Lege!
The irony is, that on the ground, away from the posturing of politics, he is highly regarded by many of his Catholic constituents. He is said to fight for them every bit as hard as he does for his Protestant constituents. I think he is a very complex character and have never taken his anti-Catholic stuff too seriously. When he yells “There’ll be NO POT-POURRI IN MY HOUSE” I think some people have interprested it as meaning the Bishop of Rome.
How can a man with a doctorate in theology guilty of theological errors be in good conscience? He could easily do the necessary research to discover the truth of the church’s teachings.I say Paisley is intellecually bankrupt, in bad faith, and will go to hell unless some mental illness is the cause of his intellectual deviations.
“Judge not that you be not judged.”
He was thrown out of the Wee Free Kirk recently for being insufficiently anti-Catholic. It must be very lonely, to be a man that so many hate; but it’s a great grace that he can grow kinder late in life. I’m praying for him.
Yes, it’s encouraging that Mr. Paisley seems to be mellowing a little. Prayer is definitely a good idea, especially to all the Irish saints!
The Thumbs Up is certainly better than The Finger which Br’er Ian gave to Catholics for years. Having traveled to Northern Ireland in 2005, I am grateful that things have quieted since the 1970s. The countryside is so beautiful and the people so friendly it is hard to picture the bloodletting that was once endemic. Our hosts in Portadown, County Armaugh, gave us a tour of where Paisely used to give his rant to the Orangemen crowd prior to their yearly march. This good fellow Baptist friend also took us to the ruins of a Protestant sancturay in which congregants had been locked while the building was burned down upon them, thus creating the impetus for the formation of the Order of the Orange in Northern Ireland. So there has been violence and hatred enough on both sides.
Yes, Dwight,I retract my remarks against Paisley, and re-instate a reworked version as follows:I find it hard to see how a man with his knowledge of theology could not be in bad faith, but I do not state definitively that he is. Perhaps there are subjective circumstances that render his position one of good faith.