ETS pres. resigns, returns to Catholicism

WACO, Texas (BP)-Francis (Frank) Beckwith, a prominent professor of church-state studies and philosophy at Baylor University, has resigned as president of the Evangelical Theological Society, citing his return to the Roman Catholic Church.Beckwith, who was raised Catholic but drifted into Reformed Protestantism in his youth, disclosed on a May 5 weblog that he had received the sacrament of confession April 28 and had been received into the communion of the church during a Mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Waco, Texas, the following day.In a subsequent blog, Beckwith announced he had resigned as president of the theological society to "avoid bringing scandal to either ETS or the Church."Beckwith said on a blog May 5 that his departure from Protestantism was prompted by his study of the early church fathers. His wife, whom he described as "a baptized Presbyterian," also has begun the initiatory rites for adults who wish to enter the Catholic Church."I became convinced that the Early Church is more Catholic than Protestant and that the Catholic view of justification, correctly understood, is biblically and historically defensible," Beckwith wrote on the blog. "Even though I also believe that the Reformed view is biblically and historically defensible, I think the Catholic view has more explanatory power to account for both all the biblical texts on justification as well as the church's historical understanding of salvation prior to the Reformation all the way back to the ancient church of the first few centuries."Moreover, much of what I have taken for granted as a Protestant -- e.g., the catholic creeds, the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, the Christian understanding of man, and the canon of Scripture-is the result of a Church that made judgments about these matters and on which non-Catholics, including Evangelicals, have declared and grounded their Christian orthodoxy in a world hostile to it. Given these considerations, I thought it wise for me to err on the side of the Church with historical and theological continuity with the first generations of Christians that followed Christ's Apostles."Several scholars critical of Beckwith's decision responded to his statements on the blog. Doug Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary, said Beckwith's return to the Catholic Church was a "sad day for all true sons and daughters of the Protestant Reformation, for all who lived and died for its truths."Groothuis said Beckwith was "embracing serious theological error" and by joining Rome he was putting an institution and men ahead of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
PS:I agree with Prof.Groothuis comments.It was a sad day the day that this young man decided to go back to Rome putting an institution(that has killed and persecuted more christians than any other)and men ahead of the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.The worst part of all is that him and his wife are lost,even though they have joined a large "church".Catholicism is no other thing but "Babylon Remixed".A dead religion,that still today is taking millions to hell,thru error."
I know.I was a part of it.
As in the days of Noah....