(In the above video Pastor John Piper is asked what he would say if he had two minutes with the Pope. I used to like the video but it now seems very silly to me. Why would you spend your time asking the Pope’s view on justification, given that he is not going to contradict the Church teaching which is easily accessible in the Catechism? Also, it seems odd to call the Pope a heretic. By what authority can John Piper determine heresy? Through an evangelical ecumenical council? Nope, just through his interpretation of the Bible. I still have great respect for this man, but the clip demonstrates some of the basic misunderstandings of Catholicism and problems of evangelicalism.)
When I (rarely) thought about Catholicism, I probably would have said something like, “Well the Catholics follow the Pope, but we follow the Bible.” This statement is wrong on many levels. The one I would like to focus on is the assumption that I as an evangelical did not use an interpreting authority, but simply the Bible.
Scripture is not clear (enough). That’s why I couldn’t agree with fellow Protestants on any number of fundamental issues, including the necessity of baptism for salvation or God’s sovereignty (see current debate in SBC). We all look for interpreting authorities. Catholics look to what they see as the God-ordained Magisterium. Evangelicals often look to a megachurch pastor they like or the consensus of popular megachurch pastors (see Elephant Room).
To be fair, evangelicals would say the ultimate authority is always the Bible. Unfortunately, as any conversation between an Arminian-paedobaptist-premillenial-charismatic and a Calvinist-Baptist-amillenial-cessationist will tell you, interpretation is a tricky thing.
John Piper was my pope. I would never, EVER have said that. But he was. Who’s yours?
Evangelical to Catholic 
Best part of the video: “What ever you ‘d call him….sir?”
2nd best part of the video is imagining the popes facial expression when this guy calls Roman Catholic theology a heretical.
Oh dear. That was interesting. I’d like to ask him by whose authority he preaches. if he answers, “Jesus,” I’d like to ask him to prove it definitively and not just because Jesus told him in a conversation.
Anthony, I’d like to give you 2 blogger awards. If you’d like to accept, come to my blog and get the instructions there.
Thank you!
I think growing up as a Southern Baptist I grew up with an unofficial view of Billy Graham as a “Protestant pope” 🙂
Yes! That’s a great one. Jerry Falwell for the more fundamentalist 80s type.
Very good post! I never thought of the head of a protestant church to be its “pope”, but that’s a fair argument.