Evangelical Statesman: "True Love Confronts"

John Ankerberg "Dr. Kennedy, all through the years that I have known you, you've had the reputation among evangelical leaders of being the statesman, the one that constantly wants to bring us together, you don't want any splits. And even in this situation we met in your office. But what's at stake is that the cry for tolerance today and love between Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants is very, very strong. And when we make some of these statements, people say, "Don't you have any love for Roman Catholics? Are you guys so harsh?" Talk about love and tolerance and the priority that truth has over that...and that when we stand for the truth that does not necessarily mean that we don't love people. In fact, when we stand for the truth it means that we actually love them more."

D. James Kennedy: "Absolutely, John. If we believe as Christians the truth of the Scripture, if we believe what Christ said that He is THE way, THE truth and THE life, if we believe as Peter said that there is none other name under heaven given unto men whereby they must be saved, if there is no other way than through justification by faith in Christ alone, if we are willing for the sake of some temporal earthly peace and tolerance to ignore proclaiming that truth to people, then we are not demonstrating to them love, we are actually demonstrating hate because we are allowing those people to go to the judgment of God without ever telling them the one way by which they can be justified in the eyes of a just and holy God. And that is a false love. True love confronts. And it should do it with grace and with kindness but nevertheless firmly."

Irreconcilable Differences:

Catholics, Evangelicals, and the New Quest for Unity