From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Subsequent events have confirmed the soundness of our ministry's decision to stop offering Logos Bible Software.

May 2012 - In January of this year, we published an article answering the question, Why Do You No Longer Offer Logos Bible Software? We said we had learned that

Logos Bible Software's strategic business plan included new initiatives to cultivate the Roman Catholic market. The Logos management team sees this market as a potentially large - perhaps eventually the largest - percentage of its annual revenues. In support of this strategy, we were told, Logos intended to encourage ecumenical dialogue between Protestants and Roman Catholics, especially as it pertains to the Scriptures themselves, thus opening the door for sale of Roman Catholic theological materials to Evangelicals as well as Catholics.

Logos' Catholic Product Manager

These initiatives included the hiring of a new Roman Catholic Product Manager at Logos, who wrote:

The rich Catholic tradition, with its intricate interplay of Scripture, liturgy, law, and theology is profoundly suited for study on the Logos platform. As the Second Vatican Council made clear, Catholics understand the Scripture as embedded in a living tradition, its meaning being revealed in history and the life of the Church. As we add resources from that tradition to Logos, the Bible - as understood by Catholics - will open up in a way only Logos software can make possible. I find this very exciting!

What's more, Logos' extensive collection of resources (almost 14,000 at last count) - from a wide variety of Christian traditions - makes a truly comparative study of Scripture possible.

It is my hope that by integrating more Catholic works into the Logos library these traditions and Catholicism might find a bridge to understanding in the Word of God itself.

Ad majorem Dei gloriam! [1]

We noted that ad majorem Dei gloriam ("For the greater glory of God") is the motto of the Jesuits, a virulently anti-Protestant religious order within Roman Catholicism.

We also noted that "Logos Bible Software's new initiative and future product direction will, it appears, turn it into a willing missionary arm of the Vatican."

Logos' President Responds

In response, we received a letter from Logos president Bob Pritchett, in which he wrote:

I want to apologize for the poor way we handled the appointment of a Catholic product manager. I can assure you that we have no desire to be a "missionary arm of the Vatican," and that our focus remains, as it always has been, on Scripture. We do sell a large library of content, but we see our role as equipping teachers, not as teaching, and we believe teachers and students alike need access to a large and diverse library of content.

Pritchett then pointed us to a pair of explanatory articles he had posted on the Logos website. As it turns out, these articles do not support his assurances, but only confirm our original findings.

In an article titled "No Theology Debates" Pritchett warns the users of Logos' online forums:

Please stop the theology wars in Logos forums.

Just stop.

Stop posting about errors in other people's doctrine. Please stop posting your own doctrine. Please stop responding to correct misperceptions or misunderstandings or to counter attacks.

It takes two to have an argument. Please stop being the second party that turns an unkind post into a flame war.

Logos Bible Software is here to serve everyone who studies the Bible. That is intentionally "big tent" and we intentionally do not have a statement of faith or a doctrinal position. [The emphasis is Pritchett's.]

...

Big News: Not everyone agrees on theology. Turns out, Catholics and Protestants have been disagreeing for quite some time. The arguments have, at times, gotten quite heated, if you could believe that. Turns out, the protestants have their own problems, too. They've been splitting churches on stuff like form of baptism (forward immersion or backwards?), style of worship music (drums in church?), and, amazingly, personal disagreements that sometimes start at covered-dish suppers.

Logos is here for everyone who studies the Bible. Baby sprinklers, backwards immersers, forward triple-dunkers, bacon in the potato salad, lime Jello molds with celery, pastors with robes, churches with candles, vegetarians, and sunrise services on the beach. Heretics, cultists, and atheists included... [2]

He goes on to castigate "everyone who knows that others are wrong." Thus Pritchett reduces Protestant-Catholic differences to the level of the unessential and even trivial, and implies that there is no right or wrong. The differences are anything but that. The core difference between Protestant theology and Roman Catholic theology - justification by God's sovereign grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone, versus justification by the church's arbitrary impartation of a merited "grace" through faith plus works - is the gaping gulf between eternity in Heaven or Hell.

But Pritchett goes further, even apologizing to the Roman Catholics for Logos users who are Protestant and not ashamed to say so:

Catholics: Logos welcomes you, and we're working hard to provide more tools, resources, and support. We've hired a Catholic product manager and are working hard to serve you. But our customer base is still 95% Protestant, and you know that there are some passionate and even out-of-control people in Protestant churches, and that the Protestants don't do a good job getting along on a single doctrinal statement. That's why the Catholic church is basically one large church, and the average Protestant church splits after reaching 100-200 people. I know the attacks are painful and unkind, but please understand that you're "surrounded" by people who traditionally are more likely to split a church than seek unity. In the Protestant mindset there isn't a single authority figure who will be respected, let alone able to quell debate and dissension.

Here Pritchett represents Roman Catholics as the offended seekers of peace and unity, and Protestants as the wild, divisive bad guys. Perhaps he has forgotten Jesus' own words:

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' (Matthew 10:34-36)

This Is Bible Study?

Pritchett states that "Logos is here for everyone who studies the Bible." But many of Logos' most recent product offerings are anything but Bible study. Thanks to their new Roman Catholic Product Manager, they have recently added these abominations. The words below are from Logos' product announcements:

The Medieval Historical Theology Collection (2 vols.) brings you biographies on two of the greatest saints in Catholic Church history: Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas. These men, though diverse in their lives and ideas, have deeply impacted the church.

"A stimulating account of one of the most attractive figures in the history of Christendom. . . . This study is one of the best and most perceptive portraits of the saint in recent years."  - Catholic Historical Review on Francis of Assisi

This collection gives a thorough introduction to the life, thought, and influences of each saint. It illustrates the significance Assisi and Aquinas had in church history-and continue to have today.

"This book offers both novice and expert a well-reasoned account of Aquinas' thought . . . with a strong argument for its relevancy today. . . . The coherence of Aquinas' thought is convincingly portrayed and must be taken seriously by any student of Christian theology." - Toronto Journal of Theology on Discovering Aquinas

If you want a deeper understanding of each saint and the historic and religious impacts they have made, The Medieval Historical Theology Collection (2 vols.) is an essential collection to add to your digital library, bringing you a renewed appreciation to these key historical figures. [3]

The Apostolic Constitutions and Exhortations of John Paul II and Benedict XVI (51 volumes)

Apostolic constitutions deal with the structure of the church, and also the liturgy, pastoral, and dogmatic concerns. Together with encyclicals, apostolic exhortations and constitutions are the most important documents produced by the Holy See, touching all matters of ecclesiastical government and doctrine.

Key Features

  . 51 apostolic constitutions and exhortations

  . Three decades of papal insights

The Apostolic Constitutions and Exhortations of John Paul II and Benedict XVI (51 vols.) contains the most important writings of the two pontiffs, next to their encyclical letters. The papal office holds the highest teaching authority in the Catholic Church, and the popes realize this office through a number of channels and through the promulgation of a variety of documents. The most famous of these are the papal encyclical letters, which express the pope's mind normally on matters of faith and morals. Apostolic exhortations often concern similar topics but do not define doctrine and are normally directed at encouraging certain groups within the Church to certain activities. In recent decades apostolic exhortations have most often been issued at the conclusion of synods of bishops and have served as the popes' summations and interpretations of those synods' conclusions. Apostolic constitutions, however, are more juridical in nature. They are formal papal decrees and carry the highest authority. Apostolic constitutions can deal with the structure of the Church, but also the liturgy, pastoral, or dogmatic concerns. Together with encyclicals, apostolic exhortations and constitutions are the most important documents produced by the Holy See, touching all matters of ecclesiastical government and doctrine.[4]

Logos now offers a 238-volume Catholic Library Builder which includes this theological horror:

A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volumes 1 and 2, by John P. Meier

This book grapples with the greatest puzzle of modern religious scholarship: Who was Jesus? To answer the question, author John P. Meier imagines the following scenario: "Suppose that a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, and an agnostic-all honest historians cognizant of first-century religious movements-were locked up in the bowels of the Harvard Divinity School library, and not allowed to emerge until they had hammered out a consensus on who Jesus of Nazareth was and what he intended. . ." A Marginal Jew is what Meier thinks that document would reveal.

A Marginal Jew represents the first time an American Catholic biblical scholar has attempted a full-scale, rigorously scientific treatment of the "historical Jesus." By the "historical Jesus," Meier means the Jesus whom we can recover and reconstruct by using the tools of modern historical research. Granted the fragmentary state of the sources and the indirect nature of the arguments, the resulting portrait is incomplete and at times speculative. Still, Meier argues, something precious is gained. The "consensus statement" that emerges is open to probing and debate by all interested parties-Catholics, Protestants, Jews, believers, and agnostics alike. It can serve as common ground for ecumenical dialogue and further research. Among the difficult questions Meier confronts: Was Jesus virginally conceived? Did he have brothers and sisters? Was he married or single? Was he illiterate? Did he know Hebrew and Greek as well as Aramaic? [5]

In addition, Logos continues to add and promote entire collections of writings by heretics such as Federal Visionist Peter Leithart, and New Perspective on Paul promoter N. T. Wright, along with other false teachers.

How To Know Where An Organization Is Really Going

In his letter mentioned above, Pritchett also referred us to a second article as "assurance" of Logos Bible Software's good intentions. In it he writes:

Moving forward we at Logos will try to do an even better job helping you understand what's what among the books in our library. We will continue to publish Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, and denominationally-specific works. (Along with academic works by atheists and agnostics.) We will, however, make it clear who the author is, who the publisher is, and the faith tradition of the work. Our own publications, however, will continue to reflect an evangelical perspective. [6]

The only "assurance" this gives us is confirmation of the fact that Logos is in the grips of the postmodern, all-perspectives-have-equal-value mindset that has debased and Romanized much of the Evangelical church. In the same article, Pritchett claims that

We hold Scripture in the highest regard and believe in its unique authority. We see it as the job of the Bible student and Bible teacher to interpret and apply God's Word, and we have intentionally (and consistently) taken the position that as a business we serve Bible study best by offering a large library and powerful tools, rather than a small library reflecting our own (strongly held) theological positions.

There's an old saying that if you want to know where someone is truly going, don't watch his mouth, watch his feet. That also applies to organizations. If you want to know where an organization is really headed, you cannot merely listen to what its spokesmen say. Their public statements may be consistent or they may be contradictory, as Logos president Pritchett's are.

And so in every case - be it a local church, denomination, mission agency, independent ministry, religious publisher, religious bookseller, or religious software company - you must also watch an organization's "feet" to see where it is truly going. Logos continues to demonstrate that it is not merely walking but running in a tragically wrong direction. Thus it is leading its hundreds of thousands of users in over 140 countries (mostly lay people, as well as thousands of pastors and scholars) away from God's truth and into the realm of Satan's lies.

References:

1. "Logos' New Catholic Product Manager: Andrew Jones" as viewed on 7/4/2011 at http://blog.logos.com/category/company/

2. "No Theology Debates" by Logos president Robert Pritchett, as viewed on 5/11/2012 at http://community.logos.com/forums/t/35165.aspx?PageIndex=1

3. Logos advertisement e-mail received by the author, 4/6/2012.

4. Product information as viewed at http://www.logos.com/product/18502/apostolic-constitutions-and-exhortations-of-john-paul-ii-and-benedict-xvi, 5/17/2012.

5. Product information as viewed at http://www.logos.com/product/5748/a-marginal-jew-rethinking-the-historical-jesus, 5/17/2012.

6. "What Kind of Books Does Logos Publish?" by Logos president Robert Pritchett, as viewed on 5/11/2012 at http://community.logos.com/forums/t/35460.aspx

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