Whoa! enanneman, you’re good! I yield to your superior logic!But all sins are barriers between good people and God, and Jesus forgives all sins if you believe in him and accept him as your personal Lord and Savior. Surely if he forgives 10,000 acts of adultery as long as you have faith (as indicated by Luther), he’ll forgive my “vain traditions of men,” right?
I appreciate your tongue-in-cheek humor!
Do you believe Luther’s words are infallible? So you will continue to keep on doing mortal sins like adultery because you are already saved? I don’t get the logic. What if, while doing the act, the Lord takes your life. Will you then still be saved at that moment when you committed adultery which constitutes a grave sin?
…IF the child’s parents were saved the child was saved by the parents’ salvation until the infant/child reached the age of accountability and there was no need of baptism until the child reached that age.
I apologize if it wasn’t clear that I was playing the devil’s advocate here. I most assuredly do not subscribe to Luther’s beliefs in regards to salvation here. I follow all the teachings of the Holy Mother Church and truly believe that if I should die with a mortal sin on my soul, I will be damned.
Well some churches don’t even have a baptistry so they use swimming pools. The Baptists don’t believe it’s baloney, just that grace covers a Christian’s child until they reach the age and are able to realize good from evil…
'Basically, your soul is like a paycheck,' was his reply. ' It all belongs to you, and what you do with it is your decision. You could take it to the store and spend it all, and then have nothing; a lot of people do it everyday.
'Now, Catholics and Protestants both believe that a good person should put their soul in heaven, after they have put their time in here on earth, and that is a bit like paying our taxes, like all good citizens do, and then taking our paychecks and putting it in a bank.
'The difference,'he concluded, ' between your dad and Mr S. down at the corner, is that I believe that the only way my check gets to the bank is by getting it in there myself - first by working hard, and then by my bringing it there.My soul, like the paycheck I get for work done, is my responsibility while I live in this world. Mr S thinks he can do it by faith alone; Jesus teaches his church that faith without works is dead, and that if we want to go to heaven, we have to put the effort in with prayers, good works and fulfilling our duties to Jesus and His Church.' It is a good thing to want to put your soul in Jesus' trusting hands, but He doesn't accept bankrupt souls, anymore than our bank accepts bankrupt accounts.'
Dad wasn't a theologian, but he did a good way of explaining something in ordinary terms from everyday things that made his answers easy to remember.
I’m sure I don’t know. There is a scripture in the Pentateuch (sorry for miss-spelling in advance) that stated the age above which had to die in the wilderness. I’ll try to find it tonight. I don’t think anyone would or should use that age as a guide to go by though. I mean, it was different back then, just the principle would be the same, in my thinking. That’s just me.
Thanks for a interesting look at the differences in faith. I guess my next question is that wouldn’t you think some Protestants would be a little concerned about the differences? I mean, if my immortal soul was on the line, and I heard Catholics saying that it takes more than faith to be saved, I would at least put a little bit of effort in finding out what they think was required…
It’s ok. Just don’t be a devil’s advocate for real.
Yes, clearly, you didn’t hear her…This is an ACTUAL conversation I had with my Evangelical Pastor’s wife last year:
Wife: Please pray for my parents, they aren’t Christians.
Me: Do they go to church?
Wife: Yes - they go to the Catholic Church every Sunday but they aren’t Christians.
Me: Do they believe Jesus died on the cross for their sins?
Wife: Yes, they believe in Jesus, but they aren’t Christians.
Me: Do they pray to God?
Wife: Oh yes… they say the rosary everyday, but they aren’t Christians.
Me: Do they try to live a Godly life? Do they love their neighbor?
Wife: Yes, they are wonderful people and that’s why I’m so worried about them because I know if they died today they would not go to heaven because they aren’t Christians.
Me: So they go to church, they pray to God, they believe in Jesus and they are good people… how do YOU know they aren’t Chrisitans?
Wife: BECAUSE THEY ARE CATHOLIC !! Weren’t you listening to me???
A wise man I once met in Majorca had an excellent reply to the very same question, when I put it to him: "There are few things on earth more terrifiying than the yearnings of a human heart, and nothing more daunting than the heart's power of mistrust and fear."
Some people do, by natural curiosity or open-minded-ness, make the effort to stop, look and listen, as the saying goes. I once heard of a an entire Black Baptist Reformed Congregational church, in the southern US somewhere, that argued themselves lock, stock and cracker-barrels into either Catholicism or the Orthodox church, I forget which. But even though I have met a lot good people who are converts from Protestant denominations over the years - many who remain today good friends - I doubt that the power of skepticism and mistrust found rooted deep in the very culture of Protestentism generally can ever be overcome, either on the group or personal level, without the Intervention of and urging from the Holy Ghost.Hi enanneman,
Hi enanneman,
Hi carol marie,This is an ACTUAL conversation I had with my Evangelical Pastor’s wife last year:
Wife: Please pray for my parents, they aren’t Christians.
Me: Do they go to church?
Wife: Yes - they go to the Catholic Church every Sunday but they aren’t Christians.
Me: Do they believe Jesus died on the cross for their sins?
Wife: Yes, they believe in Jesus, but they aren’t Christians.
Me: Do they pray to God?
Wife: Oh yes… they say the rosary everyday, but they aren’t Christians.
Me: Do they try to live a Godly life? Do they love their neighbor?
Wife: Yes, they are wonderful people and that’s why I’m so worried about them because I know if they died today they would not go to heaven because they aren’t Christians.
Me: So they go to church, they pray to God, they believe in Jesus and they are good people… how do YOU know they aren’t Chrisitans?
Wife: BECAUSE THEY ARE CATHOLIC !! Weren’t you listening to me???
Hi Edwin. It’s always a pleasure speaking with you.
I am not making my own judgment. I only speak of the sin of death that John speaks of…
It is by any deadly sin which I have upon my soul at the time of death that I may lose my salvation.
Now I think we’re all on the same page. Hallelujah!
My friend, if you only knew how much I needed to hear these words. Thank you.