How Do Catholics Hear The Gospel?

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It is not about trying to stop sinning since you can’t …
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I have to disagree. We can stop sinning. Jesus told the adultress to “Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11; see also John 5:14, 1 Cor 15:34). He commanded the harlot to do something that was, admittedly quite difficult given our fallen condition, but was not impossible, given the help of the Lord’s grace. God does not command us to do something that is impossible for us to do.
 
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itsjustdave1988:
I have to disagree. We can stop sinning. Jesus told the adultress to “Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11; see also John 5:14, 1 Cor 15:34). He commanded the harlot to do something that was, admittedly quite difficult given our fallen condition, but was not impossible, given the help of the Lord’s grace. God does not command us to do something that is impossible for us to do.
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Yes He did say that to her,but considered what sinning is about,if i lie i am sinning,if i am angry and screaming i am sinning because i am irate and the bible tells me not,if i desire somebody elses husband or wife in my heart i am sinning,if i don’t respect my father,my mother,my neighbor i am sinning.
He told her not to prostitute herself again,the same way when He cure the blind He said the same,go and sin no more.
But as our human nature is weak we sin,my point here was that i am forgiven of them of course if i am a mean person and ask for forgiveness and keep doing it i have not really repented of that,if i am alcoholic and ask God to forgive me and i don’t do anything to stop i did not meant it.
If i recognize myself as a sinner in front of God,ask Jesus to come into my heart and forgive me He will,that is His promise,the thing here is that no matter how much i show thru scriptures what God tells us, it get’s twisted over and over again and is like,let’s prove this person wrong.
I want to finish with this 3 verses in the bible

2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

I find comfort in the word of God,and i believe in it 100%,the message of salvation is simple in all it’s beauty He came and He die for me,thru Him i am save,thru Him my sins have been wash away,thru Him i will inherit heaven,thru Jesus alone and what He did in the cross,God reconcile Himself with us.
I am a new creation in Jesus and like Paul said i no longer live in me.

Romans 10:10 "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."5] 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."6]
I did call in the name of the Lord.
God bless you all
 
The point I am trying to make is that salvation is not a one time thing. Once you accept Jesus into your heart, it is expected that you will keep struggling against sin through the Grace of God. If you fail to do that, it is possible to lose your salvation. It is possible to be led astray (2 John 1:8).

If by Faith, you mean believing it so strongly that it becomes second nature to do what is right and shun what is wrong, then you CAN become like Christ.

If you are doing that, you are not far from the Catholic view.

Please understand that the Church truly accepts Scripture as God-breathed. But just because an idea is not plainly set forth in the Bible does not mean it is not true. Nor does it mean that is not testified to. The Church knows more truth than what is set down in writing. The bible does testify to that. (2Thess 2:15) Also, 2 Tim 3:16 means scripture is profitable for instruction, it is not sufficient.
 
I am very far from the catholic view and excuse me for saying that.I do not believe that the catholic church is the only church and that thru her i will be save,i do not believe in the pope as the vicar of Christ nor at him being the pontifice maximus.
I do respect your opinion,even do i do not agree on somethings that you said,but we are all in title of our own opinions.
God bless
 
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JesustheSavior:
I am very far from the catholic view and excuse me for saying that.I do not believe that the catholic church is the only church and that thru her i will be save,i do not believe in the pope as the vicar of Christ nor at him being the pontifice maximus.
I do respect your opinion,even do i do not agree on somethings that you said,but we are all in title of our own opinions.
God bless
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JTS,

That’s okay, just keep hanging around here! 😉

I was just saying that if you agree with my summary of being saved, sinning, repenting, being saved again… then you’d be agreeing with a Catholic view.

I understand you don’t want to be Catholic. The narrow way is hard.

I will keep praying for you.
 
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KateQ:
As I have read the follow-up posts, however, I am struck by the fact that so often the disconnect between the questions and the answers comes from the way Catholics and non-Catholics use words. We often mean the same thing using different words, and different things using the same words. So we must always read and respond to an answer with an open and loving mind.

Since my co-posters have given you chapter and verse about praying, may I give you an example? My sister has a mysterious illness which has been difficult and frightening to deal with. I pray for her, my friends and co-workers pray for her, my relatives pray for her, and I have asked Mary and the saints to pray for her. We are all praying to Jesus for her healing. I didn’t have to ask all these people to pray, I can just pray by myself – in fact I could leave this all up to my sister to do her own praying. But how nice to know all these prayer warriors are on the case!
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Very well said!! 👍
 
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jpusateri:
JTS,

That’s okay, just keep hanging around here! 😉

I was just saying that if you agree with my summary of being saved, sinning, repenting, being saved again… then you’d be agreeing with a Catholic view.

I understand you don’t want to be Catholic. The narrow way is hard.

I will keep praying for you.
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No,i don’t agree i am save and if i sin i do not loose my salvation,i guess i did not express myself the right way.
For me once you are save you do not loose your salvation,that you still sin…yes,we all do,because that is our nature as humans,that we can ask for forgiveness and God will forget,yes i believe He does.
No,i was a catholic once,a long time ago and it never fulfill me spiritually,never understood the point of confessing to a priest my sins so he can forgive me,never understood that after he did i had to pray hail Mary’s to be forgiving.
I certanly do not agree with the pope with all due respect,Jesus came in poverty the Son of God was poor,and He humbel Himself to those who seek Him,how can anybody call themselves the vicar of Christ here on earth and live so wealthy and if i am in his presence,i have to bow and kiss his ring.
I do remember sitting in mass and just listen to that liturgy that never taught me anything of the bible,he read, you listen that is it,
never once did i heard the or they have preach the message of salvation,but they do teach like the way you try to tell me over and over again,if i sin i loose my salvation,if i follow the traditions of the holy church i.maybe be able to go to heaven,if i walk away from those traditions or not do them,then i am condem for all eternity.
Thanks but no thanks,the message of how Jesus die for my sins in the cross is simple,is beautiful,and is the greatest love of all,i am forgiven,once He entered in my heart He is there for ever,that i might walk away from Him sometimes does not mean God stop loving me,is like the parabole of the prodigy son,we he saw his son coming back after he spend his inheritance he did a feast because he came back.
God loves me for who i am,He love me so much,He send his only begotten son to die for me in a cross,the bible never tells me i have to do all the things that the catholic religion teaches,it is not biblical,and i know that most of you,don’t believe in sola scriptura but if i don’t,then i make God a liar.
God belss you
 
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JesustheSavior:
the bible never tells me i have to do all the things that the catholic religion teaches,it is not biblical,and i know that most of you,don’t believe in sola scriptura but if i don’t,then i make God a liar.
God belss you
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I wouldn’t want to make God a liar. The Catholic church is not solely biblical, no. There is more to the Faith than Scripture. However the faith is not anti-biblical, which is what you seem to be asserting.

I am sorry that you had such an unfulfilling experience in your Catholic days. 😦

However, experience has taught me that fulfillment is not what I feel. It is what I achieve. In church, I want the truth. The truth is not always simple. It is frequently intertwined with other things. But that doesn’t make it not the truth.
Thanks but no thanks,the message of how Jesus die for my sins in the cross is simple,is beautiful,and is the greatest love of all,i am forgiven,once
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While that message is simple, it is NOT everything that the Bible says on the matter of salvation. All of it must be true or none. The Bible says you must confess your sins. Is that to be forgiven or not? If it is, then you are not forgiven once. If not, why do it? You can’t have it both ways.

If you have not been a Catholic for a long time, please attend a Mass. Listen to what the Catholic church teaches. You have a good grasp of non-Catholic Christian teachings. Have you truly tried to see where the departures are? If so, have you heard the Scriptural evidence for the Catholic faith?

If you are truly a seeker of truth, please look into it. What have you got to lose?
 
If you have not been a Catholic for a long time, please attend a Mass. Listen to what the Catholic church teaches. You have a good grasp of non-Catholic Christian teachings. Have you truly tried to see where the departures are? If so, have you heard the Scriptural evidence for the Catholic faith?

If you are truly a seeker of truth, please look into it. What have you got to lose?

I have attended mass not to long ago,and i felt the same,i know where the departures are,i enjoy studying,searching for the truth,i try to be open minded to everything i hear or learn.
I heve heard them,but from the point of view of the church itself,and at the same time i have read books from catholics,great book to read is the vatican empire by Nino Lo Bello.
And honestly i have not found yet scriptural evidence on a lot of things that the catholic religion say’s,i do not believe that the pope is infallible for example.Actually i have read from the very beggining of the catholic church wich if you have done youself the title comes from the times of Constantine according to history he was the first vicar of Christ here on earth,the first pontifece maximus and after his death the first pope claim that title,saying that he pass it to him and that how it all begun.
So my friend there is a lot of contradictions on that subject,you see when Jesus said to Peter over this rock i will found my church he meant over the truth he said to the Lord when he ask the question"Who do you say i am? and he responded “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.But accordingly to the catholic church it was over Peter that the first pope was founded,wich like i say historically came from Constantine.
Like you said to me,you to search for the truth,and as you said to me too,i will be praying for you.
God bless
 
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JesustheSavior:
you see when Jesus said to Peter over this rock i will found my church he meant over the truth he said to the Lord when he ask the question"Who do you say i am? and he responded “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.But accordingly to the catholic church it was over Peter that the first pope was founded,wich like i say historically came from Constantine.
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Thanks for your prayers!

As far as this quote, it is interesting that Jesus would say something so misleading, where you could say “You are “rock” and upon this rock (meaning something else) I will build my church”

It seems clear that even a plain reading would result in the rock that the church is to be built on is the same rock that refers to the man. But to avoid the primacy of Peter issue, a different use of linguistic rules is in order. Isn’t that what Catholics are accused of doing, but in reverse? 😉 There is a thread on this forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=8700

Please do continue your searching for the truth. There are many those who know the Bible better than I do and can draw where the Catholic church’s doctrines are. I encourage you to explore them.

Here is one such place:
infpage.com/concordance/

I know you believe in the rule of “sola scriptura” which is not found in the Bible. But please keep that mind open because only if it contradicts the Bible, then it must be false. But if it’s only not found there, you ought not condemn it. The Bible is a true rule, but there is much truth that is found elsewhere (e.g. in the Church’s Tradition).

Did I make that clear???:o
 
JesustheSavior,

You said:
i am save and if i sin i do not loose my salvation
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To demonstrate that Catholics too hear the Gospel, let’s examine what the Bible says about whether one can or cannot lose their salvation, shall we? Surely nothing harmful can come from studying Holy Writ, right? Even if you don’t wish to discuss these questions here, perhaps you can take these questions back to your pastor to discuss them.
  1. Believers who truly “received the Spirit” (Gal 3:2), that is, who “begin with the Spirit,” is it possible that they could “end with the flesh”? (Gal 3:3)? And if they do, are they still saved?
  2. Aren’t those within the Church of Galatia specifically written to by St. Paul, who are “baptized into Christ” and “clothed … with Christ” truly saved? (Gal 3:27)
  3. Of the baptized Galatians, doesn’t St. Paul assert that their spiritual state is likened to his own, stating “God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Gal 4:6)?
  4. St. Paul testifies of them, “you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus” (Gal 4:14). Can’t we presume that the believers addressed by St. Paul in this letter are then truly saved just like St. Paul?
  5. If the Galatians that St. Paul wrote to are “saved” Christians, in what way can they be at risk of turning back again to “weak and destitute elemental power” (Gal 4:9)?
  6. If saved Christians are indeed at risk of turning back to this destitute power (Gal 4:9) as St. Paul states, do you think St. Paul would consider them still saved?
  7. If you assert that those Galatians that turn back are still saved, then why is St. Paul “afraid” on their account, that “perhaps [he has] labored for [them] in vain” (Gal 4:11)?
  8. Consider what St. Paul says to these saved Christians: “Where now is that blessedness of yours” (Gal 4:15)? How could they have lost the “blessedness” they once had if saved Christians cannot lose their salvation?
  9. Doesn’t it seem that these saved Galatians, having been described by St. Paul as having once had the “spirit of His Son” in their hearts, no longer have Christ within him? If not, why would St. Paul have said: “I am again in labor until Christ be formed in you!” (Gal 4:19)? If they no longer have Christ “formed” in them, how could they be considered always saved?
  10. Obviously, St. Paul considers them still Christians, having one been “children” of God (Gal 4:6) yet having lost their “blessedness”, right? Even so, although having lost their “blessedness” it seems St. Paul still considers them Christian, still describing them as “children of the promise.” (Gal 4:28), right?
  11. How can these saved Galatians be at risk of submitting “again to the yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1) and still be considered always saved? Doesn’t St. Paul explicitly warn these saved Christians that if they submit to such a yoke “Christ will be of no benefit to you.” (Gal 5:2)? How could that be if they cannot lose their salvation?
  12. It seems St. Paul is asserting that even those truly called “sons of God” can become “separated from Christ … you have fallen from grace.” (Gal 5:4), no? Those he described as “running well” can and have been hindered from following the truth (Gal 5:7), right? Can these still inherit the kingdom of God?
  13. Doesn’t it seem very clear that St. Paul is warning saved Christians that “the works of the flesh are obvious … I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” If a saved Christian cannot lose his salvation, why would St. Peter need to warn saved Christians, those he called “children of God in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:26), that if they do the “works of the flesh” they will not “inherit the kingdom of God?”
 
JTS,

Off topic, but a priest does not forgive your sins. Only God forgives sin. This is what the Catholic Church teaches. They just believe we must follow the way Jesus told us to do it in the Bible, Jn 20:19-23. Verse 23 Jesus tells His apostles to go and forgive their sins. This does not mean the apostles were forgiving the sin, God was. He just sent them out with His authority. The forgiveness still comes from God. He does not tell them to go and teach forgiveness. This idea of these verses meaning to teach forgiveness did not appear until around 400 - 500 years ago. All Christians have practiced the interpretation of the Scripture as to be confession since the beginning of the Church. Jesus said it, we follow it. You have many misconceptions of what the church truly teaches.

God Bless
 
Thanks for the great story, sir. Now I know another resource I can use when I defend my faith: The Missal!
 
JTS,

I have little to add to the excellent posts on this subject, but I have just read the thread through and have a comment to make that has not been said previously.
You have asked why is it important to pray to God through Mary and not straight to the source, Jesus? I am an ex protestant who has found the Church in a lifetime of searching, and I never gave Mary much thought except at Christmas when Jesus needed a mother to give birth to him. THAT IS THE POINT. God could have come Himself in all of His glory if all he wanted to do was impress the Jews, Romans, and other civilizations of the world at the time Christ was born. Instead, He chose Mary to give Himself flesh so that he could live and die as a sacrifice for us, thanks be to God. And Jesus thought it very important, too, for when He was dying on the cross, He assigned His Mother to the “beloved disciple”. He did not assign Mary to a specific disciple, even though the one there was a specific person, but rather to His disciple. In other words, to all of us who follow the teachings of Christ. He also told the disciple, “Behold your mother”. What person would not love and honor his own mother, the one who’s body formed us in the womb and nurtured us (for those of us fortunate to have known our mothers, that is), and allowed us to be here today? Christ commanded US “behold your mother”. Should we not obey and honor her as Christ bids us?
Pray directly to God, but honor Him also by honoring his mother!

In Christ,

Viking
 
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JesustheSavior:
TPJ:

Will you please find me in the bible were it say’s that i have to pray to them,or ask them for help?
I have study the bible with many people,i have read many times the New and Old Testament and still thru all this years i have not found,anywhere that says that i have to pray to them to be heard by God.
Why does the catholic religion make it so hard to just pray to God, and to Him alone with out going thru Mary or the saints?
Taking away the fact that you can pray for me and me for you and everybody else in this world,why not just we as humans,why do you have to go thru them?Do you beleive that your prayer to the Lord will not reach Him?
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We don’t have to go through them. We simply pray to God and ask for them to **add **their prayers as well.

**JesustheSavior, **I would ask you this. Would you trust those who wrote the New Testament scriptures on this? The apostles and the others?

If you say yes, then I would simply say that they were Catholics and the tradition of the Communion of Saints came from them. It was even codified into the Apostles Creed, which we recite in our parish every Mass, and I’m sure you are familiar with.

Incidentally, we also have an altar call every Mass.
 
Great post by the way, itsjustdave 1988, from Galations. I’m going to save that, because the once saved, always saved issue comes up often. (No pun intended there)

Evangelicals have an expression, “back-slider”. As a kid I always thought that sounded kind of fun, but of course I was thinking of snow and sleds and so forth.

Now I think it has a similar meaning to “mortal sin,” requiring reconciliation in the sacrament.
 
quote:i cannot believe that a believer can say “accepting Jesus as you personal Lord and Savior has always bugged me”

I apologize if I insulted you. I didn’t mean to. It’s just that I have been asked that question a lot, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior” Of course I have. But that saying comes from a sola scriptura frame of mind. Catholics also have Tradition, which adds and aids so much in our Catholic faith.
Again, I’m sorry if I offended.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon11.gif
 
JTS…could you please show me (references please) not just opinion, where the Catholic church teaches we must go through the saints to get to God? I think that is simply rhetoric you have picked up from some anti-catholic sources buddy.

But…if you have information that perhaps none of us have seen, eluding to the fact that we MUST go through the saints to reach God, please bring it forth and give us some good scholary references. If you cannot provide this information JTS, I would suggest that you pull up a chair and become a student of the Catholic faith…at least then you will be able to speak of it with some knowledge to back up your claims.

Blessings to you
 
Hey, that’s a great story (link) from the original post!

I once went on vacation and wanted to go to Latin Mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Grand Rapids, and so the people we were visiting, being Catholic, were happy to oblige! Like, the last time they came down to visit me, I had 5 Points of Calvinism books and Bibles and probably a couple copies of the Westminster Standards laying all over the house. Maybe I over did it!
But, being ingrained in Protestantism, I was shocked to hear such reverent reading of Scripture, and following along on the English side of the Latin Missal, I was really excited and drawn to worship by the prayers, and the Latin singing, and everything. Catholic Mass truly touches all of our senses with the Gospel. My mom even felt it on her face when the Priest directed the water sprinkler thing right at her while he was sprinkling people before the service!!
 
I like the link. And for those of us who cannot receive Holy Communion, what do we do?

We can pray a prayer of spiritual communion – for example from EWTN web site:
An Act of Spiritual Communion

My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
 
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