The evangelist has only a minor role.Yes, laziness or pride is what can keep a person in ignorance, But its not always the laziness and pride of the evangelized, but of the evangelist.
If your brother doesn’t understand, you don’t throw up your arms and say, “I tried, but he has rejected the truth”, you have failed at the command to evangelize and will face the consequences.
This is yet another textbook example of St. Augustin telling us that the closer we look at our own faults and shortcomings, the less serious those of our neighbors appear.
Peace and all good!
But if you believe you are already saved then why are you not free to sin? Surely not being free to sin must mean you are not yet saved?No, not free to sin. I confess my sins (all of them) directly to God. Yes, need to follow the Ten Commandments, too. Should have been more clearer.
Just because a person can sin doesn’t mean they should. Regardless of whether a Protestant believes they are saved or not, they know that actively sinning isn’t behaving like Christ . That’s how I was taught as a Baptist, anyways. Once saved always saved, but their is right and wrong and proper morals and God expects us to behave ourselves.But if you believe you are already saved then why are you not free to sin? Surely not being free to sin must mean you are not yet saved?
Well, in this the Holiest season of the liturgical year, which will culminate in Christ’s command to us to be his witness to the ends of the earth, I hope you come to rethink this major gaff! The role of the evangelist is the role we are called to perform by Christ, and inferring (explicitly or implicitly) that it is a “minor role” is contrary to the teaching of Christ, and the Catholic Church.The evangelist has only a minor role.
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It’s not even a minor gaff. The heavy lifting is done by God the Holy Spirit. A man is incapable of changing the heart of another man. This is only accomplished through spiritual means with perhaps minor help from one of us.Well, in this the Holiest season of the liturgical year, which will culminate in Christ’s command to us to be his witness to the ends of the earth, I hope you come to rethink this major gaff! The role of the evangelist is the role we are called to perform by Christ, and inferring (explicitly or implicitly) that it is a “minor role” is contrary to the teaching of Christ, and the Catholic Church.
And yet we know that Our Lord’s words are not to be limited to the strict narrow sense that only those will be saved who receive His Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist while they are here on earth. For example, baptized Catholic children do not receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist until the age of 7 - yet we believe if they die prior to that they can go to heaven.I do not know how non-Catholic Christians get to heaven. That is God’s decision.
I was raised and remain a Catholic because I accept what Christ said, especially the following passages. If I was a non-Catholic Christian, I’d consider these passages prayerfully. The Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation are most important. Our goal is to come closer to Christ. We can get better at loving God and trying to do His Will on earth as it is in heaven.
John 6: 51-56 **“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” **The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, **“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. **
Luke 22: 19-20 Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.”
Bad theology is nearly always a major gaff.(name removed by moderator)
Your posts smack of pluralism which must be rejected just like any other heresy. It seems that you believe Catholicism and other religions are of indeterminable value and are therefore considered equal.
My posts are one sided. The Catholic church was founded by Christ and enjoys indisputable veracity and unique access to God’s grace and faculties to lead souls to salvation.
The Church allows for God’s mercy and admits that members of other religions may achieve salvation. My opinion is that the Church is discussing the exception rather than the rule.
Bad theology can nearly always be a major, not minor, gaff.It’s not even a minor gaff. The heavy lifting is done by God the Holy Spirit. A man is incapable of changing the heart of another man. This is only accomplished through spiritual means with perhaps minor help from one of us.
I am in good company with my “Bad Theology”.Bad theology can nearly always be a major, not minor, gaff.
“It must be said that the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization: It is he who impels each individual to proclaim the gospel, and it is he who…causes the word of salvation to be accepted and understood.”
It’s not so much about disgracing, more that I don’t understand, you used the word guaranteed yourself, none of us are guaranteed until we get there.So why do you expect a Protestant who believes they are saved and guaranteed a place in heaven to go around disgracing themself and their heavenly father?
Well that may be, but that’s not what “born again” protestants believe.It’s not so much about disgracing, more that I don’t understand, you used the word guaranteed yourself, none of us are guaranteed until we get there.
Do Catholics believe John 6:51-56 to be literal? As in literally eating Jesus flesh and literally drinking his blood? I think some Protestants believe that not sure if it’s AnglicanI do not know how non-Catholic Christians get to heaven. That is God’s decision.
John 6: 51-56 **“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” **The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, **“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. **
Luke 22: 19-20 Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.”
Of course, that is why He said “it is real food”.Do Catholics believe John 6:51-56 to be literal? As in literally eating Jesus flesh and literally drinking his blood? I think some Protestants believe that not sure if it’s Anglican
If it 'doesn’t matter, how do you put John 6:51-59 in perspective? It seems to me one cannot ‘abide’ in Christ unless he ‘eats’. Is there an alternative to ‘everlasting life’ in Scripture?We are saved by Baptism, not by Eucharist. Most protestants have valid Baptism.
If we are Baptized and die without any unconfessed mortal sins, we go to heaven. It does not matter if we have ever received Eucharist.
Jesus is telling us the ordinary expectation of a faithful Catholic. It’s just like when he says, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). Water Baptism is the ordinary means of salvation, but the Church also teaches that we can be saved without water Baptism (ie, Baptism of Desire/Blood or invincible ignorance).If it 'doesn’t matter, how do you put John 6:51-59 in perspective?
Canon Law says that we should already be in a State of Grace to receive Eucharist, and we are to abstain from Eucharist if we suspect we are not already in a State of Grace:By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin. In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam’s sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God. (CCC 1263, italics original but boldfacing is mine)
So Eucharist is for people who are ALREADY saved (in a State of Grace).A person who is conscious of a grave sin is not to receive the body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession unless a grave reason is present and there is no opportunity of confessing; in this case the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible (1983 CIC 916)
I’ve never herd of baptism by invincible ignorance. Could you explain referencing canon or doctrine?Jesus is telling us the ordinary expectation of a faithful Catholic. It’s just like when he says, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). Water Baptism is the ordinary means of salvation, but the Church also teaches that we can be saved without water Baptism (ie, Baptism of Desire/Blood or invincible ignorance).
The state of grace wasn’t in question, it was about abiding in Christ as well as Christ abiding in us. How does one so abide without the Eucharist which is required for ‘eternal life’? “Eternal life” refers to a state of grace in this world as well as the next in which one is sufficiently perfected in Christ. No one is ‘already’ saved (or for that matter lost) in this world. How does one ‘approach’ Christ by rejecting Him in either the species of bread or wine? Just to say Eucharist = grace doesn’t seem to fit a Catholic form of ‘once saved always saved’ - a form that doesn’t exist in Catholicism to my knowledge.The Church teaches:
Canon Law says that we should already be in a State of Grace to receive Eucharist, and we are to abstain from Eucharist if we suspect we are not already in a State of Grace:
So Eucharist is for people who are ALREADY saved (in a State of Grace).