I was converted from Catholicism to Christ at the age of 19.

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vichlopet

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It just occured to me that I have never regreted my conversion. When I was saved, no one told me that I have to leave the Catholic religion, I simply believed that Jesus Christ paid for my sins with his blood and I called upon him to save me: just like the Philipian jailer in Acts 16:31. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” He did, and he was. To the saved believer, the thought of someone trying to administer God’s grace through some ritual is the highest form of idolatry there is. Jesus said, “it is finished”, not ‘it’s begun’.

I just hope that people will see that God’s grace is through faith in Christ and not in some man made rituals. May the Lord truly bless every one who is seeking to know him in truth.
 
vichlopet said:
I just hope that people will see that God’s grace is through faith in Christ and not in some man made rituals.
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The only “rituals” that Catholics believe always convey grace are the sacraments, which we can surely all agree are not man-made.

Catholics also believe in “sacramentals,” but these are simply means that increase one’s devotion–they do not intrinsically convey grace, as far as I understand Catholic theology.

Your objection may well apply to indulgences–I’m not going to defend Catholics on this one, but at least they don’t think indulgences have anything to do with their eternal salvation.

Edwin
 
vichlopet said:
It just occured to me that I have never regreted my conversion. When I was saved, no one told me that I have to leave the Catholic religion, I simply believed that Jesus Christ paid for my sins with his blood and I called upon him to save me: just like the Philipian jailer in Acts 16:31. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” He did, and he was. To the saved believer, the thought of someone trying to administer God’s grace through some ritual is the highest form of idolatry there is. Jesus said, “it is finished”, not ‘it’s begun’.

I just hope that people will see that God’s grace is through faith in Christ and not in some man made rituals. May the Lord truly bless every one who is seeking to know him in truth.
Click to expand...
I like the one where the blind man wants to be healed and Christ mixes mud and spittle in His hands and rubs it on the mans eyes with the instructions to go and wash it off.
He did not have to do that, He could have just healed him with a thought, even without ever meeting the man, but He let the man come to Him and He chose to use matter, mud and spittle, and a little ritual, washing oneself.
He knows us very well I suppose and we, as material, as well as spiritual creatures need to know and sense something has happened.
Baptism with water, eat the bread of life, laying on of hands, etc. are all the material methods and rituals He chose as real conduits of grace, and not man made rituals.
 
vichlopet said:
It just occured to me that I have never regreted my conversion. When I was saved, no one told me that I have to leave the Catholic religion, I simply believed that Jesus Christ paid for my sins with his blood and I called upon him to save me: just like the Philipian jailer in Acts 16:31. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” He did, and he was. To the saved believer, the thought of someone trying to administer God’s grace through some ritual is the highest form of idolatry there is. Jesus said, “it is finished”, not ‘it’s begun’.

I just hope that people will see that God’s grace is through faith in Christ and not in some man made rituals. May the Lord truly bless every one who is seeking to know him in truth.
Click to expand...
I am sorry that you didn’t find Christ in His Church. I think you may have been done a disservice to not know Him where He has been for 2000 years, in the Catholic Church. I was fortunate to always know Jesus personally and intimately in the Church and never had to go elsewhere.
 
Hi vichlopet and welcome to CAF!

About “it is finished”, I would recommend you to read the book “The Last Supper” written by Scott Hahn. It is very helpful to me, and it might to you too.

About salvation, here are few verses:

1 Corinthians 9:27: But I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Romans 11:22: Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his grace; if not, you too will be cut off.

Matthew 7:21. Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

God bless!
 
Thing said:
I like the one where the blind man wants to be healed and Christ mixes mud and spittle in His hands and rubs it on the mans eyes with the instructions to go and wash it off.

I’m just glad that the blind man didn’t have to be healed again and again. When Christ restored his sight, it was once for all.
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Thing said:
I like the one where the blind man wants to be healed and Christ mixes mud and spittle in His hands and rubs it on the mans eyes with the instructions to go and wash it off.
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vichlopet:
I’m just glad that the blind man didn’t have to be healed again and again. When Christ restored his sight, it was once for all
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.
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Like the;

Sacrament of Confession

Christ came for the sinners…
because sin barred man from heaven.
As God sent Christ, Christ sent the Apostles; to heal man …‘whose sins you forgive they are forgiven’.
…how often are they to forgive man - seventy times seven times.
So man has the possibility of heaven through Christs once and for all time Sacrament.
 
vichlopet said:
It just occured to me that I have never regreted my conversion. When I was saved, no one told me that I have to leave the Catholic religion, I simply believed that Jesus Christ paid for my sins with his blood and I called upon him to save me: just like the Philipian jailer in Acts 16:31. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” He did, and he was. To the saved believer, the thought of someone trying to administer God’s grace through some ritual is the highest form of idolatry there is. Jesus said, “it is finished”, not ‘it’s begun’.

I just hope that people will see that God’s grace is through faith in Christ and not in some man made rituals. May the Lord truly bless every one who is seeking to know him in truth.
Click to expand...
Every religion, all 30,000 of them are man-made. The Catholic religion is not man made…unless you call Jesus the man.
 
vichlopet said:
It just occured to me that I have never regreted my conversion. When I was saved, no one told me that I have to leave the Catholic religion, I simply believed that Jesus Christ paid for my sins with his blood and I called upon him to save me: just like the Philipian jailer in Acts 16:31. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” He did, and he was. To the saved believer, the thought of someone trying to administer God’s grace through some ritual is the highest form of idolatry there is. Jesus said, “it is finished”, not ‘it’s begun’.

I just hope that people will see that God’s grace is through faith in Christ and not in some man made rituals. May the Lord truly bless every one who is seeking to know him in truth.
Click to expand...
I have an encounter with Jesus Christ everyday that I go to Mass. I receive his Word in the Liturgy, then I receive his body and blood in the Eucharist, and Jesus enters my soul. Jesus has always been present in the Catholic Mass, Catholics just have to learn more about their own faith! God bless!
 
vichlopet said:
It just occured to me that I have never regreted my conversion. When I was saved, no one told me that I have to leave the Catholic religion, I simply believed that Jesus Christ paid for my sins with his blood and I called upon him to save me: just like the Philipian jailer in Acts 16:31. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” He did, and he was. To the saved believer, the thought of someone trying to administer God’s grace through some ritual is the highest form of idolatry there is. Jesus said, “it is finished”, not ‘it’s begun’.

I just hope that people will see that God’s grace is through faith in Christ and not in some man made rituals. May the Lord truly bless every one who is seeking to know him in truth.
Click to expand...
I was converted from the Catholic Church when I was 15. The thing is though I was Catholic I wasn’t really a believer and unfortunately I didn’t have the examples I should have had. However, I’ve come to a different conclusion than you. Catholics believe that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you shall be saved. That is true. However, have you ever studied how the bible was put together? Did you know that Jesus was a Rabbi and that he practiced Jewish ritual? What did Jesus mean in Matthew where he tells his followers to follow the Pharasees teaching since they sit in Moses’ seat just don’t take the law for granted like they do. It is very clear that Christianity is a progression from Judaism and includes rituals. Not to be taken for granted but as a devotion to keep God at the forefront of your mind. The Sacraments are ways God dispences his grace to you. You view the scriptures in the same way. God dispences grace to you by the reading of the Scripture. Catholics view the scriptures the same way but they also view the sacraments as a means of help in our christian walk. The Sacraments in Catholic theology don’t save you in and of themselves but the grace of God which give you faith to believe in Jesus as the Christ. Catholics are saved by the Grace of God through faith. The sacraments are a bonus dispencing of grace. Ask yourself this question. How did we get the scriptures? Did God dictate it or was it by inspiration. How do you know that the NT is the word of God? Why those books and not others? Who set the standard? You would find that it was the Catholic Church that made that convention.
 
vichlopet said:
…To the saved believer, the thought of someone trying to administer God’s grace through some ritual is the highest form of idolatry there is … I just hope that people will see that God’s grace is through faith in Christ and not in some man made rituals. May the Lord truly bless every one who is seeking to know him in truth.
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Hi, Vichlopet. Could you help me understand a Bible verse? “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said t othem, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you are forgiven the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-22). How is that idolatry?
vichlopet said:
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” He did, and he was. To the saved believer, the thought of someone trying to administer God’s grace through some ritual is the highest form of idolatry there is. Jesus said, “it is finished”, not ‘it’s begun’.
Click to expand...
Which is it? If “It is finished” means every individual’s journey to salvation was finished, then we need not do anything to be saved, not even believe. Right? If it was “finished” 2000 years ago then there’s no need to believe in Jeusus here in 2008, right? Or perhaps “It is finished” means Jesus’ suffering was finished, not each individual person’s journey of salvation.
 
churchcamefirst said:
Every religion, all 30,000 of them are man-made. The Catholic religion is not man made…unless you call Jesus the man.
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Damasus must not have been a bible believer because if her were he would have known that Peter was the Apostle to the Jew and the first see was in Jerusalem.
 
vichlopet said:
Thing;4233552:
I like the one where the blind man wants to be healed and Christ mixes mud and spittle in His hands and rubs it on the mans eyes with the instructions to go and wash it off.

I’m just glad that the blind man didn’t have to be healed again and again. When Christ restored his sight, it was once for all.
Click to expand...
I’m sorry if I’m a little dense but show me where it says he didn’t need to be healed (saved) again?
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Many protestants view Salvation as just their justification. For Catholics Justification is just one aspect of Salvation. The scriptures say that we must not be conformed to this world but different by the renewing of our minds transforming them in the likeness of christ. Reading Scripture is only one way to do this. The sacraments continue this process. How do you define salvation? Are you saved and then “good to go”? What are you saved from? Just being justified is one aspect. You have the opportunity to live a Christ like life by participating in the Sacraments and doing good works. Consider the letter of James. Faith without works are dead. How do you view this?
 
CalCatholic said:
I have an encounter with Jesus Christ everyday that I go to Mass. I receive his Word in the Liturgy, then I receive his body and blood in the Eucharist, and Jesus enters my soul. Jesus has always been present in the Catholic Mass, Catholics just have to learn more about their own faith! God bless!
Click to expand...
Amen. There is no more intimate, personal union with Christ available in this world than when we accept His Body and Blood into our innermost being in the Eucharist. I wish I was at Mass right now.
 
Contarini said:
The only “rituals” that Catholics believe always convey grace are the sacraments, which we can surely all agree are not man-made…
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It interests me that when some people hear “ritual,” they instantly think “empty ritual,” as if an event must lack personal meaning if it is a ritual. I wonder how they felt about their own wedding rituals?
 
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