Hi! I accept the challenge. Nice post, by the way, whoever started this!
- Transubstantiation is refuted when Christ declared the metaphor in John 6:35. If he was talking about the bread physically becoming his body, then this verse would imply that those who’ve partaken in the Eucharist will never become either physically hungry or thirsty again, which is, needless to say, quite deceptive. (Also, he wasn’t even speaking about the Eucharist in this passage. In its proper context, we see that Yeshua is speaking to a crowd of people who can’t get it in their minds that it’s not about the food he’s providing, but it’s about his spiritual sufficiency for them … During the Last Supper, Christ is participating in Jewish matzah tosh ceremony, where three pieces of unleavened bread are placed in a single bag (representing God’s Triunity), the second piece is taken out, broken, burried, and resurrected, in a sense. Christ was stating that this ceremony was pointing to him and his death and resurrection. Likewise, the Communion cup was the third cup taken in the ceremony, the Cup of Redemption. By taking this cup, the Messiah declared that through his blood, symbolized by the wine, redemption and reconciliation would be brought.)
- Mary is most likely not the Immaculate Conception, as it is illogical to say that she was simply preserved from Original Sin while Anna was a perfect sinner, just like us; if this were the case, why wouldn’t God simply preserve Christ, and leave Mary to receive redemption in the same glorious way we did? Anyway, the Scripture is Luke 1:35:
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you.
Therefore] the baby to be born will be holy …”
- The Catholic Church is fond of quoting 1 Timothy 2:1-4 in support of the doctrine calling for the intercession of the saints but often leaves out the important verse 5:
“For there is only one God and
one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity–the man Christ Jesus.”
Thus the Apostle professes the futility of prayer to another. Likewise spake the psalmist, so exemplary in his conduct:
“I pray to no one but you [my God and King].” --Psalm 5:2
- Also strange is that belief that faith plus works equals salvation. Quite an erroneous equation, when one considers:
"This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished
from start to finish by faith [lit. ‘from faith to faith’]. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” --Rom. 1:17
And,
“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.” --Rom. 3:22
“People are made right with God when they **believe **that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.” --Rom. 3:25
“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t **show **it by your actions?.. I will
show you my faith by my good deeds…” James 2:14, 18
You see, his [Abraham’s] faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: ‘Abraham
believed God, and God
counted him as righteous because of his faith.’ He was even called the friend of God.” --James 2:22, 23
James and Paul seem very much in agreeance about the nature of salvation. It is a “free gift, not a reward for the good things we’ve done.” To James, in his situation, it had to be made clear to a lazy, stubborn people that faith resulted in fruit, and one who had true, living faith was bound to perform good works, but only as a by-product of that same faith.
The fact that so many instances the Scriptures declare God will take these works into account on Judgement Day would imply little more than that he looks at our fruit to see if there is that real, living faith in us … that faith that is productive to his Church.
That will suffice for now. I’m very tired.
