Oh oh, my friend got me with this one! Acts 15:11

[Strider]

Ryan,

May I give you some advice? You have posted other threads that have resulted from conversations you have had with non-Catholic friends.
Many fundamntalists and evangelicals don’t think Catholics are really Christians and they sincerely want to save your soul.
They are wrong, but sincere, and have developed Scripture quotes that, taken at face value, seem to support their agruments almost perfectly.
Be assured, there is ALWAYS a Catholic respopnse, from Scripture, to refute their false interpretations and misleading passages.
The problem you have, not by any fault of yours, is that you are young. It takes years and continual study to become really competent in this kind of dialogue. Your friends memorize a few lines of scripture that sound as if they support their view. In response, you have to find, learn and be able to access the true Catholic response.
May I suggest that, as you can, download some of the Catholic Answers tracts, purchase from Catholic Answere a “Bible cheat sheet,” and get a tape ( there are several free) from John Martignoni at www.biblechristiansociety.com . Also, check out the web site of Tim Staples and other good, competent Catholic apologists.
Then, hit the books. The more you know, the more confidence you will have in the true Catholic position and you won’t be shaken by any of the Scripture passages your friends throw at you.
Always be kind, patient and reapectful of your friends. Remember, apologetics is not about winning arguments; it’s about planting seeds.
From your perspective, I’m an old man, and I consider a day in which I haven’t learned something new to be a wasted day. I hope the day I quit learning is the day I die.
Pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit and pray for your friends.
Good luck, my young friend. Stand solid in your faith.
God bless

 

[EddieArent]

Through Christ’s grace we are saved as He gracefully gives us His body and blood (soul & divinity) in the Holy Eucharist. if we take in the Eucharist, we will rise.

 

[GodKid]

test me

 

[Shibboleth]

Although I have seen some clarity on the Catholic end of the spectrum I am witnessing some false beliefs about what Protestants believe in this area… at least from a Lutheran standpoint.

Yes both Lutheran’s and Catholics believe that we are saved through God’s grace and not by any merits of our own. We both believe that good works and faith are byproducts of God’s grace. This being said the line about demons knowing that Jesus is God does not equate as “faith” because by the Catholic’s own proclamations one cannot have true faith without God’s grace and demons most definitely are not in good Graces with God.

So what is True Faith, well it is a lot of things or at least it cannot adequately be explained in the amount of word that one is limited to on the message board. I guess one truncated version could be that we need to truly believe that God is our savior and that he died for all of our sins, that we should have ultimate faith in his sacrifice for us.

Catholic individuals have problems with Luther’s quote… primarily because they misunderstand it and do not take into account the context in which it was written.

If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. This life is not the dwelling place of righteousness, but, as Peter says, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is enough that by the riches of God’s glory we have come to know the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small? Pray boldly–you too are a mighty sinner.

In other words know that you will sin but have true faith that Jesus died for those sins completely and that we need not do any works other than our trust in him and his sacrifice for our salvation. We as humans on this planet are going to sin, it is inevitable – so if you sin do it boldly and do not hide it but show your faith in Christ and his sacrifice even more boldly.
Catholic individuals usually bring up the line about murder and fornication, but I have even heard a Catholic apologist on relevant radio state that Hitler could have even been saved had he renounced his sins prior to his death - provided that he did not actually commit suicide.

I have a minor problem with faith though in that I think that a trust in Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice is a “work”, it is just an internal and mental work, just not a physical one. This is where I think that Catholics and Lutherans will finally be able to agree in time because if one does not reject God then he will inevitably bear good fruit, that fruit will be manifested in true faith and good works. Neither of these can we take credit for because without God’s grace they would not exist.

Even while in God’s grace though we will sin – have faith that he died for those sins. You do not need to work off those sins to achieve salvation.

 

[GodKid]

my apologies for the last post… it was a test message and I couldn’t delete it.

Still looking for Catholic answers to my hypothetical questions…

 

[graceandglory]

This passage justifies justification by grace alone (sola gratia), which both Catholic and Protestant Christianity agree upon. No one earns their way into heaven; it is all done by God’s grace (unmerited friendship) alone.

It is by God’s grace that at 1:45 in the morning, I am listening to podcasts of homilies and looking up scriptures, rather than doing anything else. Ok, sleeping would be okay too, but I was really enjoying my brand-new ability to listen to podcasts.