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roadracer
Guest
What is the best response to those who believe that faith alone will bring salvation?
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Steven_Merten
Guest
Hello roadracer,
Ask them, “What must I do to share in everlasting life?”
Then say, “No! What is the best answer to this question. What was Jesus’ answer to this question?”
NAB MAR 10:17
"Good Teacher, what must I do to share in everlasting life?" Jesus answered, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. **You know the commandments:****'You shall not kill;****You shall not commit adultery; ****You shall not steal; ****You shall not bear false witness; ****You shall not defraud; **Honor your father and your mother.’"
NAB LUK 10:25
"Teacher, what must I do to inherit everlasting life?" Jesus answered him: "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" He replied:
**"You shall love the Lord your God, ****with all your heart, ****with all your soul, ****with all your strength, ****and with all your mind; **and your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus said, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you shall live.”
NIV 1JO 5:3****This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.
NAB JOH 5:27
“The Father has given over to him power to pass judgment because he is Son of Man; no need for you to be surprised at this, for an hour is coming in which all those in their tombs shall hear his voice and come forth. **Those who have done right shall rise to live; the evildoers shall rise to be damned.” **
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FightingFat
Guest
I Have Been Saved (past event) I Am Being Saved (present event) I Will Be Saved (future event) I Save (by participating in Christ’s salvific work).
Check it all out here - scripturecatholic.com/salvation.html
Check it all out here - scripturecatholic.com/salvation.html
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awalt
Guest
Ask him to explain James (which by the way Luther tried to have removed from the Canon of the Bible but thankfully other Protestant leaders disagreed):
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
18 But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, 23 and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
%between% %between% (Jas 2:14).
Oh - and check out my signature line below!
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
18 But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, 23 and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
%between% %between% (Jas 2:14).
Oh - and check out my signature line below!
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FightingFat
Guest
Nice post awalt, this is a good page directly answering this question too-
members.cox.net/humurabi/AreYouSaved.pdf
members.cox.net/humurabi/AreYouSaved.pdf
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Liberian
Guest
Road Racer,
Hello and welcome to the Catholic Answers Forums. I hope you have a blessed and fruitful time here.
The first thing is to ask exactly what they mean by “faith alone.” I have seen an Evangelical define “faith alone” so that it includes repentance from one’s sins, acceptance of the lordship of Jesus Christ, and obedience to His commandments. Pretty much any “faith alone” person will agree that “you cannot live like the devil and expect to get to Heaven”–which shoots “faith alone” (using the dictionary definitions of the terms) to pieces.
It is my experience that once you get past the words and find out what people actually believe and practice, “faith alone” believers are pretty much in agreement with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
- Liberian
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Alexius
Guest
Yeah, Liberian is right! My apologetics teacher (who is a Calvinist) defines “faith [alone]” as repentance, belief, and obedience (to Christ’s commands), as opposed to merit. On the other hand, some believe “faith alone” means belief alone. I always respond to them with James’ example that the demons themselves believe in God, and they know and believe that Christ was crucified and rose again, but they do not follow Christ in obedience and charity. So that is why James says that “faith without works is dead,” because the disciple of Christ will do as he commands. Notice that I emphasized the word “do,” as this involves an action - a life of action…
Prayers and petitions,
Alexius
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Axion
Guest
Faith must go hand-in-hand with Hope and Love (1 Corinthians 13:13).
As Jesus said…
Matthew 6: 14 “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Matthew 7: 21"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Matthew19: 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
Matthew 25 :31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
32** “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.**
33** “He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.**
34** “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.**
35** ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,**
36** ‘I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’**
37** “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?**
38** ‘When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?**
39** ‘When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’**
40** “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’**
41** “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.**
42** ‘For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,**
43** ‘I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’**
44** “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’**
45** “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’**
46** “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”**
As Jesus said…
Matthew 6: 14 “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Matthew 7: 21"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Matthew19: 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
Matthew 25 :31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
32** “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.**
33** “He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.**
34** “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.**
35** ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,**
36** ‘I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’**
37** “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?**
38** ‘When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?**
39** ‘When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’**
40** “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’**
41** “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.**
42** ‘For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,**
43** ‘I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’**
44** “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’**
45** “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’**
46** “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”**
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Axion
Guest
Of course obedience to Christ’s commands involves works - and is therefore not Faith Alone.
What so many protestants preach though is “Accept Jesus as your Personal Saviour”, either by signing a pledge or saying a short “sinner’s prayer”, and if done genuinely, this is said to at once guarantee Salvation. That is clearly not what the gospel teaches.
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Liberian
Guest
Axion,
You are right that it is clearly not what the gospel teaches, and in fact it is not what Protestants actually believe. They may say that they believe it, but if you do not start doing the good works they will say that the “sinner’s prayer” was not done genuinely.
Really, there is no practical difference between Evangelicals and Catholics here. They both believe the teachings of the Catholic Church; the Evangelicals simply phrase it poorly.
- Liberian
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Eddy
Guest
I’m with you on this Liberian - I think many Protestants will say that faith alone will bring salvation. But faith without works is not genuine faith. Or, to quote one Protestant singer songwriter (yes, it’s meant to be a lighthearted song):
It’s about as useful as a swingdoor on a submarine,
Faith without works? It just ain’t happening.
One is your left hand, one is your right,
It takes two strong hands just to hold on tight
Faith without works? It’s like a song you can’t sing
It’s about as useful as a swingdoor on a submarine’
There is, of course, the distinction between Calvinists and Arminians, which further complicates the issue though…
It’s about as useful as a swingdoor on a submarine,
Faith without works? It just ain’t happening.
One is your left hand, one is your right,
It takes two strong hands just to hold on tight
Faith without works? It’s like a song you can’t sing
It’s about as useful as a swingdoor on a submarine’
There is, of course, the distinction between Calvinists and Arminians, which further complicates the issue though…
- Status