God Teaches Salvation occurs at the moment you repent and believe the gospel (
Acts 20:21,
Ephesians 1:13).
The pope Teaches Salvation is a process from baptism through purgatory (161, 162, 1254, 1255).
First, look at what his verse citations actually say.
[bibledrb]Acts 20:21[/bibledrb]
Now, does that in any way even infer what he says it does? No.
[bibledrb]Ephesians 1:13[/bibledrb]
Does this one? Not at all. Neither verse speaks of immediate salvation. In fact,
However, the New Testament does say…
[bibledrb]Philippians 2:12[/bibledrb]
So then, how can one work out their salvation with fear and trembling if it takes place in an instant as Gendron has just stated?
St. Paul also tells us…
[bibledrb]1 Corinthians 9:27[/bibledrb]
Not only does it not speak of instant salvation, but teaches that salvation can be lost by becoming that “castaway/” Paul refers to. So then…is Mike Gendron scripturally correct in what he has taught here?
But what about the Catechism references? Do they contradict the Word of God? Let’s take a look.
**161 **Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. “Since “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ‘But he who endures to the end.’”
Perseverance in faith
162 Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith."44 To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith;45 it must be “working through charity,” abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church.46
1254 For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow *after *Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads only to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of that new life in Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth.
1255 For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents’ help is important. So too is the role of the *godfather *and
godmother, who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized - child or adult on the road of Christian life.55 Their task is a truly ecclesial function (
officium).56 The whole ecclesial community bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace given at Baptism.
Well? In fact, do these not clearly teach the very same things that the New Testament tells us in passages like
[bibledrb]Matthew 28:19-20[/bibledrb]
God Teaches Only Jesus purifies sin (
Hebrews 1:3,
Colossians 1:22).
The pope Teaches Purgatory purifies sin (1030,1031).
We Catholics have absolutely no problem at all with what both those verses say. In fact we will say “amen” and Alleluia" to them both because we believe every word written in the Bible.
However, in checking these passages for context I discovered that a serious problem for Mike Gendron. Look at the very next verse that he doesn’t bother to cite and which blows his whole instant salvation concept right out the proverbial window!
23] provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Purgatory is actually pretty easy to explain. See
Biblical and Jewish Traditional Beliefs About Purgatory
God Teaches You can know that you have eternal life (
John 10:27-30,
1 John 5:13).
The pope Teaches You sin if you presume to be saved without merit (2090-2092).
I think the scripture passages that I have already cited already deal with the fact that we know we can be saved, but that Gendron misrepresents both authentic Catholic teaching as well as the Word of God in the things he has said so far.
Let’s look at the Catechism citations anyway though because I think we’ll see a very specious misrepresentation of what they say.
- Hope
2090 When God reveals Himself and calls him, man cannot fully respond to the divine love by his own powers. He must hope that God will give him the capacity to love Him in return and to act in conformity with the commandments of charity. Hope is the confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of God; it is also the fear of offending God’s love and of incurring punishment.
2091 The first commandment is also concerned with sins against hope, namely, despair and presumption:
By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God’s goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.
2092 There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God’s almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).
God Teaches The sacrifice of Jesus is finished (
John 19:30).
The pope Teaches The sacrifice of Jesus continues in daily Mass (611, 1405).
Here he attempts to attack the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Christ in the Mass. We know that this is what the Church teaches and those who know the scriptural teachings on the Eucharist, know full well that we all say "amen’ to the verse in John 19:30 that Gendron cites, but let’s look at his Catechism citations anyway to see what’s going on. (See also my article
The Eucharist IS Scriptural)
**611 **The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of his sacrifice. Jesus includes the apostles in his own offering and bids them perpetuate it. By doing so, the Lord institutes his apostles as priests of the New Covenant: “For their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
**1405 **There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth “in which righteousness dwells,” than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, “the work of our redemption is carried on” and we “break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ.”
No conflict with scripture there, but I guess Gendron feels that if he throws a bunch of numbers at people, they won’t check it like I have done and as a result they’ll buy into his propaganda. Notice how he concludes.
