AG: Honest question, no sarcasm, Although an acknowledged sinner, you ARE correct in your faith?
RA1: Yes. All sarcasm and kidding aside. Now, let me also say, you are correct too. We have much in common: same God, same Lord & savior, same gospel (although we see justification/sanctification differently,
I CANNOT put you in any different a category that my Arminian brothers/sisters – e.g., several Calvary Chapel churches, most notably, the CC run by Raul Ries), same history in many ways, same historical struggles, same pre-Nicene martyrs, same ethics/morals/values…
So, I do see more in common than in argument. But we tend to talk more about differences than similarities, which is probably unfortunate.
AG: So given that the Holy Spirit cannot mislead and contradict Itself, YOU are correct in your beliefs, Yes? You are not misled, misguided, or misinformed in any way in matters of your faith and your salvation? Correct?
RA2: No. Incorrect. You are over-simplifying in order to win an argument. And I don’t appreciate it. This is the rift that exists between RC and Protestants – i.e., the Bible alone vs, the Bible + church tradition + biblical interpretation by church hierarchy.
If you would put emotion aside, you’d see that I was very specific in the things I noted up there that you quoted. I see no mention of salvation, nor do I see any mention of my “faith” per se, which I might interpret/define differently than you.
AG: So from that - am I to conclude that I MUST believe what YOU believe. Surely yes, because you are being guided by the Holy Spirit and He cannot tell you one thing and me another.
RA3: Again, you are over-simplifying in order to win an argument. It does not necessarily take the Holy Spirit’s guidance to simply read a biblical verse in context in English, then look up a Greek word, and read a thoughtful commentary. That would fall under the category of using the mind that God gave me – the mind with which I am told to love God (Luke 10:27).
Now, in this arena of our faith, there are complications that arise in people – religious agendas, social/communal loyalties, lack of knowledge, poor reasoning, emotional baggage, fear, ignorance, sincere/deep attachments – that can hinder someone from accepting the obvious.
That is not the Holy Spirit. That is self, free-will, conscious decision-making. Everyone does it. Catholics and Protestants. And cultists – especially cultists.
AG: And if He has revealed to you that the Eucharist is not necessary for eternal life, that Mary has not been assumed into heaven or conceived without original sin, if He has revealed to YOU that auricular confession is not necessary and Rome is NOT the church of God, then that MUST be correct, yes?
**RA4: **The Bible tells me that in print.
AG: So when I say Im being led by the Holy spirit to the Catholic Church, it is NOt the Holy Spirit that is doing this. It is another spirit at work? And its another spirit that is misleading all those thousands of churches?
**RA5: **Not necessarily another spirit. No. Of course not. That’s silly. See RA3
**AG: **In fact, unless we fall into line with YOUR view of salvation, we are all being misled by other spirits?
RA6: I accept your salvation. When did I ever say anything about your salvation. Read RA2. You’ve been reading to many anti-Catholic fundamentalist RC-haters. I am not one of them. In fact, if you look on another thread, I just recommended that a Mormon become a RC, and asked RC posters to please help him return to the church (
see my Today, 6:57 am here).
AG: RA has made several referrences to ‘‘Rome’’ being a misled, adulterated, if not outright false church, in that it has it’s own Gospel, which is not the Gospel of Christ
RA: What? Where? Where did I say the RCC taught a full blown false gospel. I said it teaches a view of salvation that is comparable to my own Christian, evangelical, Arminian buddies!
RA