TristanCross,
You are so right about the freedom that belongs to a spiritually born-again believer in Jesus Christ. We who are trusting in Christ alone as our Savior. Salvation is found in no other. We can know that we have eternal life and we can have assurance of our salvation now because of the completed work of Christ at Calvary where He paid our sin debt in full. Christ is no longer to be re-offered or re-presented. Hebrews 7:27 says, “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.” God said no sacrifice without the shedding of blood could ever remit sins.
As a former roman catholic, I remember the constant fear and guilt I had whenever I missed Mass. I wondered did I do enough penance, did I pray enough and hard enough. Am I really worthy to participate in the Eucharist. Do I need to do more works of charity. Then their was the fear of purgatory and where I would spend eternity. I never had the peace of Christ that passes all understanding. I didn’t even have a relationship with God. I was never taught that I could confess my sins directly to God. What I knew about Christ was that He was supposed to be the bread inside the Host and sacrificed every time Mass was said. I never read the Bible. There were no Bibles in church. All I had was my Missal, full of prayers that were meaningless to me because they didn’t come from my own heart.
For the roman catholic, their relationship with God is based on what they do rather than what Christ has done, thus they never know where they stand. How sad that they deny the all sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. By receiving the sacraments and doing works of charity Catholics believe they can merit for themselves and for the dead the graces needed for sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Whenever they commit a grave sin, the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. They have a long journey through the Sacrifice of the Mass, sacraments, good works, merit, veneration of Mary and the Saints. Each one is required to partake of the sacraments in order to be good enough to die in the state of “sanctifying grace” and then to be saved or at least, it is hoped, to land for a time in purgatory. Even on a natural level one wonders how a Catholic can have any hope. The sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments are such that the most they can promise is a pseudo-hell called purgatory.
But the Scriptures tells us there’s only 2 places in the hereafter: heaven and hell. Its appointed once for man to die, then the judgment. There’s no stopping off place for purification. There was a time when the RCC believed in limbo, until a pope admitted there’s no such “state”.
Yet they can never have this assurance of eternal life with God because their salvation is never settled in this life. It is a sin for a Catholic to know salvation is secured. Canon 16 of the Council of Trent states, “If anyone says that he will for certain, with an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance even to the end let him be anathema.” This canon is in direct opposition to the Bible. The apostle John wrote his epistle to believers of Jesus Christ, in order that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
Every decision made by our holy father is absolute truth. This power of gift was granted to Peter, it is ignorant for us to assume that Jesus only meant that Peter would be the first and last leader and that after his death no one would take his place.
You seem to have issues with us holding blessed Mary so highly, well I ask you, don’t you love your mother? Do you not think Christ loves and respects his? How will he deny his mother? If she asks him to save a soul who otherwise would go to hell, he will save that soul.
There is nothing to fear in being a Catholic, we have the honor of being the Church that Christ established along with the Orthodox Church. No other Church holds that right and because every other Church has changed in accordance to what their founders believed, it can not be correct because a human cannot and is not qualified to do so. However, the Pope who through Christs words is entitled to make changes.
Other faiths follow what one man or many men have believed, such as the protastants who even now blatantly disregard parts of the Bible, but how? The word of God can not be half true, or 90% true, if we are to not believe certain parts of the Bible, whos to say any of its true? Who’s to decide what is and isn’t? Martin Luther? Any human who is imperfect?
Your works of charity are never complete, just as Christ did, we too do. We don’t do good for a part of our lives and hope that just by believing in Christ that it is enough, the Devil believes in Christ too, is that who you choose to get your philosophy from?
Christ did sacrifice himself once and only once, but his sacrifice is eternal, he comes down during every mass as a reminder of our everlasting covenant. His blood and flesh are there, no longer wine and bread.
A Catholic priest not too long ago questioned why we believe this, he continued to offer mass but didn’t believe it was truly Jesus coming down. One day during mass as he raised the Eucharist, blood began to flow down from it and it became flesh. This is a true story told to me by many priests.
When you confess, you do confess your sins to God, that priest is only there to forgive your sins through Christ, not through himself. But this sacrament is not a guarantee to forgiveness, you can only be forgiven when you are truly sorry and repent by which ever way that priest asks, and if wished by you to do even more then he asks.
Of course it is difficult for us to enter heaven, but scripture says we are to be cleansed through fire to enter the kingdom of heaven, that fire is equal to that of hell, but it is not eternal and it is not a seperation from God, that is only for those who enter hell.
You did not seek the answers while you were a Catholic and chose a faith to where you feel its easier to enter heaven, the cross is never easy to carry, that is your mistake.
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