Posted on 07/26/2013 2:57:13 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
Question:
What would a baptized and confirmed Roman Catholic need to do in order to join the Orthodox Presbyterian Church?
Answer:
Allow me to answer you question with a brief autobiographical anecdote. I was born, baptized, raised, confirmed, and educated in the Roman Catholic system. In fact, it was while I was at a Roman Catholic college (of all places) that I was converted by the grace of God. After realizing how different the teachings of the RCC are from Scripture, I joined with a Baptist church. And that church required that I be rebaptized as an adult. So, I went through that process and became a member. Several years later I came to understand the doctrine of the Bible as it was taught in Reformed churches like the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). Joining them was quite easy. I went before the session (a group of men who are officers in the church) where they interviewed me to make sure I had a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The following Sunday they put me before the congregation where I publicly professed my faith in Jesus Christ in the form of several membership vows. And that was it. I was a member!
So, being baptized and confirmed in the RCC is no big obstacle if you want to become a member of the OPC. As long as you have come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, and you trust not in any of your works. When asked the question "What must I do to be saved?", the response of Paul and Silas was "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31), and that is still true today. What is important is to put your full trust in Jesus. If you have done that, if you have repented of your sin and trust in Jesus alone, you are welcomed into the fellowship of the OPC. There is no need to be re-baptized and there is no need to renounce your confirmation.
At this point I would strongly encourage you to seek out the pastor of a local OPC, and he can guide you through the details of the steps toward membership in the OPC. If you need assistance finding an OPC in your area, you can check out our Directory of Churches. May God bless you and may you "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 5:18). If we can be of further assistance, just let us know!
Nothing. Since they're triple exponential predestinarians, anyone doesn't have to do anything. It'll happen if it's written in the script.
Yet Jesus commands obedience to the Pharisees, and St. Paul commends some traditions.
So what gives?
There either exists a contradiction or a paradox. Since God's word cannot contradict Itself, these statements must be paradoxical.
The solution is that two kinds of traditions exist, Sacred Tradition and human tradition.
St. Paul commends Sacred Tradition, as did Jesus,
Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: "All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not."
I think it was Jesus who said where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am also.
The logical fallacy that appeals to size validating truth is typically shot down by most mothers with something like “if everyone is was jumping off a cliff, would you do the same?” In the case of some Roman Catholic, the answer is obviously yes.
“I’m glad we’re not making this personal here. Just citing Scripture and using clear concise theological viewpoints to frame our responses in a non-hostile manner.”
“You will of course chastise metmom for post #61.... Oh wait you can’t because she isn’t Catholic.”
verga, I believe that metmom has said in the past that she was born and raised Catholic. Oops, that means if she was baptized Catholic; even though she has fallen away, she is still Catholic. And oh the horrors, she will always be Catholic.
Gutenberg was a Catholic.
King James and his translators did good as well.
Thank goodness the AP was largely not involved.
Not so.
That old self died when I accepted Christ.
Galatians 2:19-20 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Galatians 3:10-14 10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Any so called mark that Catholics told me it left on my soul has been broken. There appears to be no end to the tentacles from the Catholic church which would reach out and entangle someone again. It has to somehow try to lay some sort of claim on you so it can continue to dictate how you are supposed to live, and what you are supposed to believe.
However, I am FREE IN Christ.
Galatians 5:1-6 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
If you did not love and accept Christ when you were in the Catholic Church, then you were very poorly catechized indeed.
See how Catholics proclaim we are saved:
By believing in Christ (Jn 3:16; Acts 16:31)
By repentance (Acts 2:38; 2 Pet 3:9)
By baptism (Jn 3:5; 1 Pet 3:21; Titus 3:5)
By eating his flesh and drinking his blood (Jn 6)
By the work of the Spirit (Jn 3:5; 2 Cor 3:6)
By declaring with our mouths (Lk 12:8; Rom 10:9)
By coming to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4; Heb 10:26)
By works (Rom 2:6-7; James 2:24)
By grace (Acts 15:11; Eph 2:8)
By his blood (Rom 5:9; Heb 9:22)
By his righteousness (Rom 5:17; 2 Pet 1:1)
By keeping the commandments (Matt 19:17)
By our words (Matt 12:37)
By enduring to the end...Matt.24:13
There were no anti Catholic stuff in the thread, it was just speaking about a denomination that excepted the baptism from other Churches and using the baptist Church as an example of one that don,t.
As for myself i will not become a member of any Church, and although i have nothing against Baptism i believe the real Baptism is the one done by the holy spirit.
Good sensible thread.
So as for some of the claimsof the opposition, I say, come up with the proof from the Bible they claim to have written.
When Protstants give up their me-first god-in-the-mirror attitudes and join (or rejoin) the institution that Jesus Created, it's a win/win situation.
Sir John Gielgud was Presbyterian? :)
LifeSiteNews recently reported the unsurprising findings of a poll commissioned by The Washington Post and ABC stating that a majority of American Catholics are in favor of abortion in “all or most cases.”
The question is how do you define the term?
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Please note that Paul has put the above in future tense, it is something that had not happened yet.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Also note that Paul has put this in past tense, it is something that had already happened.
1Cor 15
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
The first fruits are those Paul talks about in Romans 8:29 and 30, Paul plainly says they were already Glorified at that time.
When Jesus was raised he was Glorified that is what the resurrection does, the first fruits went with Christ because it says they were glorified.
The rest of us will not be Glorified ( resurrected ) until Christ’s coming at the last day.
The people who Paul talks about were predestinated before they were even born and long before Jesus was born and would live for the purpose of being the first fruits and following Jesus in to the Glory land.
“catholics wrote the bible”? Then:
Columbus discovered the Americas therefore they belong to the Catholic church. Galileo was Catholic and observed the planets therefore many of the planets belong to the Catholic church. A Catholic priest help establish pro-abortion laws in the U.S....oops...no one wants to take credit for him.
So here we have the typical Catholic that puts his blind trust in a man made institution which he trusts more than the assurances of God. How sad is that? If you can't take God at His Word, just how faithful is your worship? Another poster has to have the Word of God interpreted for him/her by a man made institution because God made His Word so hard to understand. Jesus talked to a pretty simple crowd. Most may have been illiterate. They understood him. The Church is us. We are the Church. Read the Word. Bend the knee and listen to God. Share the Word. Believe God over any Church. Everytime.
You might direct this post to joe fonebone at post #12. He’s your huckleberry.
No, our Lord stated that the Pharisee made void the Word. There is tradition and then there is the word. As our Lord points out tradition that contradicts the word of God is wrong. I noticed in your explanation that you never even refer to the word of God, simply stating "two kinds of traditions". May I suggest revisiting the text?
You have no way of knowing with certainty that the true Spirit is within you.
Acts 8:17 "Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands."
Has an apostle, or one of his successors, laid hands on you to receive the Holy Spirit? If not, you cannot assert with confidence what spirit it is acting in you.
Not according to the Bible:
1) 1 Corinthians 11:2: ". . . keep the ordinances, as I delivered {them} to you." Paul in writing, orders the Corinthians to observes teachings transmitted orally.
2) 2 Thessalonians 2:15: ". . . hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle." Same here. Oral teachings
3) 2 Thessalonians 3:6: "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." Oral teachings.
4) 1 Corinthians 15:1-3: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received." Again -- Paul calls the people to follow an oral teaching.
5) 1 Thessalonians 2:13: ". . . when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received {it} not {as} the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God." Oral teaching from the apostles is the equivalent of the word of God.
6) Jude 3: ". . . ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Oral teaching is the path to salvation. The Bible says so.
Shall I go on? I think I will.
7) Lk 1:1-5 those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Luke assures us that the original oral teaching is reliable.
8) Rom 6:17 But God be thanked that [though] you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. You do this, right? You obey doctrine delivered to you even if not written? Your salvation is riding on it.
9) 1 Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you Paul verifies the authenticity of his oral teaching. Don't you think a Christian should want to know everything that Paul received from the Lord?
10) Gal 1:9ff But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Anyone who preaches a gospel differing from Paul's ORAL PREACHING is "accursed". Something to think about next time you feel like a little faith-sharing.
11) 2 Pet 2:21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known [it,] to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. People who have turned away from Peter's oral teachings are better off with no gospel at all.
12) Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? There is no apostolic origin in the Protestant ministry. They are not sent by God.
13) John 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; The apostles know more than you do.
14) John 21:25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. The apostles know more than you do.
15) 2 John 1:12 Having many things to write to you, I did not wish [to do so] with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. John saves his best stuff for the oral teaching. The Bible says so, so it must be true.
16) Matthew 17:5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"How do we do that?
17) Luke 10:16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me. If you do not "hear" the apostles, you do not hear the Lord.
18) Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Peter received in the keys a mandate given to no other disciple.
19) Matthew 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The power of binding and loosing belongs to the apostles, not to all followers of Jesus.
20) Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. The apostles know more than you do.
21) Matthew 13:11 And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. The apostles know more than you do.
22) Luke 8:10 he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. The apostles know more than you do.
23) 1 Timothy 3: 14-15 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. The pillar and bulwark of the truth is not the Bible. It is the Church.
24) 2 Peter 1:20 First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. Scriptural interpretation contrary to the Church descended from the Apostles is invalid.
25) 2 Peter 3:16 There are some things in [Paul’s epistles] hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. Scriptural interpretation contrary to the Church descended from the Apostles is invalid.
The problem with you protestants is that you reject the Bible. You shouldn't do that. It's dangerous.
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