your attempt at humor and your lack of knowledge concerning Catholicism is both apparent and pathetic.. Christ does not condemn people to hell for stealing a few dollars and the person need not make a last minute confession to be forgiven his sins. While Catholics follow the bible and seek to have their sins forgiven through the Sacrament of reconciliation, and protestants figure they can do as they please because all sins were forgiven through the death of Christ, Catholics need not wait until the moment of death to be reconciled with Christ. Most Catholics, recalling the phrase "whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained" make frequent and sincere confessions. They are required however, to make restitution (if possible) and to demonstrate true contrition for the sin. We realize, of course, that Christ did indeed die so that sin may be forgiven. However, Catholics believe that we still have some personal responsibility to atone for our sins and strive to eliminate further sins from our lives.
Thin skin?
And BTW, let me formally renounce my “Baptism” right here and now.
It was imposed on me, I wasn’t or given a choice any more than a Muslim is given an honest choice, and it did not stick. LOL!
Hold on there, hoss. Since when do "Protestants figure they can do as they please because all sins were forgiven..."??? In the rush to criticize those not Catholic, did you forget that this is NOT what Protestants believe? We certainly DO believe, as Scripture teaches, that "if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9) No true born again, saved by the blood of Christ, redeemed Christian thinks getting saved is a "license to sin". What we DO know - again from Scripture - is that we are not saved by righteous acts of our own but by the grace of God. We are NOT saved because we deserve to be by our own merit, but because God is his mercy has redeemed us from the debt of sin - which is DEATH.
People don't get saved because they are good people. No one is good enough nor can ever be good enough. No one can merit eternal life because even one little sin is payable by eternal separation from God - HELL. But God loved us so much that he gave us his only begotten son, who died for us, so that, through him, he gives to us eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ "to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us." (Eph. 1:6-8)
So, rather than falsely accuse non-Catholic Christians of "thinking we can do as we please", why not admit what really separates us? We are saved NOT by righteous deeds which we have done, but by the mercy and grace of God. We live lives that honor and glorify God not so that we may one day be saved, but because we are saved. Part of that living holy lives entails admission of wrongs, confession, repentance and reconciliation. If we have wronged another, we are told to go to that person and confess our sin and ask for their forgiveness. We should also make restitution if possible, but we can never "atone" for our sins. Only Christ and his blood makes atonement for our sins. The difference is we can know right now we have eternal life because we have received Christ.
"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." (I John 5:11-13)
That's no different than the criticism lobbed at Protestants that all our sins are forgiven, even the ones we haven't repented of.
Jesus wouldn't throw someone into hell for stealing?
So, Catholics can do what they want and figure that stealing isn't a big deal for Jesus and they're good to go?
James 2:10-11 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
Protestants don't put sin on a sliding scale of seriousness. Sin is sin, be it a lie or murder.
So for a Catholic to criticize a Protestant over taking sin lightly, this is extremely hypocritical. If Jesus won't send someone to hell for stealing, then Catholics have no reason to not steal. They can steal with impunity because it doesn't affect their salvation.
That's taking sin lightly; thinking that some sin of some kind is not worthy of hell.
However, Catholics believe that we still have some personal responsibility to atone for our sins and strive to eliminate further sins from our lives.
Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
What part of this verse is so hard to understand? Personal responsibility to eliminate sin from our life? It can't happen because we can't do it. If we die for our own sin, we have just paid the wages due for it and it does not redeem us. Penance, works, sacraments, nothing, can obtain forgiveness except the shedding of righteous blood.
Christ didn't die to finish up what we could do on our own. He died to do what we couldn't do on our own, and that is gain forgiveness for the least sin in our lives.
If works could do it, Christ died for nothing.
If Christ's blood can take care of some of our sins, it can take care of all of them.