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Bells, whistles, and sirens galore! As a Southern Baptist I agree with absolutely everything you said above, and I believe it is confirmed in Ephesians 2:8-9. However, I have also been having a very pleasant conversation with sassbox on this thread, and continued here. On the other thread, please see posts 44, 51, and 59 in which sassbox lays out a clear (partial) works-based salvation model for Catholics. Now I am confused again. :)

I don't mean to confuse you. :) Again, I'm not a theologian so what I said above could be slightly off, and I don't want to misrepresent Church teaching. But, IMO, Catholics and Protestants are actually closer than we think on salvation. I think a lot has to do with semantics and perception.

But, IMO, Catholics and Protestants are actually closer than we think on salvation. I think a lot has to do with semantics and perception.

That is precisely what I am trying to discover and I pray that you are right. I think that some of the differences I have been learning about, even concerning the core issue of salvation, don't really matter in the big picture.

For example, I think I have gleaned that Catholics believe that baptism is required for salvation, whereas I do not. So then, I presume that all good Catholics get baptized. My only response as an evangelical should be "Well, then good for all Catholics!". Everyone should be baptized. Jesus did so and said that we should. My beliefs are not offended in the the slightest. I hope you are right and that the vast majority of the differences boil down to non-issues. I still enjoy learning about them, though.