Posted on 01/29/2006 5:25:55 AM PST by NYer
* Kevin Knight lives in Aurora, CO, he is the webmaster of www.newadvent.org, the Catholic website which provides both Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica and the Catholic Enciclopedia.
How does he know this? This is a very weak and high-handed statement to make.
It would seem that all it would take to invalidate his entire argument would be to discover extraterrestrial life.
Protestants have ALL the sacraments.
When we walk into heaven, we are going to be surprised at who is- and isn't there.
Outside of Christ there is no salvation. If you are in Christ, by grace through faith, you are, by definition, the Church.
Protestants have no sacraments.
Gal 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Gal 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
You really need to get out more!
So what then of the righteous Jew? The righteous Muslim? The Hindu? The (gasp) righteous atheist?
And here I was just defending the Catholic church.
Because you say so?
Well, I'm not outside the Church.
As I've asserted repeatedly (and Scripture bears out) Heaven will be populated by Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants who have believed and accepted Christ (and for my Calvinist friends, those who Christ has saved with no effort whatsoever on your part).
See y'all there!
Christ instituted 7 Sacraments. How many do you have in your church?
They need to trust Jesus (or Yeshua) as their Messiah or Savior.
Now, a lot of that responsibility falls on the church (those who are already saved.) First, we need to proclaim the Gospel in the demonstration of the Spirit and power, not some theological head knowledge. Jesus called it the 'Gospel of the Kingdom'.
Then, we need to back it up with a sacrificial life of service. There are too many people giving lip service to God and not much else. No wonder it's not convincing.
And by the way, Jesus said He wasn't coming back until the whole world has heard this. (Matt 24:14)
It's not so much the unbeliever's fault as it is the church's. Now, once someone has made the decision to reject Jesus Christ, the responsibility falls upon his own head.
Isn't that the story?
As many as are necessary ~ point being that Protestantism is far more complex than your understanding of it. (BTW, we have an awful lot of ex-Catholics wandering about the pews on Sunday, and they say they never noticed a real difference, theologically speaking that is.)
Let's see, baptism, communion, confession, confirmation, holy orders, matrimony, annointing of the sick/dying. Yep, got 'em all.
* Baptism
* Penance and Reconciliation (informally called Confession)
* Eucharist (informally called Communion)
* Confirmation (in Eastern Catholic Churches and the Orthodox Church, equivalent to chrismation)
* Holy Matrimony
* Holy Orders
* Anointing of the Sick (also called Extreme Unction)
We do all of these. We don't make big complicated ceremonies out of them, except for marriage, of course.
So, when you anoint the sick, do they ever get healed? They very often do in my church.
What about foot washing? You guys don't honor that command? What about baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.