Thank you for the passages from the 2 letters Luke wrote. It would serve you well to actually read the rest of the story. But, then the RCC is hermeneutically challenged and pays no attention to how the true Gospel comes out. I'll help.
Matt. 18:16ff
The young ruler asks how to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him it is simple...just do the commandments. The young man asks, "Which ones?" Oh, you know, the easy ones like "You shall not commit murder" and so on, Jesus tells him. "I've done these, what is left?" Oh, right, just go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor and follow Me, Jesus adds. (Curious, have you done this part, Mark?) But, I digress.
The man gets despondent and leaves. Jesus announces "Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples are "astonished", rocked, shocked and stunned. "Then who can be saved?" Answer, "With men this is impossible (to save themselves), but with God all things are possible." Jesus, game, set, match.
So, try all you want Mark. Your efforts are perceived by God to be inadequate. You, according to Paul's further explanation in Romans, are not actually seeking God, but some relief from your pain, escape from your guilt, life after death...who knows? But, according to Paul, you are not seeking God. Romans 3:10,11 "There is none righteous, not even one MarkBSnr or Dutchboy88. There is none who understands, not even MarkBSnr or Dutchboy88. There is none who seeks God, not even MarkBSnr, in spite of his own hand hewn theology or Dutchboy88's attempts following the admonitions of MarkBSnr."
And, further, Rom. 4:4 "Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor (the way grace is administered) but what is due. But to the one who does NOT WORK, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness." Now if this is a business transaction wherein you are exchanging your trust for grace, you my FRiend, are still looking at faith as work.
Of course God demands men repent. The question is, "Who gets to repent?" Anyone who exercises their "free will" and joins the Catholic Church and, and, and, but I digress.
Read John 6:44 (which incidentally comes after John 3), "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." Now either (a) you are a universalist and think everyone has been drawn and therefore will be saved, or (b) you are ignoring the important fact that all the general calling to the world to repent does not bring them unless God individually draws them to Jesus (again, even read Orange) and then they begin to understand the faith they have been given. The RCC is not mentioned, the will is not mentioned, the persuasion of MarkBSnr is not mentioned. Just God drawing them to Jesus to repent and believe and be rescued. Hmmmmm.
Then coupled again with Paul's claim that, "So then it does not depend on the man who wills (chooses) or the man who runs (acts), but upon God. And He will have mercy upon whom He will and He will harden whom He will." Rom. 9 But, this requires that the reader apprehend the entire counsel of the Scriptures (not stop 2/3 through the story), use the text properly (not as a stick on people's back), and be willing to flush the errors of Rome where they belong.
You see Mark, the Scriptures you quote fit our message of the Gospel perfectly, and yes they are true. But, the Scriptures I quote cannot fit into the Roman cult practices and must be ignored or rewritten to get them out of the picture. That was the great contribution Calvin made...he said, "Rome is wrong". We agree.
I must leave FR now for a busy day, but I leave you with a possible shaken faith in Rome...if God permits.
“So try all you want, Mark. Your efforts are perceived by God to be inadequate. You...are not actually seeking God, but some relief from your pain, escape from your guilt, life after death...who knows? But according to Paul, you are not seeking God”
This is a very “personal” post.
I ask how it is that you know what is perceived by God. Did God tell you how He “perceives” Mark?
Did God tell you that Mark was “not actually seeking Him?”
How can one man know anything about another whom he has never met personally and pass judgment on that man’s relationship with God?
When you finish your unsolicited and sweeping commentary on Mark’s spirituality, you finish by saying...”who knows?”
That’s the only thing you got right in that paragraph—who knows?
Not you, not me and not anyone else but God.
And the anonimity of a forum like this doesn’t make it any more valid for one man to judge the soul of another. You know your Scripture and must be aware that judgement belongs to God and that none of us can assume that we are appointed by God to do it for Him.
We have also been told that we must account for our every word.
1Peter 2:17
Interesting statement. My Bible contains no letters from Luke. The only books that my Bible has attributed to Luke is the Gospel according to Luke, and Acts of the Apostles. Which Bible are you reading from?
The young ruler asks how to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him it is simple...just do the commandments. The young man asks, "Which ones?" Oh, you know, the easy ones like "You shall not commit murder" and so on, Jesus tells him. "I've done these, what is left?" Oh, right, just go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor and follow Me, Jesus adds. (Curious, have you done this part, Mark?)
If you consider the poor my children, then that will be correct. May I ask if you have done anything similar?
The man gets despondent and leaves. Jesus announces "Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples are "astonished", rocked, shocked and stunned. "Then who can be saved?" Answer, "With men this is impossible (to save themselves), but with God all things are possible." Jesus, game, set, match.
Since this does not depart from Catholic orthodoxy, what is your point?
So, try all you want Mark. Your efforts are perceived by God to be inadequate.
By themselves, yes. But the parable of the servants in Matthew 25 plainly says that the efforts of all men will be Judged by the Master, according to the talents that He gave them. I look at Calvinist theology in terms of the servant that buried his talent under a rock. He didn't do anything with it and therefore was thrown out of the Master's sight. This will happen to all men who do not labour in the Master's vineyards. Some come early, some come late, but all those who labour are given their reward.
Read John 6:44 (which incidentally comes after John 3),
I notice that you do not address any of my Gospel verses, but merely post duelling verses. Why is this?
And, further, Rom. 4:4 "Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor (the way grace is administered) but what is due. But to the one who does NOT WORK, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness." Now if this is a business transaction wherein you are exchanging your trust for grace, you my FRiend, are still looking at faith as work.
This is a major (and deliberate, I believe) invention of the Reformers in order to help justify the Reformation. No Catholic believes that any man is worthy of his own accord, or that grace is given in some sort of business transaction.
You see Mark, the Scriptures you quote fit our message of the Gospel perfectly, and yes they are true.
Actually, in your posts to me you have ignored them completely and posted duelling verses which may be taken by incomplete interpretation as opposing the verses that I posted. God wills all men be saved does not fit into Reformed theology whatsoever and neither does most of Matthew, or Luke for that matter.
But, the Scriptures I quote cannot fit into the Roman cult practices and must be ignored or rewritten to get them out of the picture.
Once again you have misstated Catholic doctrine and then say that Scriptures don't fit into that misstatement. You are correct in that the Scriptures do not entirely fit into either Calvinist theology or Calvinist misrepresentation of Catholic theology.
That was the great contribution Calvin made...he said, "Rome is wrong".
Calvin's master must be very pleased. His attacks on the Church this holy season are very high. His puppets are good ones. And they do persist.
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.