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So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
— Is 55:11 (NKJV)

You're right, Gamecock, forensic justification is one of the primary Calvinist errors.

For Rome the declaration of justice follows the making inwardly just of the regenerate sinner.

This is false; the word which declares the sinner just makes him just in the same act. God's declarations enact reality. When the Bible says God said, "Let there be light," the next verse does not say, "And light was forensically declared to exist, though everything was as dark as it was before."

The Bible speaks figuratively about the sin being washed, cleansed, healed, and blotted out.

There is nothing even slightly figurative about it. It's really what God does. Calvinists always, ad nauseam, accuse Catholics of denigrating the Cross. This denigrates the Cross. To claim that the Cross only achieved a "figurative" blotting out of sin and that all the grace of justification does is change how God views us without changing us … it's just sad, when the real Gospel is so much better.

… put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness -- Eph 4:24 (NKJV)

1 John 2
1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

4He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

5But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

I am not a Roman Catholic. I am almost the polar opposite.

But I have to say that according to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” Roman Catholics believe that we are saved, “justified”, entirely by grace, and we ourselves add nothing to our salvation.

What appears to be contrary to the Reformation principle of justification through faith by God's grace is instead addressing the aspect of salvation referred to as “sanctification”, and the final aspect of salvation called “glorification”.

Some other issues are how we receive God's grace - and I strongly disagree with Roman Catholic doctrines in this area. I in fact think this is the main area of disagreement once R.C. theology is correctly understood. So it is not correct to say that Roman Catholic theology is contrary to what Scriptures have to say, especially those cited in the article and comments above.

I've said it before and will say it again, Roman Catholics make some subtle distinctions, but they are absolute distinctions, and they don't confuse them.

So much for defending Rome. My point is not that I agree with their doctrine, I just want to make sure that I understand it correctly and not be mistaken in my disagreement.

I believe very strongly that it is only when we understand Roman Catholic doctrines that we can, and only then, critically examine them and compare them with Protestant doctrines. I have found that so many of us don't really know what Rome teaches.

Now if anyone actually reads this I'm sure to get pounced upon.

p.s. Theology, like fire, can be a good servant, but also like fire, is a terrible master.

p.p.s. Human, finite, reason usually demands symmetrical and balanced logic. I've found that some Bible conundrums like "whosoever will" vs "I chose you" or the "horrible decree" fall into this category.