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.
The problem is that there are so many contradictory layers to Catholicism.
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.
Based on the below, I would have to say that the Roman Catholic Catechism does indeed teach that our works not only add too, but are required for, our salvation.
2010, "...Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life."2027, "Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods."
2068, "The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them;28 the Second Vatican Council confirms: "The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments.
As a convert, justification isn’t an area of contention between protestants and Catholics.
What protestants actually believe and what Catholics actually believe is the same damn thing.
The argument is simply between what protestants believe they believe and what protestants believe that Rome believes. From our standpoint it is a settled issue.
There are many areas of legitimate differences, but justification is not one of them.
Indeed they do believe they are justified by grace..but they have to keep it with works and sacrament.. once justified it is their to lose, and the only way to keep it is the RC church
This alone would raise the level of discourse here by an order of magnitude.