Can I say "it doesn't look that way to me" without it turning into a million post argument?
I believe God wants us to know we are saved from the start.Paul talks about believers in God who have a great zeal for God but who are not saved because they are too busy trying to establish their own righteousness and are not submitting themselves to the righteousness of God.I mean,that somehow sounds a little threatening to me,believers not saved because they are doing what they think the work of God is and not what God says the work of God is.
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (1John 5:13)
I read that verse as you who believe on Jesus name may know you have eternal life and that you can now do the work of God.
I'm sure you'd agree that it would be tragic that someone could believe and not know where they stand with God.I know I'm ranting but judging by the tone of your posts I'm sure you'll forgive me.
grace and peace to you.
Maybe God doesn't want us to worry about tomorrow.
We all know of at least two sorts of loving. There's the kind that says, "We will live happily ever after." But there's the kind that doesn't think about future or past but only about the beloved.
Trying to establish one's own righteousness is, like all bootstrap operations, futile and exhausting. But, strictly speaking, that does not imply that the only alternative is to tell oneself things about one's future.
Hopefully this will resolve all the double talk. They have never repudiated their council of Trent.
Canon 9. If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the action of his own will, let him be anathema.
We can always dig up more but why bother when one illustrates the point. Their house of cards is built on sacrementalism and claims of infallibility. If we are saved by Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone then they have no power.