Posted on 04/01/2016 12:41:08 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
I am letting you be among the first to know. It is true. I am leaving the Catholic Church. I want you to know that this has not been a decision made in haste or without serious and intense research and consideration. But I can no longer remain in a church that I no longer believe in.
Let me explain.
I will be writing more about this soon, but for now let me just say there are five main reasons why I am leaving the Catholic Church:
1. I believe the sole rule of faith for Christians has to be Scripture. The Holy Bible is the only unchanging and definitive word of God that a Christian can build his or her life upon. Everything else, including the Catholic claims to authority, in the end, amount to ever-changing and ultimately sinking sand.
2. I believe works or any sense of salvific cooperation with God’s grace as constitutive to a Christian’s eternal life is unbiblical. “… not of works” (cf. Eph. 2:8-9) means not of works.
3. The idea of Mary and the saints being involved in the salvation of a Christian is tantamount to a denial of the sufficiency of Christ’s redeeming work on Calvary’s cross.
4. #3 can also be said of Purgatory, the “sacrifice” of the Mass, the Catholic view of salvation/justification, and more. These and more of the elements of Catholic teaching result in a denial of the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ. More to follow in a more detailed post.
5. What Catholics call the “veneration” of Mary and the saints is actually idolatry.
These are just for starters here. Many of you know that for the last 28 years I have defended the above teachings and more from the Catholic Church. I can no longer do so in clear conscience.
And by the way, just so you know…
April fools!
Establishing what letters/books should be read during church services is selfish? That WAS where MOST people heard the Word of God until the invention of the printing press.
Serving satanic agenda by doing the opposite of what is in God’s Law is serving evil. But that is a nice try at excusing yourself from seeing Truth. Catholiciism thrives upon people doing that very thing in order to continue to pump up their pride upon which to believe they are striving for salvation.
Yet some RCs not only assert that their particular church is alone the one true one, but that it is one and the same as the universal body of Christ, yet it is the largest amalgam of tares and wheat. Some bride of Christ.
BTW, it is no ‘christian virtue’ to ignore blasphemies rife in catholiciism, so I will not cease opposing them openly. Salvation is by God’s Grace in Christ alone, for He took flesh and dwelt among us, to be tempted in every way as we are and to fulfill the law so He was/is the ONLY sacrifice to counter the sin nature and He is our ONLY High Priest in the Heavenlies, physically, and not a continuing victim as catholiciism teaches poor deluded, sincere, catholics through the pagan Mass adherents are told they must participate in as a means to eat God into their body, to get to their souls, so their spirit will be made ‘alive’. THAT demonic lie is worthy of open and continuous opposition and ridicule.
Beautifully done!
Liturgy is the official worship of the Church, as opposed to private devotions. For Latin Rite Catholics the liturgy is the Mass first. Then other public acts of worship.
We can disagree on many things, like what day we choose to worship on, or if we believe in the rapture as pre trib, mid trib or post trib.
We do not, however, have the option of disagreeing on the ONLY DOCTRINE that really matters. And that is, how do I get saved? What do I have to do to go to Heaven? That is the only doctrine that we must get right. It's the only doctrine that God does not allow us to have even the slightest bit of wiggle room on. Not even the slightest bit.
If people can't even figure out how to be saved, it isn't even worth discussing anything else that they might agree or disagree on.
OK sorry, and thanks for the inconsequential correction between drops of water and maybe a ounce or two, and i will be more precise, as aspersion is the sprinkling of water on the head, while and affusion is the pouring of water over the head. However, I read that Cyprian taught that no one should be "disturbed because the sick are poured upon or sprinkled when they receive the Lord’s grace" (Letter to a Certain Magnus 69:12 [A.D. 255]). And Tertullian described baptism as being done "with so great simplicity, without pomp, without any considerable novelty of preparation, and finally, without cost, a man is baptized in water, and amid the utterance of some few words, is sprinkled, and then rises again, not much (or not at all) the cleaner" (On Baptism, 2 [A.D. 203]). "As a result, there was no uniform or consistent mode of baptism in the ancient church prior to the fourth century" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism#cite_note-106) though in Scripture baptismos meant to immerse, and is the mode best indicated, and the only one that corresponds to the typology of Rm. 6.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: (Matthew 3:16)
And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. (Acts 8:38)
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (Romans 6:4-5)
In Apostolic times the body of the baptized person was immersed, for St. Paul looks on this immersion as typifying burial with Christ, and speaks of baptism as a bath … [But the belief] that baptism can be validly given by immersion, infusion, or aspersion, is fully justified by tradition … Anciently … baptism was constantly given to adults and the rite of immersion prevailed …” – The Catholic Dictionary on “baptism” and “baptistery,” pp 60-64.
Glory to God.
Based on your answer the NT canon was not assembled for the Liturgy.
The early Christian church in no way resembled the roman catholic church nor had their practices.
The church, the ekklesia, met in people's houses. There were small churches throughout the Roman Empire.
The Bible was not formed for the roman catholic liturgy.
The spark Luther caused was to refocus upon Christ alone, rather than an institution, rather than an org.
Was Luther flawed? Very. We all are, that's why we need the Grace of God, the Gift of God in Christ. And GOD made the conversion so simple that it confounds human minds even today, minds that are still focused on earning the GIFT of God in Christ. When Jesus poin5ted Nicodemus's mind to the brass snake in the wilderness, raised upon a pole so that ANY who looked upon it and believed God's Promise of healing received that healing. There is no greater poisonous venom than sin, and satan uses human pride to trick people into believing they can work for the cure.
You offered, quite pointedly, "I don't know, maybe non-Catholics are totally detached from sin, but I know I'm not." ALL humans, while still in our pre-Rapture bodies, have a sin nature we inherited from Adam. The scene in 1 Thess 4:13-17 is the event moment when we who are trusting in Christ as Savior and Lord will be divested of that sin nature. Paul re-iterated a finer point in 1 Cor 15:51-53 where he revealed that we shall not all 'sleep' (die), BUT we shall all be changed into beings with bodies fit to inhabit the Heavenlies. Why are we going to go through the 1Thess 4 transition? The answer is tossed into Paul's greeting to the Thessalonians in 1Thess 1:10-11. He puts the event into a past tense, as if it has occurred. But how can that be that we HAVE BEEN delivered from the wrath to come, if it --the wrath of God poured out in increasing severity upon the earth dwellers-- has not begu7n yet? well, that is the Great Blessing, that the deliverance is as fixed as Paul portrayed it because it is a Promise from God. Those living believers in Thessalonika were already delivered because God promised to do it before pouring out His wrath. Jesus delivered them the moment they were born from above!
“I have already received the Grace of Justification.” Can you tell us when that happened, by what means it was imparted to you? If you can see it as clearly as it is revealed on the Day Peter preached the Pentecost sermon, and the folks in Cornelius’s house received it, then you are born from above and no one, not even you, can take you out of the two hands of God which keep GOD’S Promise based upon His integrity, not your behavior henceforth. What Creator GOD would leave it up to flawed creations to strive to keep what God freely does because of His integrity? God does not depend upon your integrity to keep His Promise. It is as simple as believing, faithing, to be born from above.
Another point is found in Ephesians where Paul tells us that as believers, we are already seated in heaven, the heavenly places IN Christ Jesus.
We are already there in the spiritual realm.
In the meantime, there is work for us to do here that God has prepared in advance for us to do that we should walk in it.
Not all Protestant churches preach the gospel. Some preach the same message of salvation through baptism or works that Catholicism does.
For that reason, you may not have found eternal life in the Prot church you attended or grew up in. Saying you were a Prot who converted to Catholicism doesn’t carry any weight with born again believers because it’s not the church or religion that saves. and we know that.
We don’t automatically presume that if someone says they used to be a a Prot means that they were saved. Being a Prot does not by default mean saved to us. nor does saying you are saved b y default mean you are a Prot. or Catholic, or any other denominations one chooses to affiliate with.
A while back, someone used the analogy of God making the down payment as for a house as compared to paying for our salvation, and then it was up to us to make the payments on it, but boatbums so beautifully pointed out that if salvation is God’s work and payment, then it was ludicrous that God would make the down payment to purchase us and then expect us to keep up with the monthly payments.
THIS is the heretical heart of works based catholiciism: “I’m not locked into anything until eternity, that’s the point of life; to decide who or what I love. God is faithful, I am not.” Clearly, you do not see how that contradicts what GOD gave us in The Word. It is because of GOD’S integrity, His Faithfulness that ONLY He can keep you throughout life. You have said you are nor faithful. You have said you believe Jesus is your Savior. He IS. If He had to then depend upon you to keep you saved, none of us would be saved for we are no where near as clever as satan. When you believe, you put into motion the GOD of all Creation, keeping HIS Promise to be your savior. Not to be ‘if you do not screw it up along the rest of the journey, saved from that moment onward, by His Promise the believing of which Glorifies JESUS not you. You are turning that around to glorify you as having worked until the end to not screw it up! THAT is the heretical twist satan has been using since the Garden!
Oh my! THAT is a satanic lie! The Bible is GOD speaking spiritually to the individual reading it or hearing it rightly delivered (as Paul cautioned Timotheus). Salvation cometh by hearing, and hearing by The Word of God. GOD gave us His Word, to speak tot he souls of men and convict them. When Peter preach at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit spoke int he souls of men hearing the Gospel of Grace and were pricked in their hearts. By writing the scene particulars down for us, we Have the Truth exhibited for our generationa nd every generation since that day. The keeping of that Word allows God to speak tot eh souls of those who diligently seek Him. He is there, in the Word, displayed spiritually. Reading The Bible, the truth of what the word of God declares builds faith in the Truth thew word of God provides, throughout all generations to whom He has given His word.
Polycarp wrote to the Philipians before Athanasius was born ... in his letter he either quoted directly from or used the meaning of passages from all 27 books, including the very recently penned Revelation of John. That is a scholar’s work to see it, but it is there.
It absolutely verifies what he said.
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