Posted on 04/06/2016 8:59:32 AM PDT by marshmallow
"It is true that Jesus always goes before us and waits for us with open arms," Cardinal Robert Sarah said in an interview published today in Polish. "But it is up to us to also move towards Him!" Rorate Caeli has posted a translation of the interview, in which the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments discusses mercy and forgiveness, the Church in Africa, and love for God as the starting point for holiness, among other subjects. A Polish edition of Cardinal Sarah's book God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith was recently published.
In response to a question about "the heresy of good-man-ism"-according to which it doesn't matter much what someone does, as long as he is trying to "be a good person"-Cardinal Sarah says:
Unfortunately, what you say is part of a contemporary ideology that is among the most dangerous - that is, "just being good". This presupposes that any truthful content is trampled and refuted. This leads us to consider everything as "good", falsifying in this way even all that is truly part of the life of man. An important contemporary philosopher, Fabrice Hadjadj, has coined a brilliant formula, speaking on the "heresies of charity" of modern man, who confuses charity with the simple desire for good (at best) or almsgiving (in the worst case). But charity is the love of God: therefore, "we are" charity, and we give witness of charity towards others because God loved us first. In the same way, it is also with mercy, superficially understood by many as a clean slate over their sins. But, there is no forgiveness if there is no repentance. Jesus did not say to the adulteress, “Well, go and continue to do what you are doing since.......
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicworldreport.com ...
We can take this one step further and say...."how can there be repentance if we have lost the sense of sin?"
Those who insist on calling sin what it is continue to be demonized and vilified within the Church with terms such as "hard-hearted", "rigid" and "Pharisaical" but this only serves to highlight the difference between true mercy and the false mercy which is currently being pushed on us. Without a knowledge of sin and a sense of sin, there can be no repentance and therefore no mercy.
So says Cardinal Sarah.
What does the Bible say? “All who call upon the Lord shall be saved” (Rom 10:3).
No added works or “continuing sacrifice” required. Jesus has done it all. “It is finished.”
Amen...plus we are called “anti-woman” because we don’t think they should KILL THIER OWN CHILDREN! Black is white, good is bad, up is down.
wouldn’t calling on the Lord entail repentance?
Probably I guess but not the kind of repentance most talk about as a prerequisite for salvation. The kind of repentance they usually talk about is sin-conscious repentance. That is a dead work. There’s NOTHING we can do about sin which is why Jesus died for the sins of the whole world 2000 years ago.
We are saved by grace through faith. When I received Jesus, I wasn’t aware of “repentance” and thank God no one told me I had to “repent first”. I was only aware I needed Jesus. Jesus, not repentance, saves. Man, not God requires repentance before salvation turning repentance into a work and we are not saved by works.
Hummmm. In the bible I'm looking at (KJV) Romans 10:3 says: "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
far too legalistic for my way of thinking. recognizing that you need Jesus entails knowing you have done wrong and having Jesus means not wanting to do wrong any longer, which to me is repentance. it does no service to overthink and over-define these things and just separates us.
In book of Mark, the first thing Jesus calls on us to do is repent. “...repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1.14) If one does not repent then they really don’t believe. They are two sides of the same coin.
Agreed. I would go so far as to say repentance also means to make a sincere effort to live your life in accordance with Jesus' precepts. That doesn't mean you will perfect, or even close to perfect, but it does mean you believe that you should make the best effort you can. I also believe this is the consequence of true regeneration, not the catalyst.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
That's Matthew 7:21
That's why it's usually a mistake to cite a one-line "proof text" when every line in Scripture is properly interpreted only in the light of the whole rest of Scripture.
One can call on God's name all day long, and yet still be a Jesse Jackson, an Obama, or other such creature who is most likely lost.
John 20:23
Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
so frustrating when trying to discuss the true faith with anti-Catholic protestant proof-texters.....
you have to take the whole faith...not just what your interpretation of the kjv says, i.e. ‘you believe it says’ as opposed to the historic teaching of the church from the time of the apostles and the church fathers who WERE THERE......
Without repentance, you have no consciousness of needing to be "saved" from anything.
Romans 10:13.
That's what PAUL says.
What does JESUS say?
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Nope - doesn’t matter the reason - just call on Jesus’ name. It’s as easy (or hard (because of pride)) as that.
Read it again: repent and BELIEVE in the gospel. What is the gospel? That you are forgiven by receiving Jesus Christ apart from your works. New Testament repentance involves changing our mind about JESUS, not sin. Jesus has already taken care of the sin problem.
practically speaking, calling upon Jesus name involves repentance. unless you are just conversationally saying JESUS. CALLING upon infers an impetus, a need, and whether you know it or not, that need involves repentance for sin. as someone in one of the post said, Obama? Sharpton? Jesse Jackson? they may call upon His name, but without repentance, what?
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