Mother and Daughter praying. by bigbirdz This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. 
Posted on 01/07/2020 10:16:12 AM PST by Salvation
Mother and Daughter praying. by bigbirdz This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Every now and then someone will come past my door and request parish services of some sort. Maybe it’s to plan a wedding, a baptism, or a funeral; maybe it’s for money! And then I look at him or her and say, “Who are you?” (since I don’t recognize the person). “Oh, well Father, you don’t know me but my grandmother goes here; this is our family Church.” “Oh, I see, but where do you go to Church?” I usually ask. The response is usually something like, “Well, you know how it is Father, I don’t get to Church too often … but my mother goes here.”
Well, I’ve got news for you: your Mama’s faith isn’t going to save you. You gotta have your own faith. You have to know Jesus for yourself. There are some things you just can’t borrow. Once, you depended on your mother and ultimately the Church to announce the True Faith to you. But at some point you have to be able to claim the True Faith as your own. Your mother can’t go to Church for you and she can’t believe for you.
On another occasion, a man came up to me in the parking lot of the local food store and began to talk to me as if we were old friends. Perhaps he saw the puzzled look on my face as I awkwardly wondered if I had ever met him. He was mildly offended and said, “Gosh, don’t you know who I am?” “No,” I admitted with some embarrassment. He went on to explain that his family had been one the “pillar” families who had helped build the Church and that I really ought to know who he was. “Do you come to Mass often?” I asked. “No, but I was there at the last funeral, the one for my grandmother, whom YOU buried. Perhaps you know who I am now!” I said, “No. I certainly knew your grandmother, but I can’t say I know you.” “That really hurts Father, ’cause if it hadn’t a been for my family the Church wouldn’t be there.”
Eventually I got the man to admit that he hadn’t been going to Sunday Mass for over 20 years, from the time he graduated from the parish school, and that his only real attendance was for funerals and a few weddings. “Consider this a dress rehearsal,” I said, humorously but with ironic seriousness. “You may be angry and disappointed that I don’t know you, but it will be a lot worse to hear Jesus say ‘I don’t know you.'”
Indeed, one of the judgment scenarios has Jesus declare that he does not “know” some who seek entrance to heaven:
We may wonder how the Lord cannot “know” someone. Is he not omniscient?
Here it helps to understand that the “knowing” as understood in Scripture does not have the modern Western notion of simple intellectual knowing. To “know,” in biblical terms, more richly describes knowing through personal experience. Hence it implies an intimacy, a personal experience of another person, thing, or event. Sometimes the Scriptures use “knowing” as a euphemism for sexual intercourse (Gen 4:17,25; lk 1:34 etc).
Hence the Lord, who does not force us to be in an intimate relationship with Him, is indicating in verses like these that some people seeking entry to Heaven (probably more for its pleasures than for its supreme purpose as a marital union with God) have refused His invitation to intimacy. He does not “know” them because they never wanted to be known by Him in any intimate way. They may have known OF Him, and even spoken and taught of Him. But they did not want HIM. They may have used him for their purposes, but Him they did not want. Jesus stands at the door and knocks; He does not barge in and force Himself on anyone.
Thus, we must personally and individually accept the Lord’s invitation to enter our lives and transform our hearts. We cannot simply say, “My family built the Church,” or “I went to Catholic School,” or “My mother goes there.”
Remember the story of the wise and foolish virgins? (Matt 25:1-13) They were waiting for the groom (in those days you waited for the groom, nowadays we wait for the bride) to show up for a wedding. Five were wise and brought extra oil for their lamps, while five were foolish and did not not. But the groom delayed his coming and so the foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil.” The wise ones then told the foolish that they could not do this because there was not enough oil for all ten of them.
You see, there are some things you just can’t borrow and some things you just can’t lend. You can’t lend your readiness to meet God to someone else. You can’t borrow someone else’s intimacy with God.
You know what happened in the story. The foolish bridesmaids went off to buy more oil and missed the groom’s arrival and then were not able to enter the wedding feast. In those days, when a wedding feast began, the doors were locked and no one else could enter. When they finally arrived, the groom said that he did not know them.
The bottom line is that you have to know Jesus for yourself. You can’t borrow your mother’s intimacy, relationship, or readiness. You have to have your own. No one can go to Church for you. You can’t borrow someone else’s holiness.
There is an Old Gospel hymn that says, “Yes I know Jesus for myself.” It’s not enough to quote the pastor; it’s not enough to say what your mother said. You have to know Him yourself. Do you know Him? I didn’t say, “Do you know about Him.” This is more than intellectual knowing; this is the deep, biblical, experiential knowing. Do you know the Lord Jesus? Have you experienced that He has ministered to you in the Sacraments? Have you heard His voice resounding from the pulpit and in others you meet? Do you know Him? Don’t be satisfied that your mother or grandmother knew Him. You are called to know Him for your very self.
How do you have faith without works?
If you receive a gift, aren’t you expected to accept it (a work)? Baptism (a work) is the initial acceptance of God’s salvation.
Should we not pray to God and follow His Commandments? (works)
Do you not accept that God may say “He does not know you?”
What a joke equating knowing Jesus with Catholic faith.
They are not nearly the same thing.
This is what Catholicism is all about.
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http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3806052/posts
Are you telling me that Jesus would question someone leaving that den of debauchery and sin?
Baptism that is inflicted on a more often then not sleeping infant?
They have no choice in the matter.
If baptism saves, then Jesus died for nothing. All people have to do is get dunked or splashed, or whatever your preferred method is.
Baptism that is inflicted on a more often then not sleeping infant?
Sure we should but not to get saved and not to stay saved.
The pharisees were up to their eyeballs in works but they were hell bound.
God doesn't care so much about outward actions as the inward heart and while saving faith affects an inward heart change, doing good works cannot.
You have heard the word of God from us (the Catholic Church) 1 Thessalonians 2:13 Not the word of men.
2 Timothy 2:15 The word of Truth is the gospel message which is “heard” through preaching (Eph 1:13; Col 1:5)
Paul was sending a pastoral letter to Timothy a Catholic Bishop to warn about false teaching such as Hymenaeus who was excommunicated for blasphemy. As a Bishop, Timothy was responsible to preach the Truth of God.
My works are but filthy rags. (The Bible says so)
Also: Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Romans 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. (Which is what those poeple who Jesus didn’t know are trying to pull.)
Romans 9:32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 3:2
I won't speak for metmom, that dear sister in Christ, but I can speak for me.
I came to know HIM and have saving faith in HIM.
He knows me. Knows that without Him I'd still be a sinner, without hope.
Only because of Him am I now saved and have an eternal hope, and know Him.
The "catholic faith" won't save a single soul.
Christ alone saves. It is why He came to earth.
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst." I Timothy 1:15
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FALSE
The Word was preached by those Christ chose as Apostles.
The Catholic Church we know today came after 100AD as paganism came into the church.
Saving faith is accompanied by works, as the new life of Christ is expressed.
If you receive a gift, aren’t you expected to accept it (a work)?
No. This is a clear indication you spend time in Scripture and prayer, that God will open your eyes to the Gospel of Grace that can result in salvation.
Timothy was a CATHOLIC??!! PROVE IT. IN SCRIPTURE, NOT in your “traditions” and “doctrines” of men.
You left an illegal gay rave in Rome on New Years’ Eve?<p
My, metmom, you do get around.
People so misunderstand the purpose of the Law. God did not give the Law to give us a way to become righteous before Him.
He gave the law as a way to identify sin and show us how sinful we are that we can then come to Christ for salvation because we can’t do it ourselves.
The Law or good works makes no on righteous enough to stand in the presence of a holy God.
ONE sin is all it takes to condemn us and a whole lifetime of perfection could not make up for that as we are still guilty for that one sin.
The only thing that can be done about the sin is to have it paid off and canceled. Jesus did that on the cross when He died in our place. HE took the full weight of God’s wrath against sin and took the punishment we deserve for it.
He then offers that judicial pardon to us as a gift, which cannot be earned or deserved, is just given for the asking.
No amount of good works can undo the sin we committed and the repercussions it carries down through the ages.
But you do speak for me, brother.
The irony of a Catholic posting that verse at others.......
you comment/question: Baptism that is inflicted on a more often then not sleeping infant?
Yes, parents accept for the infant Baptism and as infants we receive the forgiveness of original sin. As Catholics we again accept at the age of reason our Baptism in the Sacraments of Eucharist, Confessions and Confirmation. Baptism was accepted by Jesus and He told us to do the same. Yes, after Baptism, we can reject Jesus by committing a mortal sin and potentially lose our salvation unless we repent and seek forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The pharisees spoke the law of God but did not practice what they taught.
Your comment: “God doesn’t care so much about outward actions as the inward heart and while saving faith affects an inward heart change, doing good works cannot.”
Such blasphemy: Perhaps you such read Matthew 5:16 and Ephesians 2:10. Hebrews 10:24
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
For your own sake, shouldn’t you stop promoting false teachings? You try hard to proclaim your protestant theory and rebuke the Catholic faith. Yes there are many problems in the Catholic Church and many Catholic sinners who do not follow Catholic teaching. I am sincerely concerned for you and hope that you find God’s Truth.
We know the same Lord. Thanks to the AMAZING GRACE of GOD!
For any Catholic that wants to have salvation and KNOW HIM PERSONALLY...
Testimonies from ex-Roman Catholic Priests
Never in Scripture. Made up.
You just produce a wet baby, who still has original sin.
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