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To: boatbums
. He is rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We don't need to identify ourselves as "Protestant", "Pelagian", "Montanist"...

You chose to mischaracterize my example in a most self-refuting way.
You can ignore the history all you want but people actually believed what Arius, Pelagius et al. actually believed- contrary to what the Early Church believed.
Many " believers"(Read 1st Clement)

And do you think THEY were not DILIGENT "seekers" too, as you say? - if not more?
Well they were more so in their convictions- and they were wrong.
Without the Church combating those errors... no way in he// can you say you would not fallen into one of those ancient heresies that could have been remained just as popular into today- in the same way with what Luther invented.
Thankfully, (ευχαριστία- eucharistally) we don't have to think about what might have been.
The revelation of Ephesus is proof enough.
67 posted on 01/22/2022 8:51:01 PM PST by MurphsLaw ("not hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.")
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To: MurphsLaw
You chose to mischaracterize my example in a most self-refuting way. You can ignore the history all you want but people actually believed what Arius, Pelagius et al. actually believed- contrary to what the Early Church believed. Many " believers"(Read 1st Clement) And do you think THEY were not DILIGENT "seekers" too, as you say? - if not more? Well they were more so in their convictions- and they were wrong. Without the Church combating those errors... no way in he// can you say you would not fallen into one of those ancient heresies that could have been remained just as popular into today- in the same way with what Luther invented. Thankfully, (ευχαριστία- eucharistally) we don't have to think about what might have been. The revelation of Ephesus is proof enough.

The self-refuting seems to be your forte.

Just as in the first century Christian community, today there is no end to heresies, they STILL pop up. Do yourself a favor and look up the way in which the early church leaders combatted the damnable heresies of false prophets/teachers who as ravenous wolves crept into the assemblies of believers to try to lead them astray. Did they stand upon, "We are THE church and we say so!"? No, they used the Scriptures to present the superior arguments and through their examples and prayer they trusted in the Holy Spirit to teach the truth to the hearts of those who were sincerely seeking to know it. St. Peter describes them well:

    But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not. (II Peter 2:1-3)

I left the Roman Catholic church because I saw for myself the errors it taught concerning one of THE most important tenets of the Christian faith - that of justification by faith and not works. I was diligently and earnestly seeking to know the truth and God kept His promise. He opened my eyes and heart to the truth of the gospel. Nobody told me leave but it was clear as day that what I had been told all my life up until then about how to go to heaven when I died was not the truth. This passage is what did that:

    My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. (John 10:27-30)

That's how God works! Through the leading of the Holy Spirit who teaches all things to those who seek God with all their heart and they WILL know the truth. God led me to go to a Bible college so that I could know His word and WHY I believed. That's why I will never be an Arian, Pelagian, semi-Pelagian, or any off shoot of them. I don't need to be a Roman Catholic to be a Christian.

79 posted on 01/23/2022 7:36:41 PM PST by boatbums (Lord, make my life a testimony to the value of knowing you.)
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