So which is it?
We're told that people have to be baptized to be saved and that if you're baptized, you're saved. Except when you're not.
Then we're told that it's taking communion that saves us, which means that baptism isn't necessary since communion does it.
Oh, but wait a minute.... Now it's works that save us? If we don't have the works, we're not saved? What happened to eating Jesus' flesh and blood saving us? Is that not good enough now after all?
So which is it that saves us?
How many hoops to Catholics think they have to jump through to earn eternal life?
Works of the Law are DIFFERENT than the good deeds/works God has prepared for us to do in His name.
No, they're not.
Read the Beatitudes. They are not a new law but reveal the intent of the Law.
Jesus sets the bar even higher than the Law did. If it was impossible for men to be saved by obeying the Law when it was outward obedience, it's even more impossible to obey the Law as Jesus set the standard, from the heart.
The Law was never meant to be a means of justification before God anyway. It's whole intent was to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
The old Law couldn't be kept, and what Catholics consider the new works that Jesus established cannot be kept either.
There's also the pesky fact that one sin is enough to condemn men. Once you've sinned, you're a sinner and no amount of good works can erase or pay off the debt that is owed for that sin.
The only was to be rid of sin is through forgiveness. Working the sin off is not in God's economy.
Is it any wonder that Catholics say they can’t know they are saved for sure? What a perverted misrepresentation of scripture the RCC has developed. Now watching the sickening spectacle of emotion and adulation surrounding the appointment of this Pope is amazing.
Jesus sets the bar even higher than the Law did. If it was impossible for men to be saved by obeying the Law when it was outward obedience, it's even more impossible to obey the Law as Jesus set the standard, from the heart.
The law reveals in certain aspect to us, the nature of God. This standard when turned inwardly, can show us where we are wrong, what is not of Him. Of course the Holy Spirit needs show us too (or we remain blind, if only partially) yet for us to be better able to discern His Spirit from imposters...the revelation of His nature found in the Word sets a standard by which such may be held up towards, examined and compared.
It doesn't have to be complicated, nor heavy and burdensome. The Lord promised his yoke would be easy and his burden light.
*****What? So now eating his flesh and blood isn’t really enough to gain eternal life after all? It’s works?****
Holy Communion unites us with Jesus and with each other and imparts to us His grace, the grace we need to be true followers of Christ. It is not just the motion/action but a true reception of Him that is an aid in our journey on the path of life. Jesus said if we abide in Him, He will abide in us and in John 6:54-59 He tells us that if we eat His flesh and drink His blood we will abide in Him and have eternal life because of Him, just as He has life because of the Father.
****We’re told that people have to be baptized to be saved and that if you’re baptized, you’re saved. Except when you’re not. ****
Baptism if the moment when we become children of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, but it is the start of our journey not the end all and be all.
****How many hoops to Catholics think they have to jump through to earn eternal life?****
What you call hoops, Catholics call the commands of Christ. And no one earns eternal life, it is freely given.
****The old Law couldn’t be kept, and what Catholics consider the new works that Jesus established cannot be kept either.****
So, no one can feed the poor, visit the sick and imprisoned, forgive others, cloth the naked, care for the widow and the orphan?
It must be a dreary Christianity which you live.