Replies

klossg from past post: Baptism isn't a work that I do. Baptism is a gift from God. Baptism is a grace.

wmfights:Nonsense

Funny that. :) I cannot baptize myself. If I do work, I must have the ability to do said work, correct? Or do you work through others somehow? Does baptism come from interior to yourself? Do you not need Christ to be baptized?

A work is any physical activity.

Then everything anyone does is a work. Thinking is a work performed by electrical and chemical control in the mind. Reading the Bible is a work. Thinking or saying "I am saved by faith alone" is a work. As you define it, how can any human being who is not dead not work in their faith. your religious caste

What does this mean?

Please help me understand how these two statements from your post do not contradict each other?

1. In my sect we believe we are justified by Faith alone, there are no works that our justification is contingent upon before, during or after.

2. After I was justified," I was drawn by a desire to be Baptized?

My sect is not the only one that requires Baptism. Don't the Reformed require Baptism? If so, how is it by faith alone that you are saved? If it doesn't require it, why did you do it? Is it a work? Are you saved by it? Can you renounce it and still be saved?

You must attend Mass. You must take communion. You must confess to your Priest.

The first two you list are precepts of the Church. The only reason these are required is because the Church has asked us to go to Mass and receive the Eucharist. Why anyone would not be drawn to the Eucharist ... I cannot imagine, especially after Christ tells us to eat his flesh in the Bible. If the Church did not make them precepts, we would not be required to do them. Disobedience of the Church is the sin that occurs if one does not go to Mass every week or receive the Eucharist once a year. In themselves these acts of love are not what justify a Catholic. These acts of love are graces from Christ.

Confession of mortal sins to a Priest is not so much required by the Church but instead was instituted by Christ and His Apostles. If we commit mortal sins after Baptism, we reject our relationship with Christ. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit leaves us. "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." 1 Jn 3:24. Confession of mortal sins doesn't save us in itself, it is rather a return to good standing in our relationship with Christ which began with our Baptism.

Spiritual acts are not evil in themselves. They do not justify us either. They can help: as when we physically declare our love of Christ and our need of Christ or when we teach others the Gospel. Christ alone justifies us. But, I will not give up going to Mass or receiving Christ in the Eucharist, even if the Church were to nullify its precepts (which it wont, due to the Holy Spirit). They provide graces through Christ that I would not likely contact myself. "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house" Acts 2:46 "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" 1 Cor 10:16