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To: wagglebee; OLD REGGIE; Quix; 1000 silverlings; Marysecretary; fortheDeclaration; Uncle Chip; ...
This seems to be the general mode of apologetics in these bound, elongated tracts. It is not defense of Protestant doctrine, it is actually an attack on Catholic doctrine with a Protestant interpretation (often coupled with liberal doses of misrepresentation) of why the Church is wrong.

So, my question is this, can ANYBODY give me the name of a current or recent Catholic book that indicates that mainline Protestants are possibly damned for their beliefs? Can you tell me where to buy a SINGLE book that tells Protestants that they must become Catholic to be saved from the fires of hell?

Three points:

First, most Protestant writers are not so myopic as to say Catholics are going to hell. The books I've read about Catholicism by Protestant authors are careful to simply post the Scriptures which reveal the blatant idolatry of Rome, permitting the reader to draw his own conclusions.

Further, as regards the Reformed, we believe that only God knows the heart and we are very careful not to speculate on other people's salvation. No church on earth is perfect and no one has everything right 100% of the time or else they would be God. Read the Westminster Confession of Faith...

CHAPTER XXV
Of the Church

"V. The purest Churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error;[10] and some have so degenerated, as to become no Churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan.[11] Nevertheless, there shall be always a Church on earth to worship God according to His will.[12]

All men are called to preach the Gospel in truth and love. Rome squirms because when that Gospel is preached Rome is shown to be in error time after time.

Secondly, there are dozens of books by writers like Scott Hahn who outline the restricted nature of salvation in Catholicism. Your own catechism at vatican.va says exactly that...

846"Outside the Church there is no salvation" How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336

Seems quite exclusive.

Now the Catholic apologist will point to 847 and 848 saying the RCC gives a break to those who are "ignorant."

847  This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337

848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338

Lol. God in heaven, thank you for teaching me "the Gospel of Christ and His church" and for keeping me "ignorant" of such foul errors as "other Christs" and "co-redeemers" and the alchemy of transubstantiation and confessional mediators and "infallible" false bishops of Rome, etc.

Finally, nowhere in Protestant literature is there anything even remotely like the edicts of the Council of Trent which loudly and with great finality and clarity of purpose curse to hell all those who believe in the Biblical truth of their justification by faith alone in Christ alone and who have confidence in that fact.

No one possess the hubris of Rome. None.

2,539 posted on 06/05/2008 10:51:17 AM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
Rome squirms because when that Gospel is preached Rome is shown to be in error time after time.

The capital city of Italy is squirming?

Good thing the Catholic Church has no such problem.

2,543 posted on 06/05/2008 10:56:43 AM PDT by Petronski (Scripture & Tradition must be accepted & honored w/equal sentiments of devotion & reverence. CCC 82)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
Don't skimp with that Westminster Confession of Faith!

CHAPTER XXV
Of the Church

VI. There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ.[13] Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God.[14]

Hatred, pure and simple.

2,546 posted on 06/05/2008 11:00:11 AM PDT by Petronski (Scripture & Tradition must be accepted & honored w/equal sentiments of devotion & reverence. CCC 82)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
...the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door.

Were you baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

If so, you have entered the Church.

2,548 posted on 06/05/2008 11:04:37 AM PDT by Petronski (Scripture & Tradition must be accepted & honored w/equal sentiments of devotion & reverence. CCC 82)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
Lol. God in heaven, thank you for teaching me "the Gospel of Christ and His church" and for keeping me "ignorant" of such foul errors as "other Christs" and "co-redeemers" and the alchemy of transubstantiation and confessional mediators and "infallible" false bishops of Rome, etc.

Thanking God for keeping you ignorant?

I don't think it is God who is doing that.

2,550 posted on 06/05/2008 11:06:12 AM PDT by Petronski (Scripture & Tradition must be accepted & honored w/equal sentiments of devotion & reverence. CCC 82)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
First, most Protestant writers are not so myopic as to say Catholics are going to hell. The books I've read about Catholicism by Protestant authors are careful to simply post the Scriptures which reveal the blatant idolatry of Rome, permitting the reader to draw his own conclusions.

Of course not, that might be counterproductive; however, the implication is ALWAYS present. And trust me, I am well aware of how "careful" these writers are to ONLY use those verses that are easiest to distort.

No church on earth is perfect and no one has everything right 100% of the time or else they would be God.

Strange, I thought Calvinists believed that the Church IS the Body of Christ.

Rome squirms because when that Gospel is preached Rome is shown to be in error time after time.

By "Rome" I presume you mean the Catholic Church. Can you point to one of these occasions where the Church has "squirmed" and recanted?

Has the Catholic Church, like so many Protestant denominations, revised or abandoned Biblical prohibitions against the ordination of women, homosexuality and abortion?

As for the rest of what you wrote, it as been explained to you more than enough times, it would be an exercise in futility for me to go through it again. But let me point this out to you, because ANYBODY can start their own Protestant denomination at ANY TIME and for ANY REASON, ANYTHING published by ANY Protestant can be considered "Protestant literature," to that end I find it implausible that nothing has been written that is far more inflammatory than the misunderstood declarations of the Council of Trent.

2,554 posted on 06/05/2008 11:11:13 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

Finally, nowhere in Protestant literature is there anything even remotely like the edicts of the Council of Trent which loudly and with great finality and clarity of purpose curse to hell all those who believe in the Biblical truth of their justification by faith alone in Christ alone and who have confidence in that fact.

No one possess the hubris of Rome. None.

= = =

Overwhelmingly true.

—Biblically true
—Historically true
—Evidence-wise true
—Experientially true.


2,933 posted on 06/05/2008 7:49:22 PM PDT by Quix (GOD ALONE IS GOD; WORTHY; PAID THE PRICE; IS COMING AGAIN; KNOWS ALL; IS LOVING; IS ALTOGETHER GOOD)
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