SOLA FIDE

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[BenKenobi]

Which is why the Rosary says, “Pray for us sinners...”

[BenKenobi]

“It is anti-Scriptural fiction to believe dead souls”

But they aren’t dead. That’s the whole point of Christ promising us eternal life, that the dead are not dead, but alive in Christ.

“Read your Bible.”

I have, it does not say what you purport it says.

Again, I ask, if the saints are dead, then do you believe that Christ promises us eternal life?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Show me the Scripture that says we are to pray TO anyone other than the Triune God.

Christians have waited for Roman Catholics to answer that question for centuries.

And the only response that comes is silence.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

lol. That's been tried and found wanting. Roman Catholic prayers are FILLED with supplications TO dead people who may or may not now reside in heaven.

The RC catechism celebrates Mary's redemptive status regarding the salvation of mankind, as if her "cooperation" meant anything other than when God appeared to Paul. Do we assume he had a will to say no to God?

Not hardly.

How about Lazarus? Did Christ ask him if he even wanted to breath again when He brought him back from the dead?

No. None of their "cooperation" was necessary. All that was necessary was the will, purpose and plan of God, ordained by Him from before the foundation of the world.

Flee from the idolatry Rome peddles.

[Cronos]

Firstly -- it's nice to get a post from you that does not contain insults, it is difficult to answer a question if it is interspersed with insults. One can always agree to disagree after a point in a civil conversation

Secondly, to your questions:

1. "Saved by fire" is from 1 Cor. 3:13–15

13Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

14If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire

This does not say that Salvation is from the fire, yet "he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire" -- having our bad deeds/works burned away by the purifying fire of God's love.

You can't throw one in the trash in favor of the other one...You have to reconcile both ideas...God didn't make any mistakes --> exactly.

These verses don't apply to Christians because we have been cleansed...We have no condemnation.. correct again -- but how? by Acts 2:38

38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Eph 5:26

26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life.
Jn 19:34

34But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

1 Jn 5:6-8

6This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.

7For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

8And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

From then on, it is possible "to be born of water and the Spirit" Jn 3:5

5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

[Cronos]

Why do you believe that?

Our Salvation is from Jesus Christ's one-time sacrifice, i.e. through God's grace alone. Sola gratia

[Judith Anne]

Once again you put up the photo of that statue. Well, let’s look at the source: Way of Life.org.

Interestingly, as far as supporting any position of yours, that source is impeachable. Look what the website says about Calvin:

________________________________________________________
5. IT IS NOT WISE TO FOLLOW JOHN CALVIN; HE WAS UNSOUND AT THE VERY FOUNDATION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. Calvin never gave a testimony of the new birth; rather he identified with his Catholic infant baptism. Note the following quotes from his Institutes:

“At whatever time we are baptized, we are washed and purified once for the whole of life” (Institutes, IV).

“By baptism we are ingrafted into the body of Christ ... infants are to be baptized ... children of Christians, as they are immediately on their birth received by God as heirs of the covenant, are also to be admitted to baptism” (Institutes, IV).

Calvin was vicious toward his enemies, acting more like a devouring wolf than a harmless sheep. Historian William Jones observed that “that most hateful feature of popery adhered to Calvin through life, the spirit of persecution.” Note how he described his theological opponents: “...all that filth and villainy...mad dogs who vomit their filth against the majesty of God and want to pervert all religion. Must they be spared?” (Oct. 16, 1555). Calvin hated the Anabaptists, though they were miles closer to the Scriptural pattern for the New Testament church than he was. He called them “henchmen of Satan.” Four men who disagreed with Calvin on who should be admitted to the Lord’s Supper were beheaded, quartered, and their body parts hung in strategic locations in Geneva as a warning to others. He burned Michael Servetus (for rejecting infant baptism and for denying Christ’s deity). Calvin wrote about Servetus, “One should not be content with simply killing such people, but should burn them cruelly.”

6. GOD DOES NOT REQUIRE HIS PEOPLE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN CALVINISM AND ARMINIANISM! I am convinced that John Calvin has caused great and unnecessary divisions among God’s people because of dogmatizing his philosophizing about God’s sovereignty and election. If men were left simply to believe the Bible’s own statements on these matters and if men were not forced to decide between the man-made theologies called “Calvinism” and “Arminianism,” the Christian world would be much better off and many artificial and unnecessary divisions would not have resulted.

_____________________________________________________

So, you like their photos, but do you like what they say about Calvin?

There’s a long discussion of Calvin at the link. Go ahead and read it, and then let us know if the same link where you got that weird, unsourced photo, and the same link that has such harsh, factual statements about Calvinism, are considered accurate by the Calvinists here.

Because it’s a Baptist website. And Calvin is not a theological authority to them.

Before using that website in any way as some sort of support for your position, including the unsourced photo, perhaps you had better check out the rest of it.

[Judith Anne]

Link:

http://www.wayoflife.org/database/calvinismdebate.html

[Judith Anne]

According to Wayoflife.org, the photo is supposed to be from Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

Here’s a link that has numerous photos from the location, NOTHING like that statue.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=santa+maria+maggiore+rome&qpvt=santa+maria+maggiore+rome&FORM=IGRE

But, perhaps you can authenticate it, since you are using wayoflife.org as a source, perhaps you can verify that this is not a photoshopped piece of junk.

[HossB86]

If their faith is in anyone/thing OTHER than Christ for salvation, they may already be shipwrecked.

:(

Hoss

[HossB86]

As for omnipresence, if time in fact works differently in heaven, then it is perfectly possible for Mary to hear prayers given to her without having to be omnipresent.

Scriptural proof, please?

Hoss

[Cronos]

When I said "innately good" I didn't mean to imply it was self-generated. I'll grant that you would say that it is a gift from God

Yes, and let's repeat -- God does all the saving, the salvation is a grace, man cannot save himself, man's works have no real merit in the ability to provide salvation.

However, God did create man good -- what He creates is created good. We have the Original sin, stain, tendency to sin, but that does not make us anything but innately created in God's image, which is good -- with the caveat that our goodness does not enable us to save ourselves.

You cannot say that man's merit must be in distinction from God's merit -- that is a non-sequitor. The CCC as I posted above, says Man's merit, moreover, itself is due to God for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.

[Hacksaw]

And just for the record, when did Paul all of a sudden become good enough to quote to support Catholic doctrine? I though Catholics had him classified as a kook, a loon, and mentally unbalanced.

I would think an ex-Catholic wouldn't make such uninformed statements. Some of the ex Catholics on this forum remind me of divorced wives who spend the rest of their lives obsessing over their ex husband and never really getting on with their lives.

[RnMomof7]

:)

[Cronos]

I don't understand how you can say that on the one hand we are saved by "Christ's one-time sacrifice" alone, BUT, "we are not justified by faith alone". According to this we can be saved but not justified since being saved requires nothing from us. How does that work?

Well, firstly, it's not me saying the BUT, but look at what is in the Bible:

Luke 18:13-14

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Why did the man go back justified? Due to his sincere repentence

Then

Romans 3:23-24

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

we are justified by grace

and

Titus3:7

having been justified by his grace

Even if you take Romans 3:28 starts off in verse 27 with saying "No, because of the law that requires faith" and verse 28 emphasises "works of the law" -- what is Paul talking about? He's talking about the laws of Moses and is saying that this is to be apart from the works of the Judaic laws.

And in the Bible we read that you need to endure to the end to be saved:

22And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

matt 24:13

13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Mark 13:13

13And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

And we are also told that we must be baptised:Mark 16:16

16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned

We must repent Luke 13:3

3I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

We must confess our sins Rom. 10:9

9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

and finally 1 Pet. 3:21

21The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

It is not faith alone -- it is grace alone that saves and Christ Himself tells us that just mouthing "faith, faith", "lord, lord" will not save:

Matt. 7:21

Not every one who says to me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven

[Rashputin]

LOL

You’re kidding, you have to be. God Almighty, maker of the entire universe and completely outside of time, somehow can’t arrange to get concurrent messages to Mary in spite of the fact that we mere mortals could handle it without a problem?

Please.

[RnMomof7]

As for omnipresence, if time in fact works differently in heaven, then it is perfectly possible for Mary to hear prayers given to her without having to be omnipresent.

Ohh so God is only omnipresent here?

See the problem with Mary being omnipresent is that she has her body in heaven RIGHT????... she is not a pure spirit as God is.. her "assumed" body can not be omnipresent, because it is physical

[Rashputin]

Maybe Mary believes. Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, ”If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” NKJV

[Cronos]

Catholics will come to Jesus with empty hands of faith, bringing nothing but their sins to the cross, as I did. Only then will they know the peace of God which surpasses all understandin

Thanks -- we already do that and have been doing it since Apostolic times (2000 years nearly). it's good to see you joining us.

[Cronos]

Iscool: "the Gospels are written to and for the Jews"

Please could you clarify -- do you mean to say that the Gospels are for the Jews and not for us gentiles?