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To: Jvette; smvoice
>>I believe that sacraments are gifts from God, given by Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to His Church and thus, to us, as instruments of grace to aid us in our walk of faith.<<

It would appear you disagree with the RCC at least.

Sacraments Are Necessary For Salvation

(1129) The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Saviour. (Page 319)

1,221 posted on 11/07/2011 9:45:04 AM PST by CynicalBear
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To: CynicalBear

Matthew 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many go that way. 14 How narrow is the gate that leads to life and how rough the road; few there are who find it.

The Sacraments of the New Covenant in Jesus are indeed necessary for our salvation for they work in us and help us to stay upon the narrow path.

Read the part you chose not to highlight.

The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Saviour.

That there is a “path” implies a journey, a walk that we choose to take. We believe and therefore we desire to walk with Jesus. The sacraments aid us on that journey. Straying from the path can be fatal.

Matthew 7:24 “So, then, anyone who hears these words of mine and acts accordingly is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. 25 The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house, but it did not collapse because it was built on rock. 26 But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. 27 The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible fall that was!”

The foundation of our faith is Jesus, we build upon it through our works, “acting accordingly” as Jesus tells us and the sacraments are the graces, “tools” by which we build.

We see quite clearly in the story of the gospels that the Apostles and the disciples waxed and waned in their faith, asking Jesus to “increase our faith” and “help our unbelief”.

Jesus knows us, knows our weaknesses and knows that we must be constantly encouraged and strengthened as our own faith waxes and wanes under difficult circumstances, or moments of uncertainty.

We are obliged to receive the sacraments only in that sense that we desire to remain in Christ and to walk with Him.

Our obligation is to ourselves.


1,233 posted on 11/07/2011 10:31:35 AM PST by Jvette
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