Boy, does it ever get old! I've been on Free Republic for over five years now and I remember the same exact arguments on the RF back then. It's almost as if some people think they can sneak it past others and nobody will pop up and disagree. I've pretty much seen just about all the sides that can be thought up on this most critical subject of Justification by Faith. But it is either grace or works, Scripture says, not both. If it's grace then it can't be by works because grace would stop being grace. But if it is by works, then you can't bring in grace because then work would not be work. I think Paul - through the Holy Spirit - could not have made it any clearer.
So, now we have a newbie who comes in like gangbusters thinking he's gonna show all us ignorant "Fundies" how an "intellectual" shares the Gospel. I really think some of the Catholics here aren't quite sure what to make of it. Here, in this thread, we even had a Catholic directly contradict what the OP said, denying that they even teach such a thing. All we CAN do is to keep speaking the truth, sharing the truth of God's word and the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. The Gospel is NOT a difficult thing to understand - even a child grasps its truth. But so many people refuse to accept its simple but powerful truth - that Jesus Christ died to redeem us from our sin and the consequence of eternal death. It HAD to be by grace, because no man is capable of sinlessness nor can anything we do satisfy the wages of sin, which is death. We MUST continue to share this Gospel of grace and not allow the enemy of men's souls to pollute the message.
Be sure to ping a Freeper if you are mentioning him in your post.
Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Amen Sister! I use to wonder why some very knowledgeable Christians would just stop posting on the RF, but now after several years it makes sense. They get tired of being stuck at the elementary school level and want to move on to tougher questions such as reconciling predestination and free will, or where does faith come from.
I've pretty much seen just about all the sides that can be thought up on this most critical subject of Justification by Faith. But it is either grace or works, Scripture says, not both. If it's grace then it can't be by works because grace would stop being grace. But if it is by works, then you can't bring in grace because then work would not be work. I think Paul - through the Holy Spirit - could not have made it any clearer.
Praise the Lord!
I think the most liberating thing for a Christian is to start from the premise "What does the Bible tell me about this" when looking into any question. The answers are there!
So, now we have a newbie who comes in like gangbusters thinking he's gonna show all us ignorant "Fundies" how an "intellectual" shares the Gospel.
IMHO, here is the problem. They don't believe The Gospel given to us in the Scriptures. The same Gospel we are supposed to take to the entire world. They can't believe The Gospel or the power of their church to be the determinate of their salvation collapses.
They hold to a different gospel in which grace is infused into the believer by their sacramental system and their works.
The Gospel is NOT a difficult thing to understand - even a child grasps its truth. But so many people refuse to accept its simple but powerful truth - that Jesus Christ died to redeem us from our sin and the consequence of eternal death.
AMEN, AMEN, AMEN a thousand times AMEN!
Rom. 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead you will be saved.
We are justified by Faith Alone, no works, no sacramentalism, no legalism, no sola ecclessia, only Faith in Jesus Christ.
Exactly the same...and with the same arguements and attitudes. Nothings changed. It would appear FR religious threads are stuck in the mud and there's no getting beyond into the deeper things of God......and this in view of the audiance.
Question is how can we take it further to that which might be instructive and draw us all nearer to Christ? To learn more about Him and what He desires of us ...souls are also at stake....and is the bottom line.