Your statement indicates to me that you don't have a very good understanding of what Christ's Church teaches regarding sainthood, canonization and salvation, since you seem to conflate the three.
Regarding formal canonization, the Church teaches that there are many saints in heaven beyond those that are formally recognized by the Church through the process of canonization.
Regarding Church authority, you know that King James didn't hand out Bibles at Pentecost, so why do you reject the Authority that wrote, preserved, and canonized the Bible? Ironically, doing so undermines Luther's doctrine of "the Bible alone" as the sole rule of faith. If you can't trust the Authority that wrote, preserved and canonized the Bible, how can you trust the Bible?
You are a saint, Thomas, if you have been born again and the Holy Spirit lives in you.
What does this statement mean to you?
The passage that I believe you are referring to is a reference to baptism.
The doctrine that you are likely espousing derives from the so-called Protestant "reformers," or more accurately, revolutionaries or heretics. Where do they derive their authority? Why do you trust their interpretation of Scripture?
There are many passages in Scripture regarding salvation. It's a subject that defies such a simplistic and counterintuitive doctrine.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a great resource for Church teaching regarding salvation: Chapt. 3: God's Salvation: Law and Grace
Catholic Answers provides a very accessible, brief overview and refutation of the "once saved, always saved" doctrine:
Listen to yourself....THE CHURCH, THE CHURCH, THE CHURCH...all you quote is what the Catholic church has taught you.
“THE CHURCH” IS THE BODY OF BELIEVERS WHO ARE BORN AGAIN BY ACCEPTING THE SACRIFICE JESUS MADE FOR THEM...PERIOD. AND PROOF OF THAT BELIEF IS THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT...ALSO CALLED BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT.
I do not know what you refer to by “reject the Authority that wrote, preserved, and canonized the Bible?” If you refer to the Catholic church, then by all means I reject it. I am not a bible scholar so I am sure some others here can rebut your arguments better than I, but I darn sure know the Catholic church does not hold the copyright or patent on the bible. I am saved by the blood of Christ and I need nothing else...certainly not your man-made religion. No church is in authority over me....no man or woman or anyone else or anything else is in authority over me except the Lord Himself.
That statement to me means “baptism” by the Holy Spirit...not sprinkling, not dunking, nothing to do with water at all. You are not born-again until you are baptized with the Spirit. And you would know if you had been. The fact you are questioning this tells me right away that you are not....that you are relying on Catholic doctrine to get you to heaven. Believe it or not, some of us who say we are born again and baptized by the Spirit really are.
And why is it that Catholics can only quote their own catechism? I never see anything else...like the bible. God can work thru any translation and any language and let anyone know the truth...just as He did in the days before there even was a bible.
Faith is simple enough for a little child, but your “religion” has made it so much harder than it needs to be.
Once saved, always saved is exactly right, but I wouldn’t expect to see it in a false religion. All you see is your Catholic Church and its authority and its false doctrine. You are not obliged to ever be in any church building to know God.
If all that ritual and what-not makes you think you’ve got yourself covered, then by all means run on with it. But it is nonsense. Faith so simple a small child could understand is it in a nutshell and I am afraid you have missed it.
Good luck to you,
Jodyel
And do you have a very good understanding of what Scripture teaches about sainthood, canonization, and salvation?
Scripture never mentions canonization. It does say, however, that believers are saints. The terms are regularly used interchangeably.