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
Beautiful post, jodyel. Just perfect :)
REALLY???????you're not even a good bible reader..the bible clearly points out that Catholicism is the church which Christ founded...you can blather about Luther, Calvin, Zwingley and others, but they had no right to change anything in a 1,600 year old religion.
Thank you jodyel for putting to words that which is in my mind! I’m engaged in a Bible study right now focusing on the “Fruit of the Spirit” and it’s absolutely centered on the Holy Spirit.