“This cleansing is done through Christ, of course, but meriting it requires a little more than a belief in Him.”
This goes to show the absolute biblical confusion of the Catholics. While it is certainly true that a faith without works is dead, it is not true that works merit grace, or that a quantity of works saves, as the scripture directly says that “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt” (Rom 4:4). And again, “by grace ye are saved” (Eph 2:5). This is because whoever seeks to be justified by doing good works must do them perfectly, as the scripture declares, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them”(Gal 3:10). In fact, keeping the law perfectly is our duty which we must do as the minimal standard, as Christ declares:
“Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”(Luk 17:9-10)
Catholics have a tendency, then, to downplay the heinousness of sin, and to puff up the righteousness of man, in order to get beyond these difficulties. So they build up degrees of sin, even though all are fatal, since, in reality, even just one sin puts you under the guilt of the entire law, as the scripture says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (Jas 2:10). And again, “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek 18:4). And as touching the righteousness of man, he is utterly empty of any of it. A man has no righteousness of his own. What passes as our righteousness, as the scripture declares, “are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isa 64:6). And again, “there is none that doeth good, no, not one”(Rom 3:12). Therefore we must conclude with Paul that, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (2Co 3:5).
It is for this reason, then, that we do not glory in our alleged meriting of grace, or of a righteousness of ourselves that is worthy of salvation, but instead we must glory in Christ whose righteousness is imputed onto us by faith only, as Paul says:
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” (Rom 4:5-8)
When we speak of faith being dead without works, therefore, we speak not of a quantity of works which merit grace. The Papists, occasionally, imagine a scale in heaven with their good and evil works weighed against each other. For example, from the ‘Secrets of the Rosary” endorsed by Pope John Paul the second:
“One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was given up for dead he found himself, in a vision, before the judgement seat of Our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins he had committed and Our Lord as Sovereign Judge was just about to condemn him to hell when Our Lady appeared to intercede for him. She called for a pair of scales and had his sins placed in one of the balances whereas she put the rosary that he had always worn on the other scale, together with all the Rosaries that had been said because of his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than his sins.
Looking at him with great kindness Our Lady said: “As a reward for this little honor that you paid me in wearing my Rosary, I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your life will be spared for a few more years. See that you spend these years wisely, and do penance.”
When the King regained consciousness he cried out: “Blessed be the Rosary of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been delivered from eternal damnation!””
http://www.rosary-center.org/secret.htm
This is a wholly blasphemous view of salvation which must be rejected. There is no weighing of good works for your salvation, as if you had any. According to the scripture, there isn’t a single man who is good. Not even Paul, as we see in Romans 7, was free of sin. Instead, he lamented that he sinned so greatly, and did not do all the good that he would. John, in his epistle, declares that anyone who says the have no sin, is a liar. In reality, if anything is measured, it is the quality of the faith which a man has that shall either damn him or justify him. Not the quantity of works, but the living faith, as opposed to the mere belief of devils (who all believe in God, but are damned), which produces good works the way a pregnant cloud produces rain.
Though this would still be an imperfect way of speaking, because faith also is the gift of God, and we cannot imagine that anything given by God is of dubious quality. Perhaps it is better to say, that the faith of the elect, which is from God, is always perfect; whereas the dead faith of evil ones is always found wanting. Hence why Paul says that we are not sufficient for anything, and this includes our faith, which is given to us by the Holy Spirit when we were yet unwilling and dead in our sin. As the scripture says, “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Co 12:3). Again, “no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (Joh 6:65). And again, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Php 2:13).
Thus both faith and good works must bow to grace, which provides liberally for both for all those predestined before the world began; not according to our works, or our foreseen goodness and faith, but according to His good pleasure and purpose.
“When we speak of faith being dead without works, therefore, we speak not of a quantity of works which merit grace. The Papists, occasionally, imagine a scale in heaven with their good and evil works weighed against each other. For example, from the ‘Secrets of the Rosary” endorsed by Pope John Paul the second:
“One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was given up for dead he found himself, in a vision, before the judgement seat of Our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins he had committed and Our Lord as Sovereign Judge was just about to condemn him to hell when Our Lady appeared to intercede for him. She called for a pair of scales and had his sins placed in one of the balances whereas she put the rosary that he had always worn on the other scale, together with all the Rosaries that had been said because of his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than his sins.
Looking at him with great kindness Our Lady said: “As a reward for this little honor that you paid me in wearing my Rosary, I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your life will be spared for a few more years. See that you spend these years wisely, and do penance.”
When the King regained consciousness he cried out: “Blessed be the Rosary of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been delivered from eternal damnation!””
Oh my!!
Thanks for posting!