However, in Roman Catholicism salvation is not by faith alone in Christ alone. In Roman Catholicism, that which is necessary for salvation includes the church (Catechism of the Catholic Church 846), baptism (CCC 1257), penance (CCC 980), sacraments (CCC 1129), service and witness to the faith (CCC 1816), keeping the ten commandments (CCC 2036, 2068, 2070), and detachment from riches (CCC 2556).
In other words, Roman Catholicism teaches works righteousness and because it does, anyone who seeks salvation in the Roman Catholic system will never find it.
So, Roman Catholics must repent of the false doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and trust in Christ alone by faith alone for the forgiveness of his or her sins. There is no other way.
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." (Rom. 3:28). "For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." (Rom. 4:3). "But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness," (Rom. 4:5).
Yawn.
Time will tell, eh? Hate for you to be on the wrong side of the truth, but that’s your call.
Yes, through their baptism through water and the Holy Spirit.
I love it when folks like you try to tell Catholics what we believe. We are not a Church that believes in salvation by works. We believe in salvation by faith through the cross. But as you know, faith without works is dead. Works are the manifestation of faith. Works won’t earn you salvation; rather they are the fruit of faith.
I suggest spending your time evangelizing non-Christians, rather than the Church Christ founded.
**Yes they can but not if they adhere to Roman Catholic theology. **
The author is in error here because Catholicism is centered on Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Catholic belief is succinctly expressed in the profession of faith or credo called the Nicene Creed:
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
(At the words that follow, up to and including "and became man." all bow.)
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
An old friend of mine (Baptist turned Presbyterian) and I went on a FOOTSTEPS OF GOD Pilgrimage with Steve and Janet Ray to the Holy Land in 2011.
Steve Ray was an evangelical Baptist minister who was convinced that all of us Catholics were going to hell. Being a good man he wanted to save us. So he and his wife spend a year reading about the Catholic Church. He knew that they first had to learn what all these Catholics were about. Logical.
Steve said that one night, a year after their reading began, he and his wife were on the living room floor, surrounded by all these books. He started weeping and said: "Oh no! We're Catholics!"
They both converted and they now run tours to the Holy Land. It was a WONderful tour. Steve knew his Bible backwards and forwards and was able to ALWAYS give us chapter and verse for things, throughout the entire trip.
His website: http://www.footprintsofgodpilgrimages.com
Thanks for your deep concern about my immortal Catholic soul.
Funny stuff, completely wrong, but darn funny. If they bring back "Laugh in" this guy has a job for life.
Popes and saints don’t go to heaven?
“And the Lord looked at Peter and said “You are the Rock upon which I will build my Church.”
That mission was given to my Church directly by Jesus and it’s why I stick around.
The truth is in the Catholic Church and is taught here. Granted it has been obscured by millennia of ceremony, legalism, semi-occult practices, and misunderstandings by the Laity which the Church has, for some reason or other, chosen not to try and correct.
Protestants exist because frankly at various points in our history we have fallen way, way short of our mission.
Every minute wasted on attacking Catholics, is another minute lost for your own Salvation.
So if Christ started the one true Church, and his direct apostles were all good, holy, faithful men
So please tell us - when exactly did the Roman Catholic Church start promoting false doctrines? who did it, when, and why?
“So, Roman Catholics must repent of the false doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church”
YAWN.
Jesus said, in John 3:3, A man must be born again.
In Luke 23:39-43, Jesus tells the man to His right, this day you will be in Paradise with Me.
The man had, confessed that Jesus was God, that he was a sinner worthy of death and asked Jesus to forgive him and let him be His slave.
There is nothing in the Bible, that I know of or that the Pastor knows of that precludes doing more, only that doing less cannot comply.
In James, the half brother of Jesus, James says that he shows his salvation by his works and that faith without works is dead.
Here’s one of those Protestant bashing threads that my fellow Protestants tell me exist yet never ping me to upon my request . . .oh wait it’s the Catholic bashers AGAIN. These people or so full of hatred I wander how they make it through their days.
With no dog in these distasteful fights (neither Protestant nor Catholic nor Mormon - Buddhist for a quarter century), it does seem strange to me that the FR mods allow such unabashed rancor to continue on a news site, yet often ban legitimate threads about news.
Is there some way to delete the “religion” forum from my account? I can’t see how to turn it off, and it really is quite a turn-off.
Roman Catholics believe in Christ’s sanctifying shedding of blood on the cross. They do NOT demand that works are a part of salvation. Yes, they have had periods in their past where it appeared they did, and in some countries, works are tied to faith. However, if you read the materials closely, you’ll see that they believe like you. Maybe an over-emphasis at times in works, still, but if you look closely today, you’d be hard-pressed to find many churches still adhering to works as proof. However, you cannot totally separate works from faith, as James says. Show me the works and I shall see their faith, is the gist of James’ message. You cannot separate them in one who has been claiming to be a child of God. After a while, there must be some works that establish the fact that faith has taken place.
The Roman Catholic Church is a sister church. Right now, it is the only church in which I see ANY kind of revival and spiritual awakening. While there are many that I would NOT attend because they preach a social Gospel, that is true of every other denomination, as well. The whole of Christendom is infiltrated by a social gospel that is watering down the True Gospel. We cannot continue this denunciation of a sister church. Remember the message about removing the “log” from one’s own eye? That needs to be remembered. I know many Catholics who I would not consider truly saved, but I know JUST AS MANY who ARE. Maybe more. I would say the same of every other church group I have attended, as well. I do not hear people saying that about the Lutheran church, Methodist, Baptist, or the other denominations, but name one that is not compromised today in some way. There is ONE TRUE CHURCH, made up from members of all the churches that exist.
True faith is defined in a church’s doctrine by what they believe about Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic Church passes that test. Mormonism does not. I see little condemnation of other churches in this site and yet we post things DAILY from Joel Osteen, who does not seem to know what true faith is. He tries to make every person feel great about whatever they believe. He hedges about what true faith actually is, when challenged. Scripture is explicit about that kind of talk. Let’s be honest and admit that the pre-trib rapture theory that we were raised on has called the RCC the “great harlot” and we have bought into that message, hook line and sinker. It continues to be taught in churches as fact. The Harlot is not the RCC, however, any church that does not teach the whole Truth, and changes the message of the Gospel in ANY way, is associated with the “harlot” in that it is a deceptive message. EVERY denomination has its churches that fall into that category. Don’t single ONE denomination out for rebuke. If you really want to know where the RCC is today, go online and become a subscriber to First Things, Touchstone Magazine and SALVO. These are scholarly magazines that are published by mostly RCC writers, although Touchstone is a compilation of RCC, Anglican, Orthodox, and So. Baptist scholars. They are for those who like scholarly stuff, but one should be able to read them and understand them without difficulty. There are NO OTHER magazines that I know of that compare. And, please remember that it is the RCC that is the leader of the Pro-Life movement. We need to quit giving ANY pastor or so-called Christian writings any relevance who continue to demonize a sister church as demonic. Instead, we need to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves why it is so important to do such a thing. EVery church I have attended I’ve met so-called members whom I would NOT consider true believers. Let’s pray, instead, that the True Church be lifted up...believers in EVERY SINGLE CHURCH...and that Christ be honored in our midst. Remember that the one sin that cannot be forgiven is to attribute to Satan the power that is that of the HS, and vice versa. To say that God cannot hold people in the RCC to salvation and that the HS has failed is wrong. Throughout history, the TRUE CHURCH has always been a remnant. There are MANY who profess faith but are not believers...in every denomination.
This is offensive to me and many others, this preaching that the RCC is not of God. We’d better repent of our judgment of others and ask God to reveal His True followers to us, to give us a heart for the lost, and to pray for one another, regardless of our denomination. BTW, I am NOT a RC, but once I stopped believing the pre-trib rapture theory, my eyes were opened and I could not condemn a sister church any longer. I pray that whoever is continuing to put out this message will have a similar experience, where God, Himself, opens your eyes and fills your heart with love, instead of hatred.
Here is a follow on question. I was baptized a Lutheran when I was six. It was the first time I had entered a church. The next time I entered a church I was 22, with my wife to be. I went a couple times a year with her. I was received into the Catholic church when I was 44 (14 years ago). I immediately got to work and currently put in about 20 hours a week volunteering in the community and at parishes in the area.
Here is the question: Was I better off as a Protestant?
If Christians of all flavors on FR would put as much energy into evangelizing non-believers as they do arguing over which Christian is better, imagine the souls that could be won.
Just sayin’