Posted on 07/01/2015 7:13:05 AM PDT by RnMomof7
Recently there has been a surge in prominent Evangelicals calling for unity with Roman Catholicism. In one sense there seems to be strong foundational similarities that would justify these calls to unity. Catholics are baptized in the name of the Trinity. God’s revealed word in the Bible -- setting aside their addition of the Apocryphal books, for argument’s sake -- is foundational to their worldview. Catholics love Christ and believe that he died on the cross and rose again to provide grace for sinners.
Obviously there are theological differences associated with the specific teachings of each one of these perceived similarities, and I do not want to minimize the importance of these differences. But for argument‘s sake, at least on the surface, there is some common ground.
There is also a strong agreement in ethical standards. Both Roman Catholics and Evangelicals ground morality on God’s holy nature as revealed in the law of God. This means that on the hot button moral issues of the day; the murder of the unborn, human sexuality, the sanctity of marriage there is solidarity between Roman Catholic and Evangelical ethics because they are coming from the same source. Again, this seems to justify a call to some sense of unity.
Are these good enough reasons to publically stump for visible unity with Roman Catholics? That question is beyond the scope of this post. But there is a more fundamental question that must be answered first. That question serves as the dividing line between followers of Christ and the world, which separates biblical Christianity from every other worldview; does Rome possess and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
The author of the book of Hebrews in chapter 10 contrasts the gospel with that which is but a shadow of the gospel. He argues:
"And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." -- Heb 10:11–14
The argument being presented here makes it clear that Christ’s singular sacrifice, his death on the cross, perfects those for whom it is made for. This is the gospel. It is contrasted with the shadow of the gospel in which sacrifices were repeatedly made year after year because though they symbolized the atoning and perfecting sacrifice of Christ, they never themselves perfected those for whom they were made. The gospel of Jesus Christ perfects and any other religious strategies cannot.
This principle is directly applicable to the question of Roman Catholicism and the gospel of God. Roman Catholic worship centers on the mass. The mass is a series of liturgical practices that culminates in the Eucharist which according to paragraph 1068 of the Catholic of the Catholic Church (hereafter CCC) is a divine sacrifice. Paragraph 1367 of CCC calls the Eucharist a “truly propitiatory” sacrifice. This sacrifice is performed repeatedly in the life of a Catholic.
The reason the Eucharist is performed repeatedly is because even though it is claimed to be a propitiatory sacrifice that can make reparation for sins (CCC, 1414), it is a sacrifice that never perfects anyone. According to the Catholic message grace is something that you get from God by performing certain acts. First, God gives you the grace for faith in Jesus (CCC, 2000). Second, when you are baptized God graciously erases the sin of Adam from your record (CCC 1257). From that point on you get more grace by doing things like participating in the sacraments, including the Eucharist. The problem is that when you commit sins, you lose some of the grace you have gained and now need more lest your grace be found wanting at final judgment. This forces the Catholic into a position where they need to return day after day, week after week, and year after year to a priest who serves to repeatedly re-present the same sacrifice which never perfects those for whom it is made, since it only offers grace to cover some sin.
This is not the gospel.
Roman Catholics need the gospel for the same reason we all need it. We are all sinners with such a messed up and low view of how holy holiness really is that we think somehow through our own efforts we can attain it. If we just had enough time and willpower we could somehow have our good deeds outweigh our bad, and this will please God just enough for me to be acceptable to him. This is a satanic lie. A satanic lie that to some degree or another we have all bought into at some point in our life.
But the truth is glorious. God is good and God is holy. He is more good and more holy than we can possibly imagine. God is so good and so holy that anything less than absolute perfection is unacceptable in his presence. It is because of God’s awesome goodness and awesome holiness that in his wisdom he has offered us grace, through faith in Christ. A good and holy sacrifice that absolutely without question completely perfects everyone for whom it is made.
If so; it's probably in the Book.
After all; that's the place to look for the evidence of Mary's assumption; right?
Actually, I was referring to something else Jesus said, but before I mention that, let me first say that Mary was blessed, not bless ed. Mary was a sinner, like all of us. She did not stay a virgin very long after Jesus was born. Mary gave birth to a bunch of kids. Two of them wrote books in the New Testament, James and Jude. Mary was not a frigid Jewish woman, and Joseph did not die a frustrated old man.
What I was actually thinking about, that Jesus said, kind of started out with someone's brood, or something like that. I can't remember exactly what He said, but it was something on that order. Can you fill in the blanks? 😀😇
Original KJV 1611 translation errors.
Genesis
verse 1:2 - And the earth BECAME without form and void . . .
10:9 - He was a mighty hunter AGAINST the Lord.
Leviticus
verses 16:8, 10, 26 - The word from which 'Scapegoat' is translated is better rendered 'Azazel.' 2Kings
verse 2:23 - And while he was going up on the highway, a GANG OF YOUTHS Ezekiel
verse 20:25 - Wherefore I also gave them over to their OWN statutes that were not good, and their own ordinances
Referring to Spirit as Ghost
Matt. 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”
Matt. 28:19 KJV“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
Breeches instead of drawers
Exodus 28:42-43
And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:
And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after him.
JEHOVAH” INSTEAD OF “YHWH”
Exod. 6:3 KJV“And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”
Psalm 83:18 KJV“That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”
Isaiah 12:2 KJV“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.”
Isaiah 26:4 KJV“Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:”
See also: “Jehovah-jireh” (Gen. 22:14), “Jehovah-nissi” (Exod. 17:15), “Jehovah-shalom” (Judges 6:24)
JUPITER” & “MERCURIUS” IN PLACE OF “ZEUS” AND “HERMES”
Acts 14:12 KJV “And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.”
MOUNT “SION” INSTEAD OF MOUNT “ZION” IN PROPHECIES OF THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST
Ps. 65:1-2 KJV “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
Rom. 11:26 KJV “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”
Rev. 14:1 KJV “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
NEW “TESTAMENT” INSTEAD OF NEW “COVENANT”
Heb. 7:22 KJV “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.”
Heb. 9:15 KJV“And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”
Luke 22:20 KJV “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”
See also: Matt. 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 1 Cor. 11:25, 2 Cor. 3:6, 2 Cor. 3:14, Heb. 9:20
I mean if a simple pronoun is so important this small sampling should really be more important.
I figure if I could only generate 99% love for God, above all else, but 1% fear of Hell, then I would have been in deep kimchi.
It’s not an either or thing, Mark17. Fear of the Lord is a good reason to be sorry; love for the Lord above all else is in keeping with the great commandment and the means to salvation.
You do make a good point that all sin is serious. A speaker at a conference I attended a couple of years ago said that every time you sin, you sin against the first commandment, because you are putting something before God. That was the great sin of Adam; that he wanted to be like God.
Peace,
Rich
One of the astonishing things about the Church Age --not the cath9olic church age, the Bride of Christ Church Age-- is the Truth that God has covered the Mercy Seat once, for all, forever.
What it means to be born into God's family, as the believers/faithers at Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius learned immediately, is that God IMMEDIATELY comes into the human spirit --heretofore dead to God, inherited that way from Adam.
The believers were Born From Above, and as Paul proclaims, suddenly dead to sin and death laws. Suddenly having the Holy Spirit of Promise in them, in a completely new alignment to God, as a family member, these people were new creations!
All of them at Pentecost and in Cornelius's house were no longer under the laws of sin and death that you feel you are striving against to obtain catholic salvation, eventually, after you trudge the salvation trail hallmarked by obedience to the sacraments and rites of an institution administrered by priests getting int he way of you and Christ having a one-on-one.
That freedom from the laws of sin and death is the wonderful Truth of the Gospel, that believers in Christ, those who walk Faithing on His Life in them to transform them, are in fact TRANSFORMED.
BY the Life of God in them, they put to death the tendencies to sin, so that day by day as the Spirit raises them up in the Way that they should go, they more and more exhibit the character of God in the life of the man or woman. Born from Above is not a decades long event, it is an immediate act of God's Spirit. Once born from above, the family members have direct access to the Lord From Heaven, with no need for meadiators or intermediaries.
The communion 'meal' of bread and wine puts us in REMEBRANCE of what Jesus Christ accomplished Once, for All, forever ont he Cross of Calvary.
I've been accused of just wanting to win an argument. Well, yes, the argument that one can work their way to salvation through obedience to Catholic sacraments and Catholic baptism and Catholic confessional, and Catholic body, blood, sou, and divinity consumption of Jesus (Who is in Heaven, not bowing to Catholic Priests whenever the priest commands), THAT argument is worth contending against. To contend is to seek victory over deception and false religion whichburbles up pride of self.
Meant to ping you ... have no ping list so it is from an old man’s memory
Morning Sis, meant to ping you. ‘Today is the day that the Lord hath made. Rejoice and be glad in it!’
Like Mary said at the wedding:
Do whatever the church tells you.
Long John Silver’s is open EVERY day!
Thank you for that reminder. I need it often! The LORD indeed is loving and gracious and kind and His mercies have no end. I have learned that in the last year, but I wake up every morning, forgetting it!
At most it’s an innocent mistake (on Jerome’s part) based on a copyists’ error.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvujknrBuE
Lots of folks do...
Bonaventure: …the gates of heaven will open to all who confide in the protection of Mary. Blessed are they who know thee, O Mother of God, for the knowledge of THEE is the high road to everlasting life, and the publication of thy virtues is the way of ETERNAL SALVATION . Give ear, O ye nations; and all you who desire heaven , serve, honor Mary, and certainly you will find ETERNAL LIFE.
Ephem: …devotion to the divine Mother…is the unlocking of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Blosius: To the, O Lady, are committed the KEYS and the treasures of the kingdom of Heaven.
Ambrose: …constantly pray ‘Open to us, O Mary, the gates of paradise, since thou hast its KEYS.
Fulgetius: …by Mary God descended from Heaven into the world, that by HER man might ascend from earth to Heaven.
Athanasius: …And, thou, O Lady, wast filled with grace, that thou mightiest be the way of our SALVATION and the means of ascent to the heavenly Kingdom.
Richard of Laurence: Mary, in fine, is the mistress of heaven; for there she commands as she wills, and ADMITS whom she wills.
Guerric: …he who serves Mary and for whom she intercedes, is as CERTAIN of heaven as if he were already there…and those who DO NOT serve Mary will NOT BE SAVED.
Anselm: It suffices, O Lady, that thou willest it, and our SALVATION is certain.
Antoninus: …souls protected by Mary, and on which she casts her eyes, are NECESSARILY JUSTIFIED AND SAVED.
Sure!!
If the cure for eye problems can be found there!
Watch out; for those words have OTHER meanings!
I could; but then the other students would complain about me being teacher's pet!
There is no doubt sin is deceitful, and leads to hardness of heart. (Heb 3:13) It is a difficult concept to put into words, but perhaps you understand what I mean.
Yes, Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, but of course, Lucifer was the first to desire that, in the famous five "I wills" (Isaiah 14:12-15) I think Satan thought if he could get Adam and Eve to sin, then God would have to let him go, because he may have thought that God wouldn't send all those people to Hell. WRONG. God could have, but Satan never anticipated the cross.
I think mankind was created to "resolve the angelic conflict" to show Satan, that, some would serve God, no matter what the circumstances. Job comes to mind. Every sinner that comes to faith in Jesus Christ, is another nail in his coffin.
Thanks, but it’s best for me to have it baked/broiled and on any given day, not just Fryday.
Are you saying that one can be saved without loving God?
As such, it is no surprise to me Protestantism has discarded the Authorized Version (KJV) of the scriptures. It fits the model and undermines the supposed premises.
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