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.
Like Lucy; Jesus did some ‘splainin’ in verse 29 of that chapter...
John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
And Jesus further explains what it is you must believe:
John 6:48-51
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Jesus summarizes in verse 63 the words that He has just spoken, the words of spirit and life. The Spirit gives life to those who believe that Jesus is the living bread come down from heaven; that those who eat this bread will live forever; and the bread is His flesh for the life of the world.
Jesus concludes in verse 64: But there are some of you who do not believe.
Are you ever thirsty? The whole passage and the context in which it was offered would take a mind under the teaching of The Truth to John 3, and discover that Jesus told Nicodemus directly how He, Jesus, must be lifted up and that God so loves the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSEVER BELIEVS (not eats, believes) in Him Shall not perish, but have everlasting Life. Don’t you think that if Jesus intended that Nicodemus eat Jesus at every Catholic Mass in order to remain int he family that Jesus would have told Nic right then and there? He would have left nothing out for later additions by flawed men. Instead Jesus gave Nicodemus ALL THE TRUTH he needed to be born from above ... getting born is a one time deal, too. Jesus taught that, too, using the parable of the prodigal son. You don’t get unborn from the family over ‘riotous living’. God is not so weak that your sin after being born from above can take you out of His hands.
BTW, the sermon preached that night to Nicodemus appears to have worked, based upon the behaviors of Nicodemus thereafter. It was ol’ Nic who provided the expensive spices and ointments and oils for the treating of Jesus’s body , which was gone from the tomb when the Ladies brought the stuff tot he burial chamber. But Nicodemus believed God with him, and it has been counted for him RIGHTEOUSNESS, the righteousness of God not catholic sacraments.
Rome teaches: But there are some of you who do not eat and drink correctly.
Jesus said His words ARE Spirit and they are life. Have you dined on the words He has left for us, to make us full of His Life through the ingesting of His Word? Not the flesh, the Words of spirit and life.
Scott Hahn shows himself clueless on The Gospel of God’s Grace in Christ Jesus. But I can now understand why catholics are completely unable to see that. They have not spiritual eyes and spiritual ears. The blasphemous apologetics are understood for from whom they are oozing.
Catholic apologetics, defending and supporting the pagan rite of ‘eating the idol god to get his life in them’, are straight from the one who does all he can to mock God’s Grace and insult the Righteousness of Jesus The Christ. I post all three Gospel recordings of the Upper Room Passover and in each the wine is called BY JESUS fruit of the vine, IOW wine. Jesus told His disciples to eat bread and drink the cup of WINE as a way to REMEMBER across all generations what He was about to do on the Cross for us all. To turn that into the empowerment of a gaggle of priests is anathema, blasphemy writ large and hated by Jesus as recorded in Revelation early on.
In the linked video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWAmfRZwEJk ) at about 8 minutes fifty-five seconds, there is a passage from O’Brien’s book which is authorized by the RCC, that is bold a blasphemy as I have ever heard! It is at the heart of a false religion called catholicism which offers to catholics another Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible. Take a listen and let God’s Spirit speak by it. See what the Spirit says ...
And it gets worse with even deeper blasphemy at ten minutes and fifteen seconds! The words of O’Brien say Jesus, at the command of the catholic priest, bows tot he power of the priest!
But RCs love the beauty, the solemnity, the communion with Jesus they think they are enjoying while intentionally or UNINTENTIONALLY mocking God.
And then there is all the priceless artwork the RCC owns...
Earthly treasure troves.
And before some blinded catholic apologist tries to claim the words of O’Brien are not official church dogma, the book by o”brien has the church’s ‘nihil obstat’ meaning it does not violate the church’s teaching on faith and morals! So it is what the catholic religion endorses, this blasphemous power of a catholic priesthood to command Jesus in the catholic rites and at the catholic altar! BLASPHENY is so easy to see when the Spirit of Truth is in you ... BTW, the guy reading those passages was once a catholic priest. He knows of what he speaks.
Scott Hahn has a Masters from Gordon Cromwell (protestant Seminary) and Ph.D. in Theology, what do the protestants bring to the table?
I will pray for you, I can do no more for those whose hearts are closed and their hearts hardened to stone.
The first step for a catholic is to see with spirit eyes what they are being manipulated to do, mock God in satan's use. Then it is entirely up to the individual catholic what their fate will be following what they do with Truth spoken into their soul. The Spirit speaks. But how many catholic faithful have the spirit ears to hear His voice within.
Try watching the portion of the video from about eight minutes to the twelve minute mark. See if you have even a faint echo in your heart.
Verga, at least you have begun to post something other than insults with empty accusations. I will continue to pray for you, too. I suspect that joining in prayer with others who want to petition God for America’s return to God is having a profound effect upon you. That’s Grace in action.
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