In other words, you can’t refute anything I have said.
I said St. Paul says we are saved by grace. And he does.
You wrote: “But as you’re not a Roman Catholic priest your position on this issue really carries no weight at all.”
False. What I said is absolutely and irrefutably true. I do not have to be a priest simply to say what has always been believed, taught and said.
“It’s only your opinion...and a weak one at that.”
False. It is not my opinion - it is what St. Paul actually taught. It is what Christ taught. It is what the Apostles taught. It is what the Church has always taught. It is what the CCC teaches. I did not, in fact, give my opinion. I merely stated facts on the matter in question.
“I can understand why Rome doesn’t want ya’ll reading the texts.”
Except no one in “Rome” is doing anything of the kind. And I think you know that. There are some fine, accessible, and easily affordable Catholic commentaries and Bible studies on St. Paul’s letters including his letter to the Ephesians. Since these are all books you’re probably unfamiliar with them since you seem to rarely ever do any serious reading but I will post links to where you can purchase one if you are so inclined:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/isbn=0801035848/bakerbookhouseA
“God makes the provision through His grace that we come to Him through faith....not as a result of works.”
Actually, our faith is a grace in itself. It is a gift in itself. And it is the result of a work - Christ’s work on the Cross. We would have nothing at all if it were not for that work. It is becoming popular in Protestant circles for people to deny that faith is a gift (no matter what Ephesians 2:8 says), but Catholics will continue to believe it. As the CCC says:
Faith is a grace
153 When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come “from flesh and blood”, but from “my Father who is in heaven”. Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. “Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and ‘makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.’”
You wrote: “There is no work we can do prior to coming to Him that is sufficient for our salvation.”
There is nothing at all in itself which we can do before or after knowing Him that is sufficient for our salvation. Re-read CCC 153 above again. Notice, it says we cannot even have faith without God giving us grace FIRST. Thus, we see here yet another example of you trying to teach us to be against something we don’t even believe in in the first place. So much time wasted because you refuse to realize you obviously don’t know what the Catholic Church actually teaches.
“That is what the sacrifice of Christ is about.”
Yes, and in a sense greater than you currently believe since your Protestant gospel is so deficient. In your latter-day, man-made gospel you have dispensed with the truth that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was so momentous that it actually transforms up when we share in His grace. We are not just juridically or forensically acknowledged but we are in fact infused with grace which transforms us into new creatures in Christ. It is not just faith (which is a gift from God) which opens the way for sanctifying grace but God’s works started in us (which are also a gift from God) that opens the way for sanctifying grace. Many Protestants essentially deny this. They belittle the sacrifice on the cross by saying we are only forensically viewed differently by God when in reality we are transformed by God. We are truly new creatures and it is by God’s grace.
“But I don’t know how you can claim to understand this as Rome teaches the individual cannot read the Scriptures and understand them...”
No, that’s just something you’re falsely claiming. You make false claims all the time. The Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church which is guided by the Holy Spirit, good sources - these are reliable guides for someone.
“and I am not aware of a verse by verse exegetical account of each verse in the NT.”
1) Such a “verse by verse exegetical account” is not inherently necessary to avoid error. If one merely avoids the peculiar and particular Protestant errors that would cut out most of the possible errors from the beginning.
2) If you’re unaware of sources, then that merely shows your unpreparedness for such a discussion. It says nothing about anyone else.
“One of your Roman Catholic buddies who at one time claimed to be a priest said he was only aware of one verse Rome had ruled on.”
Oh, and there we see more of your muddled understanding of things. The fact that one poster (whoever that is?) said something (who knows if that was even done?) about one verse in no way means a Catholic cannot give the proper understanding about other verses. There no connection between these things. For some reason, and I’ll never understand why, Protestant anti-Catholics always assume you have to be an “official representative of the Catholic Church” (by which they mean a priest or other clergyman) to correctly state the truth of the Catholic faith. Yet that in no way has ever been a Catholic teaching. The truth is the truth whether it comes from a lay person or a priest. At the same time, these same dimwitted Protestant anti-Catholics insist that since the Church has officially defined a verse or verses in some sense that that means only those verse and only in those senses can a Catholic discuss them. That too is nonsense. When you ask a Protestant anti-Catholic to present any such teachings of either of those things they ALWAYS FAIL TO PROVIDE IT. What they sometimes do is try to lie by citing a Church document that says Catholics should not interpret the Bible in opposition to the teachings of the Church or to the detriment of the faith or what have you and claiming that means something other than it means. Just more nonsense form anti-Catholics.
“You have it backwards.”
No. This is what I said: “I agree with that entirely. He says we receive that grace through FAITH.”
And here’s what St. Paul says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith...”
If we are talking about two created things: If B goes through A, then A essentially had to be in place before B could go through it. The only thing to keep in mind is that there will be some sort of prevenient grace to give a person that spark that is faith - because faith is a gift from God. Once we have faith God pours in even more grace - sanctifying grace. I got exactly nothing backwards. You keep making basic errors. Why?
“You really have some narcissistic tendencies dude. Did I not post verse 10????”
You didn’t say a word about Verse 10. Verse 10 shows you are in error. That’s the point.
“If we are His disciples we will be producing fruit for His kingdom.”
Wait. We will not be producing anything of the kind on our own. God WILL BE PRODUCING FRUIT through us with His grace. He starts works within us. They are His works, not ours.
“But that comes after we are saved and is evidence of the faith we have in Christ.”
Once again we see that you cheapen Christ’s death on the cross in its effects on us. Those fruits are not merely evidence of faith. They are works of grace God Himself started in us with His grace won for us on the Cross.
“Perhaps in addition to counseling you need glasses....and some sound Biblical training.”
Perhaps you need glasses to see how you’re cheapening the sacrifice of the cross in its effects. Don’t cheapen Christ’s grace eagleone. You really need to study the Bible more. This isn’t hard but you make so many errors.
“You cite Tim Staples?!! LOL!!!! Oh now that’s rich. He has the second worse apologetics I’ve seen from a Roman Catholic...”
You can’t refute what he said so you attack him. Predictable. You can’t refute what I posted either so there’s a good chance you’ll either go back to “moving on” or you’ll bring up something entirely different than St. Paul. After all if an anti-Catholic is willing to go back nearly 600 posts for an attempted face-saving measure who knows what kitchen sink he’ll throw in next to salve his ego.
I'm trusting Christ and His promise of John 5:24. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
I hope everyone comes to faith in Christ and trust Him.
Good bye for now, vlad.
Have you ever been diagnosed with Asbergers? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome