Posted on 06/13/2024 4:42:48 AM PDT by 2nd amendment mama
I posted this thread about the stuff that’s happening in the United Methodist Church. I am NOT going to go back and forth with any of you about the Catholic church. I have absolutely NO INTEREST in rejoining that denomination that I left over 50 years ago.
Appreciate your having clarified your claim.
Thank you for your response.
There are certainly some sinners in the Catholic Church back then and now and some seem to be more interested in power and self than in leading all to Christ.
Should we abandon the Church that was established by Jesus, or should we allow Jesus with our prayers and beliefs to correct the problems? The Church has corrected incorrect practices and will continue to do so. As faithful Catholics we can not force sinners to behave, rather we can believe and accept God’s Truths.
I believe that many that abandoned the Catholic Church also abandoned some of the teachings of Jesus and the gift of Sacraments that Jesus instituted for our salvation.
The Catholic Church has always accepted the teachings of Jesus that were passed down by Sacred Tradition and later in writing and with the authority given by Jesus to the Apostles and their successors. (Matthew 16:19 “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven”)
Yes, I agree that God gives graces to all and all are free to accept or reject them. God loves all of us even when we sin.
However, do we reject God when we reject some of his teachings (his Word) and follow the teachings of men and women?
In the Old Testament, there were many Jews that worshipped false gods and God was not pleased and said so through the prophets. Today we have many that abandoned God to follow man made churches and worship false beliefs. I just hope that all come back to the true faith, as Jesus said few will find the narrow gate. (MT 7:13)
Your comment: “There is no superior, perfect denomination.” Do you really believe that all churches preach and practice God’s Truth? How can there be multiple different versions of God’s Truth?
I have mentioned John 6:53 before, but I do not understand how anyone can read the words of Jesus and ignore his teaching that one has no life (eternal) if they do not eat his flesh and drink his blood?
Your comment:
I believe we would still be one church had the Powers that Be accepted that Rome was going astray in that period of time, and an Augustinian monk was a whistleblower and reformer with whom they should have worked to listen, to consider, and to make incremental changes over time. Instead they threw him out and touched off a schism and bloodshed.”
Luther was an unrepentant heretic whose teachings caused irreparable harm to the Catholic Church and Western civilization. When Pope Leo X (r. 1513-1521) recognized the danger of Luther’s teachings he strenuously and patiently urged his repentance.
Although Luther’s 95 Theses contained multiple heretical opinions, the most dangerous was his rejection of papal authority. Luther asserted the pope had no authority to dispense the merits of the treasury of grace to the faithful in the form of indulgences in order to remit the temporal punishment due to sin already forgiven in the sacrament of confession. This was not simply a sharp rebuke of an ecclesiastical abuse—Luther’s writings were an attack on the office of the papacy and of papal authority given by Christ in Matthew 16:18-19. In his Sermon on Indulgences and Grace Luther declared he did not believe indulgences had any benefit for the souls in purgatory,
the rest of the article: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/leo-and-luther-the-real-story-of-the-pope-and-the-heretic
I believe that we do not fully know the truth about history and the mistakes that were made, but we suffer the consequences that may affect our salvation.
We will all be judged by Jesus when we die based on our choice or rejection.
I am sorry to hear that you left the Catholic faith 50 years ago.
I will pray for you.
I thank you for your prayers. I hope you aren’t praying that I’ll return the the “Big C” Catholic denomination because that won’t happen. I’m very sure of my salvation and where I’ll be going when I depart this world. I try my best to live every day honoring my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I know I fail and I pray and talk directly to him all the time about it.
The true Church exists between 1) God, and 2) the humble mind and heart of the surrendered individual believer. As the Bible says, all sin and fall short of His glory. Belonging to a church is not an automatic ticket to heaven.
You give the impression that no one but Catholics celebrate the Holy Eucharist. This is an incorrect assumption.
No one can in truth declare who is a heretic with 100% assurance, even though the “victors” wrote the history upon which you rely. Have there been no heretics in the RCC over the centuries? There certainly are plenty at this juncture.
I am not of an “either/or” mentality when it comes to Christian/Catholic churches. I am of a “both/and” mentality. Neither is 100% right. Neither is 100% wrong, as a general observation, although many of either type fall under various periods of sin and heresy as individual congregations or parishes.
It is up to the individual to find his or her way to the True God, and True surrender to the Holy Spirit in this life.
For some, it may be Catholicism. For others, a Reformation-inspired type of Bible-based, eucharist-celebrating place of worship and learning.
I have considered both types deeply, and ultimately have decided that for me, the freedom to seek out a community of believers that upholds as much as possible what I have come to believe from the Holy Scriptures, including the personal responsibility that Reformation churches place on individuals to repent directly to God instead of to someone in His place, is a compelling consideration.
I am praying that all Catholics will return to their Catholic Faith. I pray that all will understand and believe in God’s truth and follow him to Heaven. I believe it is accomplished best through the graces God gives in the Mass and the Sacraments and His Catholic Church. St Monica prayed constantly for her son and he became a great Bishop and saint (St Augustine wrote Confessions).
I not sure how Jesus will judge anyone. Based on St Faustina’s Diary, this is time of Mercy of Jesus and repentance to ask for this mercy.
I wish you the best, but ask how will you deal with Jesus statement in John 6:53?
We all fail and sin, but Jesus gave us the Sacrament of the forgiveness of sin by confessing to a priest if one is Catholic or in danger of death. (Matthew 18:18)
I will continue to pray for you. The decision to return to the practice of the Catholic faith is your decision.
Do you deny that Jesus established His Catholic Church and named Peter and his successors to build His Church as stated in the Bible? Matthew 16:18
Your comment: “Belonging to a church is not an automatic ticket to heaven.” I agree, even for Catholics.
Jesus did establish a Church as a community of Baptized members that met regularly in prayer and worship with the Mass and and Sacraments.
Your comment: “No one can in truth declare who is a heretic with 100% assurance” I disagree.
The writings of Luther and the change in his beliefs contradict the teachings of Jesus and are obvious to objective review. For example that Jesus named Peter as the leader (later named as Pope) and gave him authority to bind and loose, yet Luther denies the authority of the Pope; denial of free will; removal of books of old testament; etc.
Yes, there have been many heresies in the church over the centuries and they have been exposed as contrary to God’s truth and not part of the catholic faith.
Your comment: “It is up to the individual to find his or her way to the True God, and True surrender to the Holy Spirit in this life.” I disagree.
Jesus wanted us to have a community (a true church of God) including our parents, relatives, friends, teachers, priests, believers that teach us the Good News of Christ’s teachings and then we can further study and make a choice. If we are taught false teachings and don’t seek the God’s truth, then we may be following false beliefs and our opinions.
I am not aware of any protestant church celebrating the true presence of Christ (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) in the Eucharist. From what I read about Lutheran theology, they reject the Mass and state that in the Last Supper the bread remains bread. Please explain how the Holy Eucharist is celebrated and consecrated into the Real Presence of Christ?
Confession to a priest that is acting on behalf of Jesus is a wonderful experience that frees us.
The formula of absolution wishes peace on the sinner with the words, “May God give you pardon and peace.” These words remind us of Jesus’ words in John 20:19 and 21, “Peace be with you.” Jesus wished peace on his followers. He also conferred that peace on them by giving them the Holy Spirit. This is what it means in John 20: 22, “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” The formula states this important role of the Holy Spirit when it says that God “sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sin.” The Holy Spirit is the active agent of bringing the forgiveness of Christ to sinners.
The Catholic Church wants all Christians unified based on God’s Truth. It will require God’s graces to bring us together.
Thanks for your comments and allowing me to respond.
My Dad passed away 45 years ago. I am glad he didn’t have to learn of this.
That was not difficult at all.
This post proves you know nothing. You are so hung up on Martin Luther, you don't even know that the Methodist Church evolved from the Anglican Church that split from the Roman Catholic Church. The issue is that the Roman Catholic Church strayed away from the Gospel and the Bible over the centuries.
The Immaculate Conception is the [Catholic] belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.That is just one thing, but it is a big one. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit, The Virgin Mary was not. The Pope can't just make something up because he thinks it's cool.It was not, however, until December 8, 1854, that Pius IX, urged by the majority of Catholic bishops throughout the world, solemnly declared in the bull Ineffabilis Deus that the doctrine was revealed by God and hence was to be firmly believed as such by all Catholics.
Sigh...Jesus, a Jewish rabbi, was teaching His Jewish disciples and one of them asked Him to teach them to pray. So He gave them a proper Jewish prayer. The Interpreter’s Bible, a well-known Christian source, agrees. The Lord’s Prayer “is thoroughly Jewish,” it avers, and nearly every phrase is paralleled in the Jewish liturgy. “Thus it is Jesus’s inspired and original summary of his own people’s piety at its best.”
You may have listened to false preachers and not fully understood the Bible and Sacred Tradition from the Catholic faith.
Do you truly believe that God would not want the most pure virginal mother for his son? How could Jesus be born in the sin of his mother? The angel declared Mary full of grace so she was saved from sin and was fully obedient to God.
Why are you so against your spiritual Mother Mary who leads you to Christ as a special gift from Jesus as he died on the Cross?
It is your choice to believe the faith that Jesus gave to His Catholic Church or reject it. Jesus warned us that there would be false teachers. Mathew 7:15-16
Martin Luther was the first of the false teachers that strayed away from the Word of Jesus.
Your comment that the post proves nothing, so you reject the words of Jesus?
In my book (Tim Staples) Behold Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines, I give eight reasons for belief in the Immaculate Conception:
1. Mary is revealed to be “full of grace” in Luke 1:28.
2. Mary is revealed to be the fulfillment of the prophetic “Daughter of Zion” of Isaiah 12:1-6; Zephaniah 3:14-16; Zechariah 2:10; etc.
3. Mary is revealed to be “the beginning of the new creation” in fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:22.
4. Mary is revealed to possess a “blessed state” parallel with Christ’s in Luke 1:42.
5. Mary is called not just “blessed” among women, but “more blessed than all women” (including Eve) in Luke 1:42.
6. Mary is revealed to be the spotless “Ark of the Covenant” in Luke 1.
7. Mary is revealed to be the “New Eve” in Luke 1:37-38; John 2:4, 19:26-27; Revelation 12; and elsewhere.
8. Mary is revealed to be free from the pangs of labor in fulfillment of Isaiah 66:7-8.
Here, I will present some snippets from three of these biblical reasons for the immaculate conception. But first, I must say I am sympathetic to my Protestant friends, and others, who struggle with this teaching of the Catholic Faith. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” 1 John 1:8 adds, “If any man says he has no sin he is a liar and the truth is not in him.” These texts could not be clearer for millions of Protestants: “How could anyone believe that Mary was immaculate in light of these passages from Scripture? What’s more, Mary herself said, ‘My soul rejoices in God my savior’ in Luke 1:47. She clearly understood herself to be a sinner if she admits to needing a savior.”
Not a few Protestants are surprised to discover that the Catholic Church actually agrees that Mary was “saved.” Indeed, even if she was conceived immaculate, Mary still needed a savior! However, Mary was “saved” from sin in a most sublime manner. She was given the grace to be “saved” completely from sin so she never committed even the slightest transgression. The problem here is that Protestants tend to emphasize God’s “salvation” almost exclusively to the forgiveness of sins actually committed. However, Sacred Scripture indicates that salvation can also refer to man being protected from sinning before the fact.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever (Jude 24-25).
The great Franciscan theologian, Duns Scotus, explained ca. 600 years ago that falling into sin could be likened to a man approaching unaware a massive twenty-foot-deep ditch. If he falls into the ditch, he will need someone to lower a rope and save him. But if someone were to warn him of the danger ahead, resulting in him not falling into the ditch at all, the man would have been saved from falling in the first place. Analogously, Mary was saved from sin by receiving the grace to be preserved from it. But she was still saved.
But what about “all have sinned,” and “if any man says he has no sin he is a liar and the truth is not in him?” Wouldn’t “all” and “any man” include Mary? On the surface, this sounds reasonable. But this way of thinking carried to its logical conclusion would list Jesus Christ in the company of sinners as well. No Christian would dare say that! Yet no Christian can deny the plain texts of Scripture declaring Christ’s full humanity, either. Thus, if one is going to take 1 John 1:8 in a strict literal sense, then “any man” would apply to Jesus as well!
The truth is—and all Christians agree—Jesus Christ was an exception to Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8. And the Bible tells us he was in Hebrews 4:15: “Christ was tempted in all points even as we are and yet he was without sin.” The real question now is, are there any other exceptions to this rule? Yes, there are. In fact, there are millions of them.
First of all, we need to recall that both of these texts—Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8—are dealing with personal rather than original sin. Romans 5:12 will deal with original sin. And there are two exceptions to that general biblical norm as well. But for now, we will simply deal with Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8. 1 John 1:8 obviously refers to personal sin because in the very next verse, St. John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” We do not confess original sin; we confess personal sins.
The context of Romans 3:23 makes clear that it too refers to personal sin:
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness (Romans 3:10-14).
Original sin is not something we do; it is something we’ve inherited. Romans 3 deals with personal sin because it speaks of sins committed by the sinner. With this in mind, consider this: has a baby in the womb or a child of two ever committed a personal sin? No, he hasn’t (see Rom. 9:11)! Or how about the mentally challenged who do not have the use of their intellects and wills? These cannot sin because in order to sin, a person has to know that the act he is about to perform is sinful while freely engaging his will in carrying it out. Without the proper faculties to enable them to sin, children before the age of accountability and anyone who does not have the use of his intellect and will cannot sin. Right there you have millions of exceptions to Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8.
The question remains: how do we know that Mary is an exception to the norm of “all have sinned”? And more specifically, is there biblical support for the Immaculate Conception? Yes, there is. Indeed, there is much biblical support, but in this brief article I shall cite just three examples, among the eight, as I said before, that give us biblical support for this ancient doctrine of the Faith.
1. Luke 1:28
And [the angel Gabriel] came to [Mary] and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
Many Protestants will insist that this text is little more than a common greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary. “What would this have to do with an immaculate conception?” Yet the truth is, according to Mary herself, that this was no common greeting. The text reveals Mary to have been “greatly troubled at the saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29). What was it about this greeting that was so uncommon for Mary to react this way? There are at least two key reasons:
First, according to many biblical scholars as well as Pope St. John Paul II, the angel did more than simply greet Mary. The angel actually communicated a new name or title to her. In Greek, the greeting was kaire, kekaritomene, or “hail, full of grace.” Generally speaking, when one greeted another with kaire, a name or title would almost be expected to be found in the immediate context. “Hail, king of the Jews” in John 19:3 and “Claudias Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greeting” (Acts 23:26) are two biblical examples of this. The fact that the angel replaces Mary’s name in the greeting with “full of grace” was anything but common. This would be analogous to me speaking to one of our tech guys at Catholic Answers and saying, “Hello, he who fixes computers.” In our culture, I would just be considered weird. But in Hebrew culture, names, and name changes, tell us something that is permanent about the character and calling of the one named. Just recall the name changes of Abram to Abraham (changed from “father” to “father of the multitudes”) in Genesis 17:5, Saray to Sarah (“my princess” to “princess”) in Genesis 17:15, and Jacob to Israel (“supplanter” to “he who prevails with God”) in Genesis 32:28.
In each case, the names reveal something permanent about the one named. Abraham and Sarah transition from being a “father” and “princess” of one family to being “father” and “princess” or “mother” of the entire people of God (see Isa. 51:1-2; Rom. 4:1-18). They become patriarch and matriarch of God’s people forever. Jacob/Israel becomes the patriarch whose name, “he who prevails with God,” continues forever in the Church, which is called “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). The people of God will forever “prevail with God” in the image of the patriarch Jacob, who was not just named Israel, but truly became “he who prevails with God.”
An entire tome could be written concerning the significance of God’s revelation of his name in Exodus 3:14-15 as I AM. God revealed to us volumes about his divine nature in and through the revelation of his name: God is pure being with no beginning and no end, he is all perfection, etc.
When you add to this the fact that St. Luke uses the perfect passive participle, kekaritomene, as his “name” for Mary, we get deeper insight into the meaning of Mary’s new name. This word literally means “she who has been graced” in a completed sense. This verbal adjective, “graced,” is not just describing a simple past action. Greek has the aorist tense for that. The perfect tense is used to indicate that an action has been completed in the past, resulting in a present state of being. That’s Mary’s name! So what does it tell us about Mary? Well, the average Christian is not completed in grace and in a permanent sense (see Phil. 3:8-12). But according to the angel, Mary is. You and I sin, not because of grace, but because of a lack of grace, or a lack of our cooperation with grace, in our lives. This greeting of the angel is one clue into the unique character and calling of the immaculate Mother of God.
One objection to the above is rooted in Ephesians 2:8-9. Here, St. Paul uses the perfect tense and passive voice when he says, “For by grace you have been saved.” Why wouldn’t we then conclude that all Christians are complete in salvation for all time? There seems to be an inconsistency in usage here.
Actually, the Catholic Church understands that Christians are completed in grace when they are baptized. In context, Paul is speaking about the initial grace of salvation in Ephesians 2. The verses leading up to Ephesians 2:8-9, make this clear:
We all lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath . . . even when we were dead in trespasses and sins (vv. 3-5).
But there is no indication here, as there is with Mary, that the Christian is going to stay that way. In other words, Ephesians 2:8-9 does not confer a name.
In fact, because of original sin, we can guarantee that though we are certainly perfected in grace through baptism, ordinarily speaking, we will not stay that way after we are baptized—that is, if we live for very long afterward (see 1 John 1:8)! There may be times in the lives of Christians when they are completed or perfected in grace temporarily—for example, after going to confession or receiving the Eucharist well disposed. We let God, of course, be the judge of this, not us, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 4:3-4:
I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted (Gr., justified). It is the Lord who judges me.
But only Mary is given the name “full of grace,” and in the perfect tense, indicating that this permanent state of Mary was completed—that she was conceived immaculate.
2. An Ancient Prophecy: Genesis 3:15
Genesis 3:15 is often referred to by biblical scholars as the Protoevangelium. It is a sort of “gospel” before “the gospel.” This little text contains in very few words God’s plan of salvation, which would be both revealed and realized in the person of Jesus Christ. Yet when one reads the text, one cannot help but note that this prophetic woman seems to have what could be termed almost a disturbing prominence and importance in God’s providential plan:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
Not only do we have the Virgin Birth here implied because the text says the Messiah will be born of “the seed of the woman” (the “seed” is normally of the man), but notice that “the woman” is not included as “the seed” of the devil. It seems that both the woman and her seed are in opposition to and therefore not under the dominion of the devil and “his seed”—i.e., all who have original sin and are “by nature children of wrath” as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:3. Here, we have in seed form (pun intended) the fact that the woman—Mary—would be immaculate, without sin, especially original sin, just as her son—the Messiah—would be. The emphasis on Mary is truly remarkable in that the future Messiah is mentioned only in relation to her. There can be little doubt that a parallel is being drawn between Jesus and Mary and their absolute opposition to the devil.
3. Mary, Ark of the Covenant
The Old Testament Ark of the Covenant was a true icon of the sacred. It was a picture of the purity and holiness God fittingly demands of those objects and persons most closely associated with himself and the plan of salvation. Because it would contain the presence of God symbolized by three types of the coming Messiah—the manna, the Ten Commandments, and Aaron’s staff—it had to be pure and untouched by sinful man (see Exod. 25:10ff; Num. 4:15; 2 Sam. 6:1-9; Heb. 9:4).
In the New Testament, the new and true ark would be not an inanimate object, but an immaculate person: the Blessed Mother. How much more pure would the new and true ark be when we consider that the old ark was a mere “shadow” in relation to it (see Heb. 10:1)? This image of Mary as the Ark of the Covenant is an indicator that Mary would fittingly be immaculate, free from all contagion of sin in order for her to be a worthy vessel to bear God in her womb. And most importantly, just as the Old Covenant ark was pristine from the moment it was constructed with explicit divine instructions in Exodus 25, so would Mary be most pure from the moment of her conception. God, in a sense, through the Immaculate Conception, prepared his own dwelling place in both the Old and New Testaments.
In Behold Your Mother, there is much more that I say about the above three biblical reasons for the Immaculate Conception—and not only that, but I give you five more reasons as well.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/the-immaculate-conception-in-scripture
Of course not. One notes, however, that the chuch He founded was not in Rome, there were no palatial cathedrals or basilicas, there was no Vatican, no one was speaking Italian, there were no statues, designated saints, rosaries, or grand robes and accessories. The church was small groups of believers, many meeting in each others's homes. The church to be built was of the Spirit.
Your comment: “It is up to the individual to find his or her way to the True God, and True surrender to the Holy Spirit in this life.” I disagree. Jesus wanted us to have a community (a true church of God)
Of course. Community is necessary, provided it is other believers; and beyond that, Christians participate in the wider community as evangels to fulfill the Great Commission. But merely participating in a community and its rituals does not make one a true believer. Only submission in the spirit makes one a true follower of Christ.
I am not aware of any protestant church celebrating the true presence of Christ (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) in the Eucharist. From what I read about Lutheran theology, they reject the Mass and state that in the Last Supper the bread remains bread. Please explain how the Holy Eucharist is celebrated and consecrated into the Real Presence of Christ?
Lutherans celebrate the Divine Service of worship every Sunday and many times in between on the church calendar. Luther's catechism describes and Lutheran churches most certainly celebrate the real body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. It is worth noting here that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a fallen-away, heretical denomination, and I do not know details of the Lutheran organizations in Europe and elsewhere; but here in the U.S., the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) holds to orthodox Lutheran Christian belief and worship.
Confession to a priest that is acting on behalf of Jesus is a wonderful experience that frees us.
Repentance is a key part of true Christian life. Baptism brings the protection of God and His call to us into our lives; but In the Reform tradition, confirmed individuals are responsible for their own journey of redemption, including repentance. Christian pastors will also hear a congregant's questions or struggles to understand the powerful gift of Christ's forgiveness for sin in His atoning sacrifice on the cross; but the timing of repentance and responsiveness to the Holy Spirit lies with the individual (many hold themselves to confession in silent prayer at the moment of realization that they have sinned, even several times a day if necessary. We also believe it is important to confess to others if our behavior has hurt or offended them). Many evangelical churches teach the need to receive communion worthily. In the LCMS, congregational confession and absolution is also part of the liturgy, preceding the Sacrament of the Altar.
FRiend ADSUM, I'm sure we could go on point for point indefinitely; so let me sum up my main point: there is no perfect church. We are all created uniquely individual. We need others, and God wants us to share with one another in worship and mission. But one's understanding of salvation, the Word, and spiritual communion with God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—are the growth and maturing of the individual conscience. Works, anointings, denomination, membership, and/or rituals may be found along the way, but are not the actual path to salvation. It is faith alone, as described in the Word, that enables us to receive the mercy, grace and Salvation of God.
It is faith alone, as described in the Word, that enables us to receive the mercy, grace and Salvation of God.
Sometimes I forget that.
Yes, truly; amen and amen! We cannot save ourselves through works or piety.
Kinda funny to hear a Catholic defend their church in a thread about the UMC ordaining gays. I remember reading an article about the % of Catholic seminarians who believed celibacy was defined as “No sex with women”.
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