Posted on 04/29/2013 4:18:02 AM PDT by markomalley
Sure...
Another question!
If the church has been 'catholic' from day one; then I can only assume the 'blameless' church did not include the 7 mentioned at the start of the Book of Revelation.
But...
Ain't that what PURGATORY is for?
How can a blameless church be run by imperfect men?
"Faith without works is dead."
There's a reason why Luther originally deleted the Book of James from his version of the Bible.
So Jesus; when asked a DIRECT question; has His words trumped by James?
God's Word is One. God cannot contradict Himself.
Besides, does faith without works make sense to you?
The demons have no works, but they believe. "The demons also believe --and shudder."
Hopefully, we can agree that the Book of James is inerrant and that the words of Martin Luther were not.
That said, James does not contradict Jesus. Faith, not manifest in and accompanied by works as described in the Beatitudes is indeed dead.
Peace be to you.
John 20:23 has Jesus telling the Apostles, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound." That verse only makes sense in the context of an actual confession of sin to officers of the church. How can they know what to forgive without being told?
Why would you think that the same John had forgotten that verse -- which he wrote! -- when he wrote his Epistle? That is the context in which to understand "If we confess our sins ..."
What is it about the word MUST is foreign to you guys?
Jesus answered and did NOT mention any works.
Which is exactly what the Catholic church teaches.
LOL!
You actually could to be perfectly honest. No one would stop you. However, as a guest, I’d hope that you’d be respectful of others’ traditions. Similar to how men should cover their heads when entering a synagogue.
The Church isn’t blameless. Boy is it not blameless. I see the Catholic Church as one way for people to become close to God. I don’t see it as any better or worse from any other way. It has spent 40 or so years alienating itself from people. So I salute Papa Bergoglio on his work cleaning up this mess.
I like certain aspects of the Church. For instance, I am a big fan of the saints. And no Catholics don’t pray to them. They are guides to help us out. There was a good book I read called My Life with the Saints that really helped me through a rough time with my life four or o years back. However, the saints are all dead and living Catholics fail to provide the same inspiration. I do like Papa Bergoglio. However, I think his fixation on confession is weird; he is a holy man and doesn’t have to worry about going to heaven.
When I was growing up, confession was punishment and was emphasized as such. It was basically a time out where the priests (who were all cold and crabby) got to basically say that you were a miserable failure. In fact the nuns used to threaten children with confession to keep them in line.
The Baltimore Catechism: Part Three: The Sacraments and Prayer, Contrition
The Baltimore Catechism: Part Three: The Sacraments and Prayer, Penance
And what in your view does "dead" mean? We know that James doesn't contradict Jesus nor any other passages of Scripture so they must be reconciled, right? What Luther taught, and what all the Reformers taught, as DID the early church fathers, is that we are saved by the grace of God THROUGH faith apart from our works. In other words, it is solely through Christ and his sacrifice in our place that our sin debt has been paid - because only by death (the shedding of blood) comes atonement for the soul. But the marvelous thing about this grace is that we are born again as children of God when we believe and the Holy Spirit indwells us creating a NEW spirit nature within us. It is this new nature - ordained by God unto good works - that demonstrates it is genuine. Someone who says he has faith, as James said, but who does not exhibit that faith in good works and a changed heart, instead shows a faith that is dead - unproductive, unfruitful, not a living faith. But it by no means says good works are what saves us. It can't, because then it WOULD contradict Jesus as well as hundreds of other verses in Scripture such as "And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." (Romans 4:5)
That is what James was talking about and what Luther came to understand which is why he DID reconcile the book of James as Scripture. He had had the incorrect interpretation that Catholicism taught him and which many STILL teach including other false denominations who preach an accursed Gospel. Properly understood, it is faith that saves us and it is a faith that manifests in and is accompanied by good works because it can't help but do so.
Wow! No kidding. How sad they know so little of the truth of what God through scripture says. Relying on the word of carnal man rather than God’s word. Just wow!
I know...I was pretty astounded when I read it...which again we can say Christianity is all about “a relationship”...and that means trust, faith, love, hope, and the certainty of whom we have believed in, and some will never understand that God is big enough to reach down and confirm all that He is and says about Himself....His Spirit does that very well...indeed!
The fact that God doesn’t hear or forgive you is an unchristian message.
I am not going to endorse TULIP either directly or indirectly so I firmly reject the concepts of irresistible grace and unconditional election implied by that statement. There is, however, considerable nuance in the Catholic teaching on this. Without a careful choice of words confusion and error will arise.
Jesus atoned for or expiated all of the sins of the world, however His was not a vicarious punishment for our sins. He paid the price for all sins, yet all are not saved. Neither was His death a propitiation to an angry god.
Peace and blessings
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.