Now; all you need to do is to declare Victory! and leave the field of battle.
Posted on 03/19/2014 1:32:10 PM PDT by rwa265
If a Protestant looking into the claims of Catholicism were to ask me, “What one book should I read, where I can find a quick answer to any question I have?” I would tell him to read Devin Rose’s new book The Protestant’s Dilemma. I would also recommend this book to Protestant apologists, even those of many years, well-skilled in polemics. It will remind them of the heavy burden of proof they face, and the weakness of their position on point after point. The truth may set them free and bring them home too. (It has happened.)
All this may seem like overstatement — the obligatory praise from one Catholic blogger to another. But it is not.
Consider first the range of issues this book takes up. There are thirty-six chapters, each one on a different topic, from the papacy to sola scriptura, from the canon of the Bible to Purgatory, from confession to Eucharist to infant baptism. If something about the Catholic Church troubles you, this book has the answer. If you think you have found the point on which Catholicism fails, this book will show you why it is one more point upon which Protestantism fails.
Consider also the brevity. The book is just over 200 pages long, which means that Mr. Rose’s answers get to the root of the question without a knot of academic detail. It is harder to do than it might seem. This is the book of a man who has spent a long time studying the questions that divide Protestants and Catholics, and who knows how to present his case in a way that is easy for anyone to understand. At the same time, the book is useful for the professional apologist, for it recalls his mind to the basics.
(Excerpt) Read more at scottericalt.com ...
True; it's DECEPTION, instead.
Leaving out the FACT that Rome teaches that ONLY through it can sins be forgiveness.
Shameless you are.
Call it what one will, it changes nothing nor disturbs the peace I have been given through my faith in Christ and in His Church.
Peace be with you.
Speaking the truth is not poisoning the well.
So true.
So, when you finally do speak the truth, I'll not complain.
Do you REALLY want to go there?
If you think works will save you I ask the following:
1) how many do you have to do?
2) how do you or your priest know you’ve done the right ones?
3) what if you don’t do enough?
4) what if you’ve done the wrong ones?
5) what about the thief on the cross....no chance for good works....is he saved?
6) do you lose your salvation? what do you have to do to get it back?? if you can?
So what happens if you’ve had a really bad day sin wise and you’re killed in a car wreck. No chance to confess to a priest and your works aren’t good that day.
Have you lost your salvation?
Do you go to Heaven or Hell?
I believe the answer to your questions can be found in reflecting on your question 5): “what about the thief on the cross....no chance for good works....is he saved?”
Scripture is silent on whether the thief did good works. Scripture does tell us that the thief rebuked the other thief, that he evidently had fear of the Lord, that he said Jesus had done nothing criminal; then he asked Jesus to remember him.
Jesus then told the thief that he would on that day be with Him in paradise. If we have faith in Christ, we have confidence that the thief is saved.
As far as the works that we do are concerned, there is no scorecard kept of whether we do enough or if they are good enough or if they are done daily. It is what’s in our heart that matters. As the Lord said to Samuel, “the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
The Lord will look on my heart if I were to commit a serious sin and die before I am able to go to confession. If I am sorry for my sin and ask God’s forgiveness before I die, I would be saved. If I am not sorry for my sin, I would not be saved even if I do make it to confession and the priest absolves me. Only God can forgive my sin.
Now; all you need to do is to declare Victory! and leave the field of battle.
Sure he is; but is convinced they are only flesh wounds.
See!
The truth has been posted here by many good and faithful and knowledgeable PROTESTants. We are mocked, accused of duplicity and doublespeak, and derided as brainwashed pawns of evil institutions. Why exactly would time spent going over and over these same articles be of any use to me or the others?
See post 141. Praying that you become a Christian.
It DOES make me wonder, if Roman Catholics are SO sure they are in the one, true church and only they are right, why they need to so often post threads like this that bash other Christians and provoke discord? It's like they have to reassure each other as often as they can especially when their view gets creamed in a earlier thread.
Bravado and insecurity.
pretty sly. and right over their head(s).
I stand validated. Thank you
The Lord will look on my heart if I were to commit a serious sin and die before I am able to go to confession. If I am sorry for my sin and ask God’s forgiveness before I die, I would be saved. If I am not sorry for my sin, I would not be saved even if I do make it to confession and the priest absolves me. Only God can forgive my sin.
So if you don’t have time to think to ask for forgiveness, cause car wrecks happen fairly quickly and usually without warning, you would not be saved???
I do agree with your last line....only God can forgive my sin. so if that is the case, why go to the priest?
I’d really be curious as to your answers on the other questions. As I understood the post, and Catholic teaching, we have to do good works as part of salvation or else we aren’t saved.
****I have also read the posts on this thread and by-and-large, the majority of posts from the Protestants declare God’s Word, not some biased interpretation by Rome.****
It is the Protestant’s opinion that what Rome teaches is false and based on biased interpretations. Obviously I reject that opinion as it is one of the sources of the untruths and deliberate lies that are promulgated here.
****The Truth lies in Scripture and the Holy Spirit quickens that within His chosen ones.****
No argument with that.
*****If anyone has a problem, it is apparently the Roman Catholics herein that cannot accept God’s Word as the SOLE authority. ****
Scripture assuredly is one source of authority and all Catholics accept it as such.
Yet, nowhere in the written form of God’s Word is the claim of sole authority made or that it is the sole channel of God’s Word to His people.
Jesus came and spoke things that had not been written in the Old Testament. Then Jesus said to His Apostles, “As the Father sent me, so I send you”, and He gave to His Church the Holy Spirit to lead her to all truth.
Well, if anyone really cares, or has the time between posts about how Catholics “must” base their faith on the authority of the Church on unsubstantiated claims, and/or how Catholics “must” deify/worship Mary like some goddess “because we (the super-smart Biblical scholars of FR) say they do”, maybe one can deign to answer the following question:
Did Jesus establish a visible, authoritative Church, or not?
Because that’s really the issue here, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Whether one wishes to dance around it, denying the question to even themselves via side streets and rabbit holes like the “deification of Mary” and unsubstantiated claims of authority.
I’d really like to know if any anti-Catholic has ever seriously considered that question. And don’t “answer” by misdirection either, by bringing up the same bilge I mentioned already that has contaminated this thread.
Because guess what: that’s the exact point where the book mentioned in the OP of this thread starts. And it’s good it does start there, because ultimately, once one decides the answer to that question, pro or con, all of these side trails become meaningless.
Funny that, maybe that’s why I’ve never seen that question directly discussed. And yes I’ve read all the posts in this thread, none answer DIRECTLY (even with scripture alone if that is one’s preference) the question: Did Jesus establish a visible, authoritative Church, or not?
You DO?
Then declare Victory and leave the field of battle.
You've won.
No need to hang around; thumping your chest.
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.