it's not a question of the minority or not. It's a question of following what Christ teaches and on the matter of what Christ teaches both of you do not follow Him
So, if you two want to ignore what Christ teaches, that's your problem
What does Jesus say saves us?
| 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. |
Jesus said it is not faith ALONE. We are saved by God's GRACE. Full-stop.
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. -- it's never faith ALONE. Note that
no one is denying that one MUST have faith to be saved by the freely given grace of salvation, however, it is not faith ALONE. As shown above, Jesus Himself said that
He who believes and is baptized will be saved. (Mk 16:16)
[U]nless you repent you will all likewise perish. (Lk 13:3
[H]e who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (Jn 6:54)
So, do listen to the words of Jesus who said it is faith+ repentance+baptism+the Eucharist+endurance, not any of these in isolation. Of course, these don't "save us" per se, since it is Christ's sacrifice on the Cross that grants us our salvation that we can accept or reject
The problem happens when one takes one section of the word in isolation.
Those are not spoken to church age believers.
1 Pet. 3:20-21: " It (Baptism )saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ"
Let's finish the verse and put it in context, shall we? Like Catholics claim non-Catholics don't do....
1 Peter 3:18-22 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Peter clarifies here that it is NOT water baptism.
Jesus tells what qualifies man for eternal life and it simply believing.
John 3:16-18 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
Ephesians 2:4-10 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The problem happens when one takes one section of the word in isolation.
That is exactly the problem with the way the Catholic church has taken James 2:17 out of context. The failure to distinguish between intellectual assent and true saving faith is what causes the Catholic church to misinterpret James.
Intellectual assent is intellectual assent. True saving faith manifests works and that is how one can tell if they have that kind of saving faith.
Intellectual assent does not become saving faith by adding works and that is apparently a deceit perpetrated by Satan with great success, having convinced multitudes that if they acknowledge God's and Jesus' existence and then do works with it, that it is saving faith.
It's not. It's merely a counterfeit.
no one is denying that one MUST have faith to be saved by the freely given grace of salvation, however, it is not faith ALONE.
Sigh....
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
1 John 3:21-24 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Those other guys sure got fooled then!
Interesting that Catholics believe that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross only “opened the door” as it were to salvation or “makes it possible”. Evidently the rest is up to man’s will to “accept or reject” that salvation. That would say that man is ultimately responsible for his own salvation. How one can justify that with scripture is beyond me. Of course as we are told often, Catholics don’t have to rely on scripture for what they consider truth nor does it have to agree with scripture.
In reference to my post of this Scripture ...
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. - Romans 8:9
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. - John 3:6-7
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. – Matthew 22:35-40
The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
For the kingdom [is] the LORD'S: and he [is] the governor among the nations. All [they that be] fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done [this]. - Psalms 22:25-31