All faithful Catholics do. They do it by following the teachings handed down to the Apostles by Jesus Christ and preserved in the church he established. You are welcomed to entrust yourself to Jesus Christ at any time by becoming Catholic rather than follow the traditions of men as a Protestant.
“All faithful Catholics do.”
This of course depends by what you mean by “faithful”. If you mean they go through all the religious ritual, no.
Salvation comes by faith in Christ’s finished work alone. It comes when a person chooses to entrust themselves to Him alone and not their own efforts.
Does that cover every Catholic? No. It doesn’t cover everyone in any denomination. Tares grow up among the wheat. Christ said.
“They do it by following the teachings handed down to the Apostles by Jesus Christ and preserved in the church he established.”
No. Salvation does not come from following teachings handed down - nor is there an unbroken string of such teachings outside the Scriptures. Salvation comes from HIM alone. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” No pass-alongs mentioned.
“You are welcomed to entrust yourself to Jesus Christ at any time by becoming Catholic rather than follow the traditions of men as a Protestant.”
No. Neither is the source of salvation. Becoming one of those doesn’t save.
I am encouraged by every lost sheep that is found by the Shepherd. Doesn’t matter which flock he was lost from. It matters that the Shepherd finds him and draws Him to Himself for salvation.
I will point out that Catholics make the best Christians when He draws them to Himself. They start on third base (which I am grateful for) and when they finally understand the final step toward Christ, the lights go on in a way they could not have understood.
Amen!
No, according to the NT book of Jude, Romanists follow apostate beliefs. He was warning about the apostate Christian belief system you follow.
He warned the early church to contend for the original faith against apostates. In verse 4 of his epistle, he wrote, "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousnessnse, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."
Jude identifies the apostates by certain characteristics, characteristics that point to the Roman Catholic Church.
Catholics deny Jesus as the only sovereign and Lord by supplanting His authority with an authority of their own. They have denied the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ and given His divine attributes and titles to Mary and the succession of Popes.
Jude named but a few of the characteristics that identify the Catholic Church of being apostate not apostolic.
Wrong, though i wish it was not so. After being raised devout RC, and spending over 60 years in a heavenly RC area, and becoming born again while being a weekly RC, and remaining therein for 6 years as an active participant, and having talked to many hundreds of them about Christ, I must say very few RCs become born again, as i did at age 25,and realized its profound changes in heart and life, praise the Lord (not as if I am all what i should be in heart and deed, and do not know chastisement).
RC Professor and author Peter Kreeft stated,
Over the past twenty-five years I have asked hundreds of Catholic college students the question: If you should die tonight and God asks you why he should let you into heaven, what would you answer? The vast majority of them simply do not know the right answer to this, the most important of all questions, the very essence of Christianity. They usually do not even mention Jesus! http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0027.html
And as a poster on Catholic Answers sums up his faith, if not that of all RCs,
I feel when my numbers up I will appoach a large table and St.Peter will be there with an enormous scale of justice by his side. We will see our life in a movie...the things that we did for the benefit of others will be for the plus side of the scale..the other stuff,,not so good will..well, be on the negative side..and so its a very interesting job Pete has. I wonder if he pushes a button for the elevator down for the losers...and what .sideways for those heading for purgatory..the half way house....lets wait and see.... — http://forums.catholic.com/showpost.php?p=4098202&postcount=2
Another writes,.
My 13 year old son's friend (a baptist and Great kid) attends a church with incredible youth involvement and activities designed to keep the young people "ALIVE WITH THE FAITH" and IT WORKS!!!! Tons of pressure on my son because our parish is "flatlined" when it comes to youth. As a side note to this, I allowed him to attend one evening program at his friends church and when he came home, he was excited about what he read in the bible and what it meant in his life (he NEVER once had to bring a bible with him to religious ed. nor did they ever read from scripture) (http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=578988)
For instead of having a Biblical "day of salvation," when they cognitively come to Christ as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, and personally trust Him to save them on His blood and merit, RCs imagine being sprinkled an infant makes them a Christian, making them good enough ("infused charity") to enter Heaven. And thus (because they do not maintain that state) their salvation process ends with becoming good enough once again (and atoning for sin). Thus they have some confidence in ones own merit and that of the church for salvation, along with some kind of hope in an ambiguous idea of Divine mercy.
I had basically and prayerfully switched from going to my local RC church for an evangelical one because of lack of fellowship. Due to what happened to me I tried often to talk to people about the Lord and things of the Bible i was learning (i was naive, but not very bold), but rare was a person that was even interested, and most did not want to. I went to RC charismatic meetings which were better, but the hierarchy handicapped them.
And the sermons were quite dull, though i tried others churches (a charismatic priest was better), but it was evangelical radio that fed my very hungry soul, and preached of Biblical conversions that changed me. And then i would meet evangelicals with whom, as now, seeing that i am a Christian thru what i did (maybe a gospel tract) or did, we have a spontaneous instant basic bond, an opening and kinship of hearts, due to a shared conversion and relationship with the Lord. Who, and His life, is the basis for our fellowship of the Spirit. They may be Baptist, Calvary Chapel, or Pentecostal, but that is peripheral. Christ saved them and He is their direct focus.
With some this is deeper, and there are some who are just religious, and others are fringe, and some are a real trial(!), but i can go to anywhere that there are born again Christians and experience this unique kinship, due them having been drawn and convicted of God, and obeying the gospel of salvation, or repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, versus mere assent in a ritual.
And such are often found working together in many Christian ministries, and as stats show , these are far more unified in conservative basic values and core beliefs than Catholics. Certainly, as with RCs, there are things we can differ on quite quickly, though RCs are less likely to make these a topic, but the focus is on Christ, not a church, as they were manifestly born again by an encounter with Him, and who is their security.
But in stark contrast, a church is what RCs preach and promote and defend as if it is their salvation and security, and indeed, that is basically what they tell us. Their church that is, and some even hold an unbeliever is not rejecting Christ by rejecting a Protestant preaching such a message as Acts 10:36-43!
But as evangelicals have historically contended for core Truth we both concur with due to their Scriptural warrant, so they also contend against cults, and traditions of men, both of which many RCs have become like and hold to. Sadly.
It’s the testimony of a long time nun. You might be interested in reading it.
Baloney. No where in the Bible does it say that anyone has to be a catholic to be saved, PTL. It says. “for God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall have eternal life.”. Nope, no catholic listed.
And, amazingly, they've managed to ADD all sorts of things that was NEVER done in the early days!
The seven churches in Asia you guys started are a really poor example of continuous teachings: rife with error!
Your First Pope called CONDEMNED by his fellow Catholics...
Galatians 2:11
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.