Replies

[paladinan]
I reject the equally ridiculous, free-will-denying idea that a Christian cannot lose his/her salvation once it is attained.

[MHGinTN]
To respond I would have to know 'when' you believe Salvation is attained. Care to share?

Certainly. Salvation, in the sense of "never again being in danger of hell", occurs when one DIES (in a state of friendship with God--the technical term is "in a state of sanctifying grace"--i.e. not in a state of mortal sin). Before that point, one can only be said to be "saved" in a conditional sense... as Scripture makes quite clear, since it describes salvation in past tense, present/ongoing tense, and future tense, in turn:

Example of past: "For by grace you have been saved through faith[...]" (Ephesians 2:8)

Example of present, ongoing: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Example of future, conditional: "But he who endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22)

I will understand hesitating on that one, in the atmosphere now roiling about us.

:) Thanks. However, no hesitation was needed.

I would only offer that Salvation is not like a Yo-Yo, it is like unto a Rock,

On God's part, certainly: His atonement purchased for us the opening of the gates of paradise, if only we endure to the end (Matthew 10:22, etc.) on the narrow road (cf. Matthew 7:14), and actually choose to walk through it. But some who receive the saving Word (even with joy!) still abandon the Word in the face of persecutions and struggles, and some allow the pleasures and the cares of the world to choke the Word off, leaving it fruitless (cf. Matthew 13). Even St. Paul says that he did not consider himself to have attained the prize (Phillipians 3:13), and he described how he struggled and chastised his body, since he laments the possibility that--after having preached to others, he might still be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:27).

Rest assured: to the extent that the salvation of anyone living on earth is NOT secure, it's not the fault of God!

The Gates of Hell open which way?...

I'm not sure what you mean, here; could you clarify? Who's talking about opening the gates of hell? Matthew 16:18ff talks about the gates of hell not PREVAILING against the Church...

And how is Peter opening those gates if he is the rock?

Where do you get the idea that St. Peter is opening the gates of hell?

I would offer humbly that the profession of Whom is Christ, the Son of the Living God is the rock of Salvation against which the gates of Hell cannot resist the escape of even the long dead faithers, such as Abraham.

Ah. I think I see: you're referring to the release (from Sheol) of the righteous who died before the victory of Christ? Christ did that; St. Peter did not, nor did he ever claim to do so, nor does the Catholic Church teach that he did.

In the Nicean Creed we read that Jesus descended into Hades, and led capticity captive.

Actually, the Nicene Creed (the modern version is actually the amended "Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed", since it was amended at the Council of Constantinople, in 381 A.D.--there IS an "original" Nicene Creed, which is very similar) doesn't mention the descent to the abode of the dead; only the Apostles' Creed does that. But the Greek doesn't say "hades"--it says "κατώτατα"--i.e. "lowest place"; there's a distinction between "hades" (which we would regard as "hell", the place of the damned), and "sheol" (which we would regard as "the limbo of the Fathers" or "the waiting place of those who came before Christ"). The promise of Matthew 16:18 refers to the fact that hell (the place of the damned, the power of Satan) will never prevail against the Church of Christ.

If Catholics believe in Pergatory, then the gates of that place cannot prevail against the profession of Whom Christ Is when God reveals it to the human heart, for it is His absolute authority.

Purgatory doesn't have "gates"; purgatory is the state of being in which those who are in friendship with God, but who are still tainted with self-love and are not yet perfect, are purified ("purged") by the fires of the burning love of God. Those who are in Purgatory are already saved; it's just a matter of them having the last of their lesser impurities cleansed, before they enter the fullness of Heaven and stand before the all-Holy God.

No institution of man can muster that kind of authority, brother. [And here I reference obliquely the questionable addition of 'binding' authority which so conveniently the Catholic Church claims to wear but which does not appear in the oldest manuscripts, IMS).

The Church of Christ is not a mere institution of man; it is established by Christ, Himself, and it is preserved and vivified by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you're right: it could do nothing good (much less anything supernatural) at ALL.

Re: "binding and loosing"--that's clearly in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18, and it's a direct antitype of the "binding and loosing" portrayed in the Davidic Kingdom (see Isaiah 22, and look for the account of Eliakim). St. Peter (and the other apostles) have that power because Jesus DELEGATED that power to them; they do not have that power on their own.

Perhaps that is why the Catholic Church wishes to claim divine establishment of the institution?

She claims divine establishment of Herself simply because we have Jesus' word for the matter, and that She IS divinely established. She didn't invent that idea, any more than She invented Herself.