Replies

No one here is claiming you can.

Yup, they do. The Catholic church does.

They tell us that you have to be baptized to be saved.

But then that's not enough. You also have to take communion to be saved.

But that's still not enough. You must go to confession.

And then you have to do corporeal works of mercy, however someone randomly decides to define that.

And then you have to be Catholic.

And in submission to the pope. (ooops, that rules out a lot of Catholics right now).

And so there you have it, the Hamster Wheel of Works.

***

You forgot the circus music.

Do do dodododo do do do do~

And so there you have it, the Hamster Wheel of Works.

ebb, please bro, get off the wheel. You aren't getting anywhere.

And to that list...hope you don't commit a mortal sin or you've lost your salvation.

I've never understood if Roman Catholics believe baptism saves you...why you don't have to be baptized again after you commit a mortal sin?

“Yup, they do. The Catholic church does.”

Nope.

“They tell us that you have to be baptized to be saved.”

Jesus says that - as does Peter. And its Jesus’ work not ours.

... you have to be baptized to be saved.

You also have to take communion to be saved.

You must go to confession.

you have to do corporeal works of mercy, .

you have to be Catholic.

This sounds MIGHTY familiar... HMMMmmm...

Acts 15    Version 1.6

The Council at Fresno...

¹ Certain Catholics came from all across the world to FreeRepublic and were trying to convince the believers: "Unless you are Catechized, according to the custom taught by Rome, you cannot be saved." ² This brought Elsie and Metmom ETAL into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Elsie and Metmom were appointed, along with some other believers, to lurk on FR to see the Catholics and NON about this question. ³ The Holy Spirit sent them on their way, and as they traveled through the Religion Forum, they told how the NON-Catholics had been converted. This news made all the Protestants very glad. ⁴ When they came to FR, they were scorned by members of the ONE TRUE church, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

⁵ Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Catholics stood up and said, "The Protestants must be baptisted correctly and required to keep the laws of Rome!"
⁶ The posters met to consider this question. ⁷ After much discussion, Metmom got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Protestants might hear from our fingers the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹ He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Protestants a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
¹² The whole of FR became silent (Yeah; THAT's gonna happen!) as they listened to Elsie and Metmom telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Protestants. ¹³ When they finished, Boatbums spoke up. "Brothers," she said, "listen to me. ¹⁴ MGinTN has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
¹⁶ "'After this I will return
   and rebuild Rome's fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
   and I will restore it,
¹⁷ that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
   even all the Protestants who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things'
¹⁸ things known from long ago.
¹⁹ "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Protestants who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from vision and apparations, from Brown Scapulas, from the endless repetitions of the ROSARY and from so-called blood. ²¹ For the laws of Rome has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the sanctuaries on every Sunday."
The Council's Letter to Gentile Believers
²² Then the posters and lurkers, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Fresno with Mark17 and Tennessee Nana. They chose Daniel1212 (called Wise) and eagleone, and Luircin,  Mark17; as well as aMorePerfectUnion; folks who were leaders among the believers. ²³ With them they sent the following letter:

   The apostles and elders, your brothers,
   To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
   Greetings.
²⁴ We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. ²⁵ So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— ²⁶ men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷ Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. ²⁸ It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: ²⁹ You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
   Farewell.

³⁰ So the men were sent off and continued to post on FR, where they gathered the people together and delivered the GOSPEL. ³¹ The people (most all except ebb tide, piusv, Salvation; Steelfish; Mrs. Don-o and Vlademir998) read it and were glad for its encouraging message.

“... the Hamster Wheel of Works.” Oooo, that’s good! I’m gonna use that one.