Tag Archives: protestant

Saved By _______

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Adrian has seen fit to clarify his beliefs about how one is saved. Since my statements apparently weren’t very clear, either, I’ll follow suit.

  1. God gave man free will so that we might choose freely to love Him.
  2. Faith is a product of grace, which is given by God. We must be open to receiving that grace. If grace is irresistible, then we have imperfect free will.
  3. We must accept Jesus Christ by our own free will and live by His commandments.
  4. By opening ourselves to grace through faith, we become members of the elect who shall receive eternal life.
  5. That membership is not permanent. If it were, then grace is irresistible and we consequently have imperfect free will.
  6. Therefore, there are choices we can make (i.e sins we can commit) that separate us from God and remove us from the company of the elect.
  7. Like Paul, we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling and strive to finish the good race.
  8. God gives us sustaining grace, spiritual sustenance if you will, if we ask for it and through sacraments.

I’m no theologian or professional apologist, so I’m sure there are flaws in the above list. However, it represents my current understanding of the teachings of the Church. For more details about Catholic soteriology, look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church and search for the word "salvation". The following Catholic Encyclopedia articles also contain useful information.

Elect
Justification
Salvation
General Judgment
Particular Judgment
Predestination
Grace
Faith

The Not-So-Good News?

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Adian Warnock has been taking some heat for his wife’s "simple gospel". I think he thinks I’m one of the people giving him flack. Honestly, I’m not. I read his post too quickly and then foolishly blogged based on a misconception. In my rush to catch up on the blogosphere, I didn’t notice he was posting about something his wife had presented to 4-7 year-olds. Had I noticed that, I probably wouldn’t have responded. That’s not to say I agree with all ten points she gave, but given they were meant for children, I probably wouldn’t have blogged about them.

Anyhow, Adrian didn’t approve of my response "The Gospel in 30 Seconds". He calls my views "totally false" and makes the claim that I stated "that we must EARN our salvation". This is not true. I did not say that we have earn salvation. I implied that faith without works is dead. I also implied that repentance isn’t a do-it-once-and-you’re-done thing. It’s something we must do all our lives. Sin has consequences. Even when God forgives us, we still must attempt to repair the damage we have caused to ourselves and to others. Not to do so is to not be sorrowful of our sins and truly repentant. Also, it is possible to lose salvation. There are sins that cannot be forgiven without explicit confession, contrition, and penance. There’s no such thing as "once saved, always saved". Neither I nor the Catholic Church believes that one must earn salvation.

Now that I’ve defended my impromptu over-simplification of 2000 years of soterilogy, I’d like to apologize to Adrian and his wife, in case either felt ganged up on. I’m big into interdenominational dialogue, reunification of the Mystical Body of Christ, and apologetics. I was hoping to spur discussion, not attack anyone’s faith or expression thereof.

Your blog is a regular read of mine, Adrian. Keep on keepin’ on. 🙂

Pax Christi

Mother Mary

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"When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be. " – The Beatles, Let it Be

Some recent exchanges with Protestant have revolved around Mary, her sinless nature, her perpetual virginity, and her role in Christian life. Due to Real Life™ responsibilities, I don’t have time to directly answer the most recent arguments opposing the Church’s view of Mary. These arguments may be found here:

Romanism and Ales Rarus, Part 1
Romanism and Ales Rarus, Part 2
Romanism, Ales Rarus, and Mary, a Reply

As a stop-gap, here are some old posts I wrote relating to this issue. Rather than require my readers to go into my archives, I’ve reproduced the relevant entries here.

Pages: 1 2 3