Hard Question for Catholics

You are correct - those sacraments do not work. They are simply a smoke screen, a misdirection.

If the Catholic member is tricked into thinking those sacraments are actually "doing something" to the point that they do not go to Christ for themselves - then they are as lost as any atheist or agnostic.

The pretended claims to Priestly powers - is fake. Nothing at all happening there behind the smoke and mirrors.

It is only those Catholics that actually individually come to Christ for salvation that are saved and born again.

in Christ,

Bob

 

I am certainly not a Calvinist.

Neither is DHK or HP nor any of those that have sided with the Bible on the fact that there is "No OSAS" support from scripture.

I don't remember about Steaver.

in Christ,

Bob

 

>You are correct - those sacraments do not work.

How can anyone in this life know what works in the next?

I am convinced that I have a guardian angel who works especially hard when I am driving on the freeway but there is no objective way to verify it.

On the other hand, there are millions of people who try to manipulate God through prayer and there is no statistically measurable effect of prayer. (Statistics ONLY applies to large groups, never to individuals)

 

Hey, I was labeled a Calvinist before I ever knew what a Calvinist was! :tongue3:

Hey Bob, could you answer my questions on the "Who has not failed" thread?

Thank You!

And no, I don't think much of Calvin's theory, although he was right about Jesus being the Son of God. Does this make me a Calvey?

Some seem to believe that Calvin was the first man to ever believe a child of God is eternally secure in Christ. Nobody needed Calvin to point this out!

:wavey:

 

Are you for real? With most of what you post it really makes me wonder...

 

Yes, but, you see, I've undergone the whole evangelical conversion experience too at age 16 and can completely relate to what you say (lapsed Catholic, never thought I was 'good enough', feeling of relief that I didn't have to be 'good enough' etc) and yet, nearly a quarter of a century on, I can't say I'm any less prone to sin now than I was then. So, according to you, there's something wrong here too....

 

TBH, the sins I struggle with today are pretty similar to those with which I struggled as a 16-year old: lust, anger, bad language, selfishness, laziness, a susceptability to addictions/addictive behaviour etc. Not murder, though....

 

In other words, you struggle with the flesh. The good news is that you are not alone, the bad news is that you will continue to struggle with it until you are called home. That's my tongue in cheek way of saying that you are not alone, mate.

Everyone struggles with these. Becoming a Christian does not magically remove them from our thoughts and feelings (oh, that it did). As we mature spiritually these become less and less of a problem. They remain, more so than for others. We males tend to have bigger hangups on the more physical of them (lust, anger, laziness), but we have our fare share of the rest, too (selfishness, etc). I have my own struggles with selfishness and laziness. I am off and on with anger, with good seasons and horrid seasons (presently in a horrid one). Bad language is seldom a problem for me any more, but it does pop up on occasion. I have always been one prone to addictive behavior as such is my personality.

No sin is petty. We tend to rank them in degrees, but God does not. He calls us to mortify all of them, but to do it through Him. I know I cannot defeat sin under my own power, but He is able to do so.

 

My brother and I were forcibly carried up to an alter call by my Father at our Baptist church - I was seven yrs. and my brother was twelve yrs. old. He forced us to accept Jesus and to later be baptised under threat of punishment. How he did this in a Baptist church is beyond me; however, these things happen regardless of religious affiliation.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I suppose he "could" have simply had you sprinkled as a baby if he were a member of a Lutheran, Presbyterian or Catholic Church. You probably would not have viewed that case as "forced against your will" since clearly in that case -you would have had no actual participation at all in the exercise.

But as you point out - forcing someone against their will is not a Christian act.

If we learned anything from the tortures of the Dark Ages - we learned that one!

But anyone who values what Peter said at all - will remember that HE said that "Baptism saves you - NOT the magical touch of holy water on the skin - but an APPEAL TO GOD for a clean conscience".

May each one of their own free will CHOOSE to make that appeal to God for a clean conscience.

in Christ,

Bob

 

And this is why you are not a Baptist but a Catholic??
They do things pretty much the same way.

 

"Until this moment, … I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness....Let us not assassinate this lad further,.... You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
Joseph Welch (the Army–McCarthy hearings)

Peace!

 

You need not accuse me of anything.
As per your quote, previously--your testimony, I will assert again. I know of no Baptist Church that carries on in such a manner. I will therefore assert that it is not a Baptist Church that you were in. That is not Baptist Church Polity. I don't believe you are a Baptist. You haven't convinced me, nor many others on this board. You spout and defend Catholic doctrine. How is that being a Baptist? You aren't. Possibly, a slim chance maybe, you thought you were in a Baptist Church but were not. What you have described above is not descriptive of Baptist Churches. I don't like to hear false testimony, and at the same time defense of the Catholic faith. Wolves in sheep's clothing I can spot.

 

And the same accusation has been leveled at Thinkingstuff by a number of people on this board. 'Spouting and defending Catholic doctrine' in and of itself doesn't make someone Catholic and not a Baptist.

You don't have to hate Catholics to be a Baptist, DHK.

 

Nope, you certainly don't. But to be a Baptist you must believe Baptist doctrine, not Catholic doctrine. Doesn't that make sense to you?

If I were working for IBM, why would I embrace MAC Operating System and demand a MAC computer.