My struggles with Christianity

[Preety_India]

In this journal I'm going to express my struggles with Christianity that I've been through for many years and continue to. 

At the same time it will reflect how I made peace with the religion finally and my insights on my journey being a Christian. 

[Preety_India]

List of false preachers 

?  

?

?  Andrew Wommack

?  

?  

? Beth Moore 

? Benny Hinn

?

?

?Creflo Dollar

?

?Don Piper

?  Eddie Long 

?

???

?Gilbert Deya

?

?Hillsong 

?Jesse Duplantis

?Joseph Prince

? Jim Bakker

? Jim Jones 

? Jimmy Swaggart

??????

? Joel Osteen

?Joyce Meyer

?Kenneth Copeland

?Kathryn Kuhlman

? Larry Lea

?

?

?Mike Murdock

?

? Paula White

?  Pat Robertson

?

???

?

? Robert Tilton 

? Rod Parsley 

? Rick Warren 

? Ronald Weinland

?  

? Steven Furtick 

?  

?  

? TD Jakes

?

? TB Joshua 

?

? Warren Jeffs

? W. V. Grant

?

?

Edited August 2, 2019 by Preety_India

[How to be wise]

1 hour ago, Preety_India said:

In this journal I'm going to express my struggles with Christianity that I've been through for many years and continue to. 

At the same time it will reflect how I made peace with the religion finally and my insights on my journey being a Christian. 

An Indian Christian? Quite rare I would say. 

Notice that your religion was brought to you by your former occupiers the British. Don’t identify with it too much.

[Preety_India]

43 minutes ago, How to be wise said:

An Indian Christian? Quite rare I would say. 

Notice that your religion was brought to you by your former occupiers the British. Don’t identify with it too much.

It's not my religion!! 

[Preety_India]

? Some form of paganism 

? Christianity 

? Some new age spirituality bullshit (which is going to be incomplete) 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

Both paganism and Christianity appeal to me. 

 

[Preety_India]

So after a year of abandoning Christianity I find peace, salvation and hope in it.. Again!! . With paganism and meditation the void was still there. But thankfully by having Christianity I'm able to fill that void again. 

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Preety_India

[Bill W]

5 hours ago, How to be wise said:

An Indian Christian? Quite rare I would say. 

Notice that your religion was brought to you by your former occupiers the British. Don’t identify with it too much.

Notice your assumptions. Oops. My bad.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Bill W
Confusion. Big mix up. Sorry

[Preety_India]

I'm a born again Christian who has forsaken the world and all its lies and deceptions. 

[Preety_India]

Believable preachers 

 

? Joshua Chavez Servus.christi 

? Paul Washer heart cry mission. 

? Justin Peters 

? Grace to you ministries

?John Macarthur of grace church

? Billy Graham 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Preety_India

[zeroISinfinity]

It will be quite a shock for you discovering you are everything and everyone. 

Until then. Don't judge so much. 

Denial of Reality creates that Void in your heart. Love you. 

Yes I hate new age too. ?Was like that only few years ago.

It's a process. ?️

[Preety_India]

There is always a heavy Christian influence. 

 

[Preety_India]

I don't know how to put this. I'm annoyed. I don't want people to discuss on my journal and their bullshit opinions. Don't need any suggestions. Please keep it to yourself. That would be kind of you. I don't take any liking to constant interference. 

It's annoying as hell.

Do not distract me please. 

[Preety_India]

The Doctrine of "Total Depravity"

BY JOHN REISINGER

There are basically only two religions in the whole world.  The one begins with the free will of man and the other one begins with the sovereignty of God (See page 7). The first one keeps telling you what "You must do," for God, and the second one declares what "God has done for you" that you could not do for yourself. The religion of "free will" pictures salvation as a possibility for all men if they are willing to cooperate with God by believing. The religion of free grace presents salvation as a certainty for all of the elect of God because God gives faith as a gift. Does your preacher keep emphasizing "do" or does he talk about "done"?

The many varieties of the religion based on man's free will differ only on what man must do in order to find acceptance with God. One says he must go to Mecca and kiss the sacred rock; another says he must bathe in the Ganges river; another says he must be baptized by immersion; and others says he must produce faith with his free will. The theological term for this view is Auto-soteriology, which means "self-salvation," or salvation depending, in some sense, on man's cooperation with God. The religion of free grace is called Theo-soteriology, which means "salvation depending wholly on God 's grace and power." The Biblical gospel is "God saves sinners"–period. That meansGod (all by Himself with no help at all from the sinner) saves (actually and truly and not merely "tries to save") sinners (helpless, hopeless, guilty, hell-deserving people who can do absolutely nothing ). The gospel it is not "God gives every man a chance to be saved if the sinner will only cooperate by furnishing the necessary faith." In Theo-soteriology, all of the glory belongs to God alone because His sovereign grace and power aloneis what makes the difference. In Auto-soteriology, the glory is shared by God and the sinner because it was "the sinner's willingness" that made the realdifference between himself and other lost people that enabled God to effect salvation.

Genesis 11:1-9 shows these two basic ideas in the words "let us" as these words are uttered by man and the same words are uttered by God. "Let us (man) build a tower to reach up to God" (Auto-soteriology) is the religion based on man's will. It begins with man and his effort. "Let us (Triune God) go down" (Theo-soteriology) is the religion of sovereign grace that comes to a depraved sinner and enables the dead sinner to repent and believe.

When a knowledgeable believer says, "The Lord saved me," he does not mean the Lord Jesus Christ saved him. He means, " the Lord God the Father saved me in electing grace; the Lord God the Son saved me by His atoning death; and the Lord God the Holy Spirit saved me by opening my heart and giving me faith." Each member of the blessed Trinity has a specific, and essential, part to play in every sinner's salvation.

One of the clear proofs of how man centered our theology has become in the last 100 years is the near total absence of either hymns or sermons depicting the sovereign electing grace of the Father or the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.  Remember that we have been saved by a Triune God. Should we not gladly acknowledge and worship the Father for His electing grace even as we praise the Son for His vicarious death? Are we not duty bound to acknowledge and worship the Holy Spirit for raising us out of spiritual death and giving us the gift of faith and life? There is an absence of good hymns depicting the work of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit because of the failure to grasp the Biblical doctrine of Total Depravity. That is the subject of this issue of Sound of Grace.
 
 

Introduction: What does the phrase "Total Depravity" mean?

I remember a college professor who constantly depicted the Puritans as kill-joys. He blamed their problem on their belief in total depravity. The professor's caricature was, "A puritan is a man who cannot sleep at night because he is afraid that somewhere in the world someone may be having fun." The Puritans really got bad press in that man's class.

The carnal mind hates the doctrine of total depravity. Nothing cuts across the grain of the modern religious, psychological, and philosophical view of man and his basic nature as much as the truth that man is a depraved sinner. The unchallenged absolute in academic circles today is that "Man is basically good." Biblical depravity says the exact opposite. The Bible clearly sees that environment plays a great part in shaping an individual. However, it traces the root cause of all man's problems to a wicked and selfish heart. The sun and rain cannot bring a single plant out the ground that is not already there in seed form, nor can a bad environment produce any fruit that is not potentially already in our hearts. Everyone of us is capable, apart from grace, of being as wicked as any person who every lived. If you balk at that statement you have probably never become a Christian!

Once the fact of total depravity is accepted then sovereign grace is man's only hope. As long as this fact is rejected and man's fictitious goodness is exalted, men will merely find more ways to justify their rebellion to God and His revealed truth.

Here is Webster's Dictionary definition: "depraved - characterized by corruption; perverted; evil . . .". The word "total" means what it says and needs no comment. The word "depraved" is not in your concordance nor is the word "Trinity." However, both of these truths are stamped on nearly every page of the Bible.

Here is the doctrine of total depravity in a nut shell. "Man is bad, but he is not that bad, but he really is bad." That means, (1) man is a sinner; but (2) he is not nearly as sinful in actual practice as he could be. However, (3) he is really is a totally depraved sinner in the sight of God.

It takes both a negative and a positive wire to produce electricity. Often times it is essential to clearly spell out what we do not believe before it is possible to understand what we actually do believe. We will begin our study with things that we do not believe even though we are often very wrongly accused of these things.
 
 

First: Negative. Let me show what we do NOT mean by "total depravity."

1. Total depravity does not mean that man is without a conscience or any sense of right and wrong.

People often have a strong impulse to do "right," and they often feel remorse for doing "wrong." However, this only proves that man still has some remnants of his original creation. He still has a conscience and, depending on environment and training, it can very strong. Conscience often drives people into a mental institution, and, in some cases, even to suicide. The following texts clearly show that man has a conscience.

John 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one . . "

Romans 2:14,15 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

C. S. Lewis spoke of the universal "ought" in ever man. Every person will accuse others (and themselves in their conscience) of not doing what they "ought" to have done. This universal admission by every creature of a "right and wrong" will be one of the righteous grounds upon God will judge all men as guilty. Man's constant moral judgement of other people is absolute proof that man is a moral being created in the moral image of God. Man is not an animal without any consciousness of his creator. Man is a rational and moral creature who makes volitional choices based on both his rationality and moral consciousness.

Suppose the day that you were born God hung an invisible tape recorder around your neck. Every time you said either "you should have done such and such," or "you should NOT have done such and such," the invisible recorder went blip, blip, blip and recorded what you said. In the day of judgement, imagine God getting out the tape, with your own words of moral judgments on it, and saying, "I want to be fair in judging you. Therefore I will judge you on the exact standards that you boldly professed to believe. I will use your own words. I will not use either the Ten Commandments, or the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, I will use what you yourself fervently acknowledged (by judging others) was right and wrong." Could anything be more fair? Would we not all be proven guilty before God? Do you realize that very thing is going to happen!

Man indeed has a consciousness of right and wrong. We need only read Ann Landers or visit a mental institution to see that people often have a very deep consciousness of morality that sometimes screams at them. However, this does not mean that these people are convicted of sin in God's sight. A "guilty conscience" is not the same as "conviction of sin." People have great remorse for the results of sin who are not in the least concerned that they have offended God.

2. Total Depravity does not mean that every sinner is devoid of all of the qualities that are both pleasing to men and useful to society when those qualities are judged only by a human standard.

Mother Teresa and Albert Switzer were great humanitarians. The world is a better place for many people because of them and their ministry. They rightly earned and deserve our praise for their humanitarian labors. However, they were still guilty sinners in the sight of a holy God. All the "good" they did will not earn them grace in God's sight. They too are included in the "you" who must be "born again." Were these two people "much better persons" than a Hitler or a Manson? Of course they were , if you judge only on the basis of a human standard. Is it possible that a Manson, or a Hitler, can be saved by grace and go to heaven, and a Mother Teresa and a Switzer be lost and go to hell because of self-righteousness? The answer is yes, both situations are possible, if you judge by God's revealed standards.

A parent's love and willingness to suffer even death for their child's well being is certainly a "good" thing that deserves to be admired and applauded. However, such actions do not prove the parent has grace in his or her heart nor does it prove they are not totally depraved in God's sight. All it proves is that man still has vestiges of the image of God from his original creation. A patriot's sacrifice for his country is another illustration of the same principle.

A bombed and ruined religious temple may have fragments of beautiful columns or parts of painted walls that are perfectly in tact. However, it is not a fit place for worship. It is "totally" ruined for the purpose for which it was built even though a few isolated parts are not totally destroyed. Man has remnants of his creation in Eden but he is "totally" ruined by sin as far as ability or desire to love and worship God.

Suppose a doctor in the Navy lead a crew into mutiny and took control of a Navy ship. He then uses the ship in piracy. The Navy finds him and demands that he either surrender or they will destroy the ship. Upon his refusal, the Navy brings in the necessary fire power and begins to fight. During the battle many men on the rebel ship are wounded. The doctor works without rest or food and risks his life over and over again in order to give his men the necessary medical treatment to keep them alive. When the Navy finally captures the ship they will hang both the captain and his men because of their mutiny. The heroic "good" which the captain did in risking his life for his men will help neither him or them at the trial. The judges who sentences the man to die may "admire his courage" but he is still a traitor against the government and will therefore be put to death. None of his "good" will count anything. The same principle applies to the all of the "good" that sinful men do.

It is this principle that is being taught in Proverbs 21:4. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin. It is not the actual plowing of the man that is sinful, but the sinful attitude of the man's heart.

(1) His plowing is an exhibition of his faith in the seasons. If he did not believe that spring and summer were sure to follow, he would not plow and plant. His very act of plowing is an expression of faith in God's providence and will condemn the man's unbelieving heart for refusing to worship the very God he constantly acknowledged.

(2) The man will curse God if there is too little or too much rain but he will not praise God for a good harvest. His very cursing shows that he knows God is for real and that He is in control of the weather. The man's pride and self sufficiency will not allow him to give God the credit for the good weather. The whole situation shows that his very plowing will someday be the evidence that condemns him in his sin of unbelief.

3. We are not saying that every sinner is prone to every form of sin.

The Pharisee's prove this point. Jesus acknowledges that some of the things the Pharisees did were right and "good." However, they also selectively omitted some other things. They will be condemned for the very good things they did because it proves they had an understanding of what God wanted. Their deliberate omissions proves the depravity of the hearts.

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

One form of sin will often exclude another form of sin. (1) The "miser" will be delivered from the sin of "wastefulness." (2) The "work-a-holic" will be delivered from sloth and laziness. (3) The "Pride of position" will often exclude immorality but only for fear of being caught. Shakespeare said it well: "I see it has pleased Devil drunkenness to give place to Devil wrath."

This truth explains the "apparent" change in some men when elevated to a position of authority. Their nice personality is replaced with a tyrannical attitude. Actually the man did not really change at all. His true self came to the surface for the first time. The man was always like that in his heart but he never had the authority or opportunity to demonstrate it.

4. We are not saying that every sinner is as intense as he can be in his sin. Remember our original definition, "Man is bad, but he is not that bad, but he really is bad."

No one person has ever expressed all of the sin of which they were capable. The following texts demonstrate this fact:

Genesis 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.

2 Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Every year we are convinced that society and the world simply cannot possibly get any worse. However, it does get worse and will continue to do so until our Lord returns. The old saying is true: "You ain't seen nothing yet!" I would not want to live in the same city, county, or state where God permitted one individual to express all of the rebellion of which he was capable. We ought to constantly thank God for His restraining grace.

We now put the positive wire into place and show what we actually do believe about total depravity.
 
 

Second: Positive. What we DO mean by Total Depravity, or, What the Bible DOES teach on the subject.

Total depravity means that man is totally dead in sin and not just sick and dying. The sinner is not an emergency room case who desperately need attention before it too late–the sinner is a graveyard case. They are dead, not dying. They are not incurably sick and on the verge of death–they are already dead! Ephesians 2:1 is clear: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins . . "

1. Total depravity means that every sinner, including you and me, is destitute or without that love to God which constitutes the fundamental and all-inclusive demand of God's law. The one great thing that all men owe to God is the one thing that they adamantly refuse to give Him.

Matthew 22:35-38 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.

All men, without a single exception, are guilty of this sin. They simply do not "love God" and put Him first in any sense. They are commanded to do this 24 hours every day, but lost sinners have never consciously ever done one single thing in their whole life for the express purpose of glorifying God. They live to please themselves and have no thought of their indebtedness to God. I once pressed this fact on a high school teacher and he claimed that his three children were produced out of obedience to God's command to "be fruitful and multiply." When I asked if that was the only motive involved, he grinned and said, "Well, maybe not entirely."

This is what Jesus meant in John 5:42: "But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you." That is, we lack the one thing essential in order to please God. We are not at all motivated by either duty or love to God. We are motivated entirely by sin and self.

2. Total Depravity means that every sinner is guilty of elevating some lower affection or desire above regard for God, His Law, and the Gospel. This is the opposite of # 1. Sinners not only do not love the true God and put Him first, but they do love some other God and put that false God first.

2 Timothy 3:4 . . . lovers of pleasures more thanlovers of God.

It is not that "pleasures" are wrong in themselves. It is when pleasure becomes the cause for living and is a higher goal than knowing God Himself. God can justly complain that this attitude controls the hearts of all lost men.

Malachi 1:6 A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father [in the sense of creation, JGR] , where is the honor due me?

Sinners do not give God the love and worship that He deserves because they are filled with love for something else. They feel no "obligation" to God and therefore they cannot help but be "unthankful." Romans one is a perfect picture of sinful man's ungrateful proud heart.

3. That "something else" that men love is an idol called "self" or "me." Every sinner is determined, in his whole inward being and outward life, by a preference of self instead of God. The sinner treats himself as if he were the only true god.

2 Tim. 3:2 People will be lovers of themselves . . .

John 3:19 Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

It is bad enough to dethrone God the Creator, but to enthrone the creature, to enthrone self as God, is the height of sin. (See Rom 1:21-23)

Sin, in the garden of Eden, created a monster called "happiness" that literally consumes people. To "be happy" is to have everything and everyone act the way that I want them to act. To be "unhappy" is to wish that I could make everything that disagrees with me to "un-happen," or cease to exist. It is to earnestly desire to have everything and everybody line up in the way that I want them to so I can get everything I desire.

4. Total Depravity means that every sinner is possessed with a nature, inherited from Adam's fall, that is completely hostile toward God. We were all born with a "positive" aversion to God and His authority. By nature, every sinner wants "his own way." Romans 8:7 makes this fact very clear. "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so."

The obvious question is, "Why does man not feel this awful hostility that, according to the Scripture, is in his heart?" The answer is simple.

8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.Romans 7:8-11.

This hostility, or enmity, is against God's authority, and as long as a man is not forced to think about God's authority, that man will not feel the hostility that is in his heart. However, when God's law, or authority, is pressed on the man's conscience, then the enmity that is buried in his nature will surface. As long as the sinner sincerely believes that he "free to do as he chooses, and as long as he has a false view of God, especially God's sovereignty and his duty to God, he will never feel either guilty or angry toward God. However, when God's true character as Sovereign Law Giver and Judge is pressed on the sinner, then the sparks begin to fly. This rarely happens today simply because our generation has been lulled to sleep by a totally false view of a "God of love."

Let me illustrate this fact. A truly virtuous woman may smile in mild amusement at a "wolf whistle" as she enters the grocery store. However, if the man would follow her into the store and literally force her into a corner, she would lash out in rage and indignation. Her true nature would manifest itself. You would see what she is really like. So it is with the lost man. It is not until his conscience is pressed with God's true claims that his true nature of hostility comes to the surface. That is when the "nice man" tells you, in anger, to "leave me alone to do as I please."

Preaching the "love of God" makes no one angry. Preaching man's duty to God as His Creator and judge will make the sinner gnash his teeth. We must remember that all men think they love God.However, the God they love is a God of their own imagination and not the God of the Bible.

Let me illustrate what I mean. The ancient Greeks "sincerely loved" and "fervently worshiped" God. On any given day you could find several "worship services" in process. We know that these religious feasts were nothing less than drunken orgies, but they were done in the name of Baccus, one of the Greek Gods. If we would have rebuked the "worshipers" for their drunken immoral behavior because in their heart of hearts they knew better, they would not have thanked us. They would have been furious. They knew that the one true living God hated such behavior. However, they did not care and did everything they could to forget that fact. They would hate us for reminding them of what they knew in their conscience. They would have raised their wine goblets and shouted, "Away with your God, Baccus is God! Baccus is God!"

We come down a little farther in history and meet a pirate named Eric the Red as he is about to go on a "business" trip. Of course his business was to capture ships, steal what was worth stealing, and kill everyone of his helpless victims. If we said, "But Eric, have you fear or love for God?," the poor man would be horrified. He would say, "Why of course I love God. Look at his image on the front of my ship. I pray to him before I go to sea and I sacrifice to him when I return." If we reminded this man that in his conscience he knew that the one true God Who made the heavens and earth hated such behavior, Eric would be furious. He would put his sword under our chin and walk us off the gang plank backward while he shouted, "Thor is God! Thor is God!"

Let us move down to the twentieth century liberal preacher who lives down the street from you. He is a hard working "do gooder" sentimentalist. He "loves God" but when asked what God is like, the man admits he does not have a clue. When we begin to talk about the God who revealed Himself at the cross in the atoning blood of Christ, we notice the man's neck is getting red. He finally grits his teeth and blurts out in anger, "I hate your religion of blood and the God who requires it." You see, he "sincerely loves God," but it is a God of his own imagination and not the God of the Bible. He hates the true and living God revealed in the Scriptures.

The same reaction will come from the "Super Church" leaders who insist on being "positive thinkers." When we mention Romans nine and its awesome picture of God's sovereignty, we are hated and ridiculed. Put it into your memory system: Men sincerely love a God of their own imagination, and He is always a God that they can control. Our duty is to confront men with the God of the Bible. He is the Creator, the Law giver, the Judge, and the only Redeemer. We must begin with Genesis 1:1 and not John 3:16. We begin with the God of John 3:16.

Let me illustrate this point. Suppose a man named Harry bitterly hated a next door neighbor. The very sight of his neighbor made Harry furious. The neighbor finally moved to California. Several years later, someone visiting Harry said, "You really hated that guy who used to live next door." Harry would probably say, "Well, I did not like him too much, but I would not say I actually hated him. That is a strong word." No amount of arguing would convince Harry of how deeply he had hated that neighbor. You see, Harry has not seen the man for a long time. There was nothing confronting him that aroused his strong feelings.

Five years later someone knocks on Harry's door and says, "I am collecting money to buy flowers for the widow of that man who used to live next door to you." It seems the former neighbor had died a tragic death. All of a sudden the person at the door says, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot how deeply you hated the man. You would not be interested in helping. You are probably glad he is dead." Harry would protest that he was being misrepresented. "I admit we had our differences, but as I look back, I am sure part of it was my fault. He really was not all that bad. Here is five dollars for the flowers." It would be impossible to convince Harry that he had truly hated his former neighbor. The hatred had long settled in the bottom of his heart.

Five more years pass by and a moving van pulls up next door to Harry's house and the man he hated starts to move back into the same house. There had been a mix up and the man had not died, it was his brother. How long would that man have to live there before all of Harry's buried hatred would once more be felt and expressed? The old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind" is true. Man's hatred of God is like the dirty mud puddles on the road right after a heavy rain. Those same puddles become clear as crystal after several days. The mud is still there but it has all settled to the bottom and is not visible. However, if you started stirring the puddle with a stick, the mud would soon come to the surface. Man's sinful heart is the same way. As long as Harry is not directly confronted with his enemy, he can never be convinced of the depth of his hatred. As long as men are not being directly confronted with a true picture of God, they do not feel the natural enmity towards God that is in their hearts. However, the moment we begin to tell them what God is really like, their rebellion against God's authority and their love of self will come to the surface. The God of the Bible is a forgotten God in our society. The weak and wishey washey God that is preached in most churches, even Evangelical churches, would never stir up any valid feelings of any kind. This is why men can hate God while being deeply religious. Because men today love a God of their own imagination, there is neither deep faith or visible antagonism in the churches today.

Regardless of what we think or what any individuals believes, we must accept what the Word of God says–all men by nature hate God! We need only preach God's revealed will to sinners, and press on them their absolute duty to do that will, and we see that Romans 8:7 is a fact. The one indelible mark of every lost man is Romans 8:7.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 8:7

Likewise, the one indelible mark of a true believer is the exact opposite:

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. I John 5:3.

Before we were converted we hated God's authority over us simply because we wanted to "do our own thing." We hated anyone who tried to tell us the awful consequences of our rebellion. We hated God's commandments because they condemned us and we hated those who reminded us of those commandments. We felt God was unreasonable and too strict. When the Holy Spirit gave us a new nature, we then loved the very same law that we previously hated. Our problem then was not with the strictness of God's law but our total inability to keep it because we now wanted to keep it with all of our being.

5. By Total Depravity, we mean that every part of man's being and nature has been effected by sin.This is what the word "total" means. Total depravity means that sin has effected every part of man's being and this includes his will. The primary difference between Calvinism (the religion of free grace) and Arminianism (the religion of free will) is whether man's will is partially depraved, meaning everything excepting his will, or whether he is totally depraved, meaning everything including his will.

Romans 6:17 is a key text.

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have [1] obeyed [the will] from [2] the heart [emotions] that [3] form of doctrine [mind] which was delivered you.

This text shows the order of biblical conversion to be as follows: (1) The mind must be illuminated by the truth. God does not save us in a vacuum. We must hear understand, and believe the gospel facts about our sin and Christ's death. (2) The heart must be penetrated by the truth. It is not enough to believe intellectually, we must literally feel the power of truth in our inward man (See I Thes 1:4,5). (3) The will must be liberated with the truth (Acts 16:14). Lydia's heart must indeed be opened and she must hear and believe the gospel in order to be saved. However, Lydia cannot understand or even desire the truth of God with her nature of sin. The Holy Spirit must "open her heart' (This is regeneration) before she is able to understand and believe. When the Holy Spirit gives Lydia a new heart, she will gladly be ready to believe. You will notice how all three of these things are mentioned in Romans 6:17

The mind, or understanding, receives the "form of doctrine," or facts of the gospel. Our natural minds are described as being totally incapable of understanding truth (I Cor 2:14; Eph 4:18). When ever a sinner understands and gladly receives the gospel it is not because of their so-called free will, it is, like in Lydia's case, because God sovereignly opened that heart in regeneration.

The heart, or affections, by nature is not able to feel the power of truth (Jer 17:9). Whenever the gospel effects a real change in us it is because the Holy Spirit has powerfully and savingly applied the truth to the core of our being. When a girl says, "He gets me," that can mean different things. If she sighs and almost faints when she says, "He gets me," that means one thing. If she grits her teeth and shakes her fist when she says, "He gets me," that means something entirely different. In both cases the girl is saying, "Just seeing him or hearing his name evokes an uncontrollable feeling inside of me." In one case it is anger and in the other it is love. In both cases it is automatic because the girl's emotions are controlled by the attitude of her heart . It is the same with a child of God. He cannot hear the name of Christ without feeling deeply a heartfelt gratitude for so great salvation. The gospel really gets to a Christian and literally gets the Christian.

The will, or the power of choice does not, indeed it cannot, operate either independently of, or contrary to, man's sinful mind and wicked heart. Our will is not an independent faculty or "little man inside the man that is unaffected by sin." The will is chained to our sinful nature and it is impossible for the will to operate independently of that sinful nature. The Scriptures are clear that man can no more change his sinful nature by an act will anymore than an Ethiopian can "change the color of his skin" (Jer 13:23). To say, "a sinner can change if he sincerely wants to" is the same as saying, "an Ethiopian, who loves being black and hates any idea of being white, can change the color of his skin if he sincerely wants to." In both cases the problem does not lie in the power of the will but in the "want to," or power that controls the will and that power is the sinner's totally depraved nature. The sinner always wants to please himself. We will come back to this point later.

Let me repeat that the word "total" in "total depravity" does not mean man is as wicked as he can be. It means sin has affected every part of our being in such a way that our autobiography reads, "I know that in me, that is, in no single part of me, dwelleth no good thing" (Rom 7:18). It means that the sinner's heart, which is the seat of his thinking, feeling, and choosing, is "deceitful and incurable wicked" (Jer 17:9). The word total in "total depravity" means the same thing as putting a drop of deadly poison into a glass a water. The entire glass is totally, meaning every single particle of the water, is poisoned and unfit to drink. If you pour that glass of water into a gallon jug you will dilute the intensity of the poison but you will still totally poison the entire gallon of water. Pour the gallon into a barrel of water and you have totally destroyed the entire barrel of water. Remember our definition: "Man is bad, but he is not that bad, but he really is bad."

The primary objection to everything I have said goes like this: "If the sinner does not have the innate power or ability to repent and believe then God cannot hold him responsible." In other words, man's ability is always the measure of his responsibility. If God hold's the sinner responsible to repent and believe when He knows the sinner is unable to do so, then God becomes unjust and grossly unfair. This objection totally misunderstands both sin and responsibility. It also denies the reality and effects of the fall. We will spend quite a bit of time on this point in a future article, but for now let me show how absurd the argument is: Is a sinner able to perfectly obey the Ten Commandments? All will answer, "Absolutely not." Does God hold sinner's responsible for perfectly obeying the Ten Commandments and punishing them for breaking those commandments? The answer will be, with a bit of hesitation and without the "absolutely," will be the exact opposite, or, "Yes." So then God can, and does, hold men responsible for doing something they are totally unable to do! The objection is exploded.

What we will see is that the reason sinners can neither obey the commandments or repent and believe the gospel is the power of their sinful to totally control the sinner's whole being. The only question is this: "Who is totally responsible for man's sinful nature?" Did man acquire his sinful nature by an act of his free will or did God force him to sin against his will? If man is totally responsible for his sin, then he is also totally responsible for the effects of that sin, and the awful effect is the sinner's totally depravity and totally inability to change that sinful nature. As I said, we will come back to this point.

I can say without hesitation that the sinner is "totally free to do exactly as he pleases." However, that kind of freedom is the sinner's greatest problem. An unregenerate sinner, because he is totally controlled by a sinful nature, will always, every single time, freely, or deliberately, choose to please himself. We always do, or choose to do, things which are consistent with what we ARE. If we are sinners by nature and choice then every choice will be effected by our sinful nature. Adam is the only man that ever had a true "free" will that was free from sin. Adam is also the only person who ever became a sinner by sinning, or by an act of will. You and I sin because we are born sinners, we did not become a sinner the first time we consciously disobeyed. Our first act of sin did not produce our sinful nature. The sinful nature inherited from Adam produced the sinful act.

6. Man has a nature that will not permit him to choose God or righteousness. Man's INABILITY grows out of his DEPRAVITY.

A lost man can choose between two evils according to which benefits him the most. He may choose a "good," as judged by the world's standard, instead of a "bad," but in every case he is motivated by his own interests. The sinner cannot choose between God's glory and his own selfish ends. Romans 8:7 stands as a Biblical truth and a historical fact.

In our next study we will let the Bible give man, the sinner, a complete "spiritual examination." We will pretend the Word of God gives us a Physician's, a Coronor's, and an Autopsy report. We will use Scripture to look at every part of man's being We are not concerned with either how man looks at himself or the world looks at him. We will not consult philosophy, psychology, medicine, sociology, or popular sentiment.  What does the Word of God itself say about the condition of man? Here is what we will find in the Word of God:

1. The Physician's Report.  "The patient is totally unable to respond to any spiritual stimulus in any of his faculties.  He is blind, deaf, dumb, no pulse, can't breathe, mind totally gone, totally impotent, etc."

2. The Coroner's Report.  "The patient is spiritual DEAD. There is not a single evidence of life"

3. The Autopsy Report. 

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November 10, 1483 - February 18, 1546

Martin Luther, one of the most notable theologians in Christian history, is responsible for initiating the Protestant Reformation. To some sixteenth century Christians, he was hailed as a pioneering defender of truth and religious freedoms; to others, he was charged as a heretical leader of a religious revolt.

Today, most Christians would agree that he influenced the shape of Protestant Christianity more than any other person. The Lutheran denomination was named after Martin Luther.

Young Life

Martin Luther was born into Roman Catholicism in the small town of Eisleben, near modern Berlin in Germany. His parents were Hans and Margarethe Luther, middle-class peasant laborers. His father, a miner, worked hard to ensure a proper education for his son, and by age 21, Martin Luther held a Master of Arts degree from the University of Erfurt. Following Hans's dream for his son to become a lawyer, Martin began to study law in 1505. But later that year, while traveling through a terrible thunderstorm, Martin had an experience that would change the course of his future.

Fearing for his life when a lightening strike narrowly missed him, Martin cried out a vow to God. If he survived, he promised to live as a monk -- and so he did! To the strong disappointment of his parents, Luther entered the Augustinian Order at Erfurt in less than a month's time, becoming an Augustinian friar.

Some speculate that Luther's decision to pursue a life of religious devotion was not as sudden as history suggests but had been in development for some time, for he entered the monastic life with great fervor. He was driven by fears of hell, God's wrath, and a need to gain the assurance of his own salvation. Even after his ordination in 1507, he was haunted with insecurity over his eternal fate and disillusioned by the immorality and corruption he witnessed among the Catholic priests he had visited in Rome.

In an effort to shift his focus from the spiritual state of his troubled soul, Luther moved to Wittenburg in 1511 to earn his Doctorate of Theology.

The Birth of the Reformation

As Martin Luther immersed himself deeply in the study of Scripture, especially the letters written by the Apostle Paul, Luther came to the overwhelming belief that he was "saved by grace through faith" alone (Ephesians 2:8). When he began to teach as a professor of biblical theology at the University of Wittenburg, his newfound enthusiasm began to spill over into his lectures and discussions with staff and faculty. He spoke passionately about Christ's role as the only mediator between God and man, and that by grace and not through works, are men justified and forgiven of sin.

Salvation, Luther now felt with all assurance, was God's free gift. It didn't take long for his radical ideas to get noticed. After this, not only would these revelations change Luther's life, they would forever change the direction of church history.

The 95 Theses

In 1514, Luther began to serve as a priest for Wittenburg's Castle Church, and people flocked to hear God's Word preached like never before. During this time, Luther learned of the Catholic Church's practice of selling indulgences. The Pope, according to his discretion from the "treasury of merits from the saints," sold religious merits in exchange for funds to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Those who purchased these indulgence documents were promised a reduced punishment for their sins, for the sins of departed loved ones, and in some cases, total forgiveness from all sin.

Spurred by the unscrupulous practices of John Tetzel, a monk living in nearby Saxony, Luther publicly objected to this practice, which he decried as dishonest and an abuse of church power.

On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the University's bulletin board—the Castle Church door—formally challenging church leaders on the practice of selling indulgences and outlining the biblical doctrine of justification by grace alone. This act of nailing his 95 Theses to the church door has become a defining moment in Christian history, symbolic of the birth of the Protestant Reformation.

Luther's vocal criticisms of the church were seen as a threat to papal authority, and he was warned by the Cardinals of Rome to recant his position. Nevertheless, Luther refused to change his stand unless someone could point him to scriptural evidence for any other attitude.

Excommunication and Diet of Worms

In January of 1521, Luther was officially excommunicated by the Pope. Two months later, he was ordered to appear before Emperor Charles V in Worms, Germany, for a general assembly of the Holy Roman Empire, a convention known as the "Diet of Worms" (pronounced "dee-it of Vorms"). On trial before the highest Roman officials of the Church and State, again Martin Luther was asked to renounce his views. Just as before, with no one able to provide irrefutable scriptural evidence, Luther stood his ground.

As a result, Martin Luther was issued the Edict of Worms, banning his writings and declaring him a "convicted heretic." Luther escaped in a planned "kidnapping" to Wartburg Castle, where he was kept protected by friends for almost a year.

Translation into German

During his seclusion, Luther translated the New Testament into the German language, giving lay people the opportunity to read God's Word for themselves and distribute Bibles among the German people for the first time. Although a bright spot in his spiritual quest, this was a dark time in Luther's emotional life. He is reported to have been deeply troubled by evil spirits and demons as he performed the translation. Perhaps this explains Luther's statement at the time that he had "driven the devil away with ink."

Great Accomplishments

Under the threat of arrest and death, Luther boldly returned to Wittenburg's Castle Church and began to preach there and in the surrounding areas. His message continued to be one of salvation by faith alone along with freedom from religious error and papal authority. Miraculously avoiding capture, Luther was able to organize Christian schools, write instructions for pastors and teachers (Larger and Smaller Catechism), compose hymns (including the well-known "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"), put together numerous leaflets, and even publish a hymnbook during this time.

Married Life

Shocking both friends and supporters, Luther was married on June 13, 1525 to Katherine von Bora, a nun who had abandoned the convent and taken refuge in Wittenburg. Together they had three boys and three girls and led a happily married life in the Augustinian monastery.

Aging but Active

As Luther aged, he suffered from many illnesses including arthritis, heart problems, and digestive disorders. However, he never quit lecturing at the University, writing against abuses of the Church, and fighting for religious reforms.

In 1530, the famous Augsburg Confession(the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church) was published, which Luther helped to write. And in 1534 he completed translation of the Old Testament in German. His theological writings are considerably extensive. Some of his later works contained violent writings with crude and offensive language, creating enemies amongst his fellow reformers, Jews, and of course, Popes and leaders in the Catholic Church.

Final Days

During an exhausting trip to his hometown of Eisleben, on a mission of reconciliation to settle an inheritance dispute between the princes of Mansfeld, Luther succumbed to death on February 18, 1546. Two of his sons and three close friends were at his side. His body was taken back to Wittenburg for his funeral and burial at Castle Church. His grave is located directly in front of the pulpit where he preached, and it can still be seen today.

More than any other church reformer in Christian history, the impact and influence of Luther's contributions are hard to adequately describe. His legacy, though highly controversial, has marched on through a parade of equally zealous reformers who modeled Luther's passion for letting God's Word be known and understood personally by every man. It's no exaggeration to say that almost every branch of modern Protestant Christianity owes some portion of its spiritual heritage to Martin Luther, a man of radical

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Christianity/ Wiki / Salvation /What Does It Mean To Be Saved by Grace through Faith?

What Does It Mean To Be Saved by Grace through Faith?

Salvation by grace through faith is not a difficult thing, in that it’s not a formula to follow but rather a miracle to believe and receive. Salvation is God’s righteousness at work in us when we say yes to His plan. Saying yes is how we demonstrate faith. We get saved by grace through faith, but we also live by grace through faith.

Danielle Bernock

The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 that people are saved by grace through faith. But what does that really mean?

A common answer is that we’re saved from going to hell when we die. But the truth is, salvation is so much more – as is the grace by which we receive it through faith.

Salvation is God’s righteousness at work in us when we say yes to His plan. Saying yes is how we demonstrate faith. We get saved by grace through faith, but we also live by grace through faith.

Salvation by grace through faith is not a difficult thing, in that it’s not a formula to follow but rather a miracle to believe and receive.

What Is Salvation?

Salvation is an amazing miracle we watch unfold in our lives. The view of salvation as a ticket to heaven or an escape-hell card ignores life here on earth. The salvation that Jesus secured with His death and resurrection is one that restores a believer’s oneness with God (Romans 5:10). This provision of unity ushers in wholeness, one piece of truth at a time through the power of Christ’s love. Jesus came to give us abundant life. In salvation, Jesus Christ transforms us from the inside out.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV)

When a believer in Jesus fully leans into this spirit life, the transformation affects every area of their lives (Romans 8:5-11) – and there is no condemnation in the process (Romans 8:1-2).

Saving Grace: The Meaning of God’s Grace

God’s grace is an undeserved gift for sinners.

John 3:16 is one of the most quoted verses from the Bible and embodies the message of God’s grace. “For God so loved the world that He gave…” Gave. That’s a demonstration of grace because grace gives what is undeserved. Romans 5:17 says that it’s through “the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness that we reign in life.”

This gift God provides has nothing to do with our earning it. It’s given graciously through what’s called a gratuitous contract. This contract is solely for our benefit and ratified with the blood of Christ. God paid for everything and we receive everything.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

God’s grace provided righteousness for sinners.

The grace of God provided what we lacked: righteousness. This righteousness is what gives the Holy Spirit the ability to dwell in us and usher in the transformation of salvation. And this righteousness is a gift because of grace. The grace is because of His love; God is love.

God demonstrated His love for us in Christ dying for our sins when we were still His enemies (Romans 5:8). By His grace, He provided righteousness for us in hope that we’d believe—or have faith (Romans 3:22).

Salvation by Grace through Faith

God’s grace is so amazing we may have trouble believing it’s true. That’s where faith comes in. It’s so amazing it takes faith to receive it.

Believing God is as good as He says He is.

Believing His grace.

Believing Jesus came to personally deliver the grace of God to us.

The salvation God offers us is freely ours if we’ll dare to believe He’s that good.

Faith says, I believe you are that good, and I receive your amazing reconnection. When we do this, He gives us new life. Jesus called it being “born again” (John 3:1-3).

Example of Salvation by Grace through Faith

The thief on the cross received salvation by grace through faith (Luke 23:39-43). The man simply reached with a sincere heart for the goodness of God’s help and believed Jesus would give it to Him. Jesus did.

Salvation is God’s righteousness at work in us when we say yes to His plan. Saying yes is how we demonstrate faith. We get saved by grace through faith, but we also live by grace through faith.

Salvation by grace through faith is not a difficult thing, in that it’s not a formula to follow but rather a miracle to believe and receive.

 

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Attaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

by Matt Slick

Salvation, in Roman Catholicism, is a process with many steps: Actual Grace, Faith, Good Works, Baptism, Participation in the Sacraments, Penance, Indulgences, and Keeping the Commandments.  Basically, salvation is attained through baptism and good works.  It is maintained by good works and participation in the sacraments.  If lost, it is regained through the sacrament of Penance which only a Roman Catholic priest can administer.  Add to this purgatorial cleansing after a person dies, and you can see that salvation is an arduous process.

In Catholicism, a person can gain salvation and lose it many times depending on the number of sins committed, their severity, and how much of the sacraments they participate in--in order to regain grace which enables them to do good works by which they are justified. Furthermore, justifying grace is infused into the Catholic upon baptism and via the sacraments.  This grace can be gradually lost through venial sins or forfeited all together with mortal sins. 

In light of all of this, I've written three interrelated articles: 

Part 1, Attaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism (this article)

Part 2, Maintaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

Part 3, Regaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

See also, Summary of process of salvation in Roman Catholicism

 

Attaining Salvation, Part 1 of 3

Actual grace

Actual Grace is the first step in the process of attaining salvation in Roman Catholicism.  Actual grace is what God gives to a person to enable the person to seek and respond to God’s call of faith. It helps the person move towards God--where he then freely chooses to accept or reject God’s work in Christ.

Actual grace is “A supernatural help of God for salutary [beneficial] acts granted in consideration of the merits of Christ,”(Catholic Encyclopedia, “Actual Grace”).

"Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification," (Catechism of the Catholic Church, herein referred to as CCC, par. 2000).

With actual grace working on a person, he is then able to have faith which is necessary for salvation.  But this faith is not a simple faith in Christ's work on the cross, so that we are justified by faith alone in Christ's work alone (Rom. 4:5; 5:1; Gal. 2:16).  On the contrary, according to Catholicism, the faith that is necessary for salvation must be a faith that also affirms what the Roman Catholic Church teaches.

"Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: ‘He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.’ (Mk 16:16),” (CCC 183).

“Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself," (CCC 1814).

“Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation,” (CCC 846).

Baptism

Once actual grace has done its work and the person believes the gospel (and in the Roman Catholic Church), baptism is a necessary element for salvation in Roman Catholicism.  It is where sins are removed and a person is justified before God.

". . . Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that 'we too might walk in newness of life,'" (CCC 977).

“Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude . . . " (CCC 1257).

"Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God's mercy," (CCC 2020).

At baptism, a person is restored to a state of innocence before God by erasing original sin.  Justification occurs in baptism, and sanctifying grace (the grace that saves) is infused into him. 

“Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ's grace, erases original sin . . . " (CCC  405).

“Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy,” (CCC 1992).

“The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism,” (CCC 1999).

Good Works

According to Roman Catholicism, once a person is baptized and his original sin is removed, he must perform good works because they are also necessary for salvation. 

”The specific precepts of the natural law, because their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation,” (CCC, par. 2036).

“The Decalogue [the Ten Commandments] contains a privileged expression of the natural law. It is made known to us by divine revelation and by human reason,” (CCC 2080).

" . . . the Second Vatican Council confirms: 'The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments,'" (CCC 2068).

Good works are necessary because Roman Catholicism denies justification by faith alone.  Justification is the declaration of righteousness.  It is where the righteousness of Christ is reckoned to the believer (Phil. 3:9) by faith (Rom. 5:1).  It is not by faith and something but by faith alone (Rom. 4:1-5).  But, Roman Catholicism declares that if anyone believes in justification by faith alone in Christ alone, then he is to be cursed.

"If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema," (Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 9).

"If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema," (Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 14).

“If any one saith, that the justice [righteousness] received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema." (Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 24).

So in Roman Catholicism, attaining salvation is a process that includes faith, baptism, and good works.  Therefore, in Roman Catholicism, attaining salvation and being justified (being right in God’s eyes) is not an instantaneous event received by faith.  It is a long process.

Biblical Response

Salvation in Roman Catholic Salvation is a system of works combined with faith. But, what does the Bible say about salvation when it comes to faith and works?   It separates them and clearly says that works are not part of becoming saved.

"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one." (Rom. 3:28-30).

"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness," (Rom. 4:1-5).

"Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified." (Gal. 2:16).

So we can see that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone.  Did you also know that adding works to salvation is condemned in scripture?

"You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:1-3).

"Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." (Gal. 5:2-4).

“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’" (Matt. 7:22-23).

In Gal. 3:1-3 above, Paul is clearly teaching that the Galatians were fools.  Why?  They were adding works to the work of the Holy Spirit.  In Gal. 5:2-4, Paul tells them if they received circumcision, that they would not be under grace.  Circumcision represented the works of the Law, and Paul clearly tells them that just getting circumcised (not doing good works) would damn them.  Why?  Because it was a symbol of keeping the Law.  That is why Paul had previously said in Gal. 3:10, "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”  Finally, in Matt. 7:22-23 we see an account where Jesus condemns people on the day of judgment. Why would they be condemned? They were appealing to their faith in Christ and their works for their salvation on "bad day." By adding any works into the active salvation, it means that the work of God is not sufficient, but that it needs to be perfected--completed by human effort. This is why salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It cannot be by faith and any of our works.

Rom. 11:6, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace."

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Maintaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

by Matt Slick

Salvation, in Roman Catholicism, is a process with many steps:  Actual Grace, Faith, Good Works, Baptism, Participation in the Sacraments, Penance, Indulgences, and Keeping the Commandments.  Basically, salvation is attained through baptism and good works.  It is maintained by good works and participation in the sacraments.  If lost, it is regained through the sacrament of Penance which only a Roman Catholic priest can administer.  Add to this purgatorial cleansing after a person dies, and you can see that salvation is an arduous process.

In Catholicism, a person can gain salvation and lose it many times depending on the number of sins committed, their severity, and how much of the sacraments they participate in--in order to regain grace which enables them to do good works by which they are justified. Furthermore, justifying grace is infused into the Catholic upon baptism and via the sacraments.  This grace can be gradually lost through venial sins or forfeited all together with mortal sins. 

In light of all of this, I've written three interrelated articles: 

Part 1, Attaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

Part 2, Maintaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism (this article)

Part 3, Regaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

See also, Summary of process of salvation in Roman Catholicism

 

Maintaining Salvation, Part 2 of 3

According to Roman Catholicism, after receiving initial justification in baptism, which removes original sin, grace is also infused into a person (Catechism of the Catholic Church, herein referred to as CCC, par. 1999).  However, with each sin a person commits after baptism, there is a loss of justifying grace.  The more a person sins, the more grace he loses.  Venial sins (lesser sins) result in incremental losses of this grace, but mortal sins (greater sins) bring an instantaneous loss of all grace--if a person dies after committing mortal sin, he goes to hell.  In order to replace the grace that was lost, he must participate in the sacraments (mainly penance) administered by a properly ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church.  This regaining of grace enables him to do good works and keep himself in a state of justification before God.  This is how the Roman Catholic maintains his salvation.

The infused grace must be maintained through a series of sacraments.

Infused grace: “The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism,” (CCC 1999)

Infused grace: "Sanctifying grace is the gratuitous gift of his life that God makes to us; it is infused by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it," (CCC 2023)

Sacraments necessary for salvation: “The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation,” (CCC, par. 1129).

Obtaining grace: "The principal ways of obtaining grace are prayer and the sacraments, especially the holy Eucharist," (The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism, No. 2, Answer to Question 117).

As you can see, grace is infused into a person via the sacraments.  This is necessary in order to regain the justifying grace if lost so that a sufficient level of justifying grace can be maintained which enables the person to remain justified.  Penance is one of the main sacraments used to maintain a person's salvation.  What is important is that being right with God is not by faith alone but by faith and penance.

Penance necessary for salvation: "And this sacrament of Penance is, for those who have fallen after baptism, necessary unto salvation," (Council of Trent, Session 14, Chapter 2).

Regain justification through penance:  "As regards those who, by sin, have fallen from the received grace of Justification, they may be again justified, when, God exciting them, through the sacrament of Penance they shall have attained to the recovery, by the merit of Christ, of the grace lost: for this manner of Justification is of the fallen the reparation: which the holy Fathers have aptly called a second plank after the shipwreck of grace lost," (Council of Trent, Session 6, Decree on Justification, Chapter 14).

Regaining justification is not by faith alone:  "If any one saith, that he, who has fallen after baptism, is not able by the grace of God to rise again; or, that he is able indeed to recover the justice which he has lost, but by faith alone without the sacrament of Penance, contrary to what the holy Roman and universal Church-instructed by Christ and his Apostles-has hitherto professed, observed, and taught; let him be anathema," (Council of Trent, On Justification, Canon 29).

Penance is necessary for salvation--for the regaining of justifying grace which cannot be regained by faith alone in Christ's work alone.  Because of this, Catholicism teaches that good works are necessary in order to persevere so as to maintain sufficient grace so as to remain saved.

Grace of final perseverance: “The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished with his grace in communion with Jesus,” (CCC 2016).

Persevering in the faith, keeping commandments, and participating in the sacraments are all part of the salvation process.  This is why salvation is never guaranteed in Catholicism for the average Catholic.  It can't be because it depends on a person's faithfulness and effort.  In Romanism, infused grace is necessary because it produces good works which in turn are necessary for maintaining one's salvation.

"The specific precepts of the natural law, because their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation,” (CCC 2010).

“The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law. It is made known to us by divine revelation and by human reason,” (CCC 2080).

" . . . the Second Vatican Council confirms: 'The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments,'" (CCC, par 2068).  

Two Kinds of Sin:  Venial and Mortal

There are two main kinds of sin in Roman Catholicism:  Venial and Mortal.  Since venial sins don't forfeit salvation but mortal sins do, we'll discuss venial sins in this article and mortal sins in the article Regaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

Venial Sins are such sins as drunkenness, lying about something trivial, etc. Venial sin is a lesser sin against the Law of God, committed accidentally and/or without full consent of the will.  Venial sins do not damn a person.  But, they result in the loss of some justifying grace.  If enough venial sin is committed it can lead to mortal sin and the loss of sanctifying grace (salvation).  So, venial sins can be repaired and grace can be regained through the sacraments--mentioned above.  Let's take a look.

Venial sin is sin without complete knowledge:  “One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent," (CCC, par. 1862).

Venial sin does not remove sanctifying grace: “However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God's grace it is humanly reparable. "Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness," (CCC, par. 1863).

The Eucharist forgives venial sins:  "Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant's union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ," (CCC 1416).

Perfect contrition remits venial sins:  "When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect" (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible," (CCC 1452).

Penance restores to us God's grace: "The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God's grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship." Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament," (CCC 1468).

Regain justification through penance:  "The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are: reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace," (CCC 1496).

We can see that in the process of maintaining one's salvation, participation in the Eucharist (CCC 1416), having proper contrition (CCC 1452), and participating in penance (CCC 1468, 1496) are means by which the proper level of sanctifying grace is maintained, so that salvation is not lost.

Biblical Response

As is the case in the first of the three related articles (Attaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism), the response is the same.  Therefore, I've reproduced the biblical response here.  But, we must again make it clear that salvation is a free gift of God (Eph. 2:8), that is by faith (Rom. 5:1), and is apart from our works (Rom. 3:28, 4:5; Gal. 2:16). 

"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one," (Rom. 3:28-30).

"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness," (Rom. 4:1-5).

"Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified," (Gal. 2:16).

So we can see that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone.  Did you also know that adding works to salvation is condemned in scripture?

"You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:1-3).

"Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace," (Gal. 5:2-4).

“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness,’" (Matt. 7:22-23).

In Gal. 3:1-3 above, Paul is clearly teaching that the Galatians were fools.  Why?  They were adding works to the work of the Holy Spirit.  In Gal. 5:2-4, Paul tells them that if they received circumcision, that they would not be under grace.  Circumcision represented the works of the Law, and Paul clearly tells them that just getting circumcised (not doing good works) would damn them.  Why?  Because it was a symbol of keeping the Law.  That is why Paul had previously said in Gal. 3:10, "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”  Finally, in Matt. 7:22-23 we see an account where Jesus condemns people on the day of judgment. Why would they be condemned? They were appealing to their faith in Christ and their works for their salvation on "bad day." By adding any works into the active salvation, it means that the work of God is not sufficient; but that it needs to be perfected--completed by human effort. This is why salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It cannot be by faith and any of our works.

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Regaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

by Matt Slick

Salvation, in Roman Catholicism, is a process with many steps:  Actual Grace, Faith, Good Works, Baptism, Participation in the Sacraments, Penance, Indulgences, and Keeping the Commandments.  Basically, salvation is attained through baptism and good works.  It is maintained by good works and participation in the sacraments.  If lost, it is regained through the sacrament of Penance which only a Roman Catholic priest can administer.  Add to this purgatorial cleansing after a person dies, and you can see that salvation is an arduous process.

In Catholicism, a person can gain salvation and lose it many times depending on the number of sins committed, their severity, and how much of the sacraments that they participate in--in order to regain grace which enables them to do good works by which they are justified. Furthermore, justifying grace is infused into the Catholic upon baptism and via the sacraments.  This grace can be gradually lost through venial sins or forfeited all together with mortal sins. 

In light of all of this, I've written three interrelated articles: 

Part 1, Attaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

Part 2, Maintaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism

Part 3, Regaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism (this article)

See also, Summary of process of salvation in Roman Catholicism

Salvation, or the state of being in sanctifying grace (infused grace that makes a person holy and acceptable to God), can be entirely lost if Mortal Sin is committed.  Mortal sins are extremely serious sins such as murder, adultery, homosexuality, etc.  Mortal sin is a transgression of God’s law that is willful, knowledgeable, and on purpose.  Mortal sin results in the complete loss of all grace.  The person’s relationship with God is severed.  Mortal sins damn a person.  If the person dies in a state of mortal sin, he goes to hell and will never escape.

“Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell,” (CCC 1861).

“To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell,’” (CCC 1033).

Penance

In the article Maintaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism, penance was a means to replenish the lost grace due to venial sins.  But, in regards to mortal sin, the Catholic must also perform penance in order to regain the sanctifying grace that is needed for salvation.

"Penance is “necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism," (CCC 980)

“The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God's grace . . . Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament,” (CCC 1468).

"As a means of regaining grace and justice, penance was at all times necessary for those who had defiled their souls with any mortal sin,” (Council of Trent, Session 14, c. i.).

"As regards those who, by sin, have fallen from the received grace of Justification, they may be again justified, when, God exciting them, through the sacrament of Penance they shall have attained to the recovery, by the merit of Christ, of the grace lost: for this manner of Justification is of the fallen the reparation: which the holy Fathers have aptly called a second plank after the shipwreck of grace lost," (Council of Trent, Session 6, Decree on Justification, Chapter 14).

In order for penance to work, the person must be sincerely repentant and willing to perform the necessary actions given by a priest.  In this process, a priest absolves the person’s sins and assigns penance--a series of things he must do.

"In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of justification," (CCC 987).

“Penance is a sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed after baptism is granted through the priest’s absolution to those who with true sorrow confess their sins and promise to satisfy for the same,” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Penance).

"the absolution given by the priest to a penitent who confesses his sins with the proper dispositions remits both the guilt and the eternal punishment (of mortal sin)," (Catholic Encyclopedia, Penance).

Penance can take different forms including reading scripture, restitution to the offended party, saying certain prayers such as the “Our Father” or the “Hail Mary” a specified number of times. 

“The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent's personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ, "provided we suffer with him." “The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much ours as though it were not done through Jesus Christ,” (CCC 1460).

What is important to note is that the works of Penance performed by the Roman Catholic help “make satisfaction” for sins.

“Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused. Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must "make satisfaction for" or "expiate" his sins. This satisfaction is also called "penance," (CCC 1459).

The Catholic Catechism says that Penance is a work when it says, “works of penance” (CCC 1430).  Therefore, we can see that Penance is, essentially, taking care of your own sins by undergoing a work that releases you from sins’ debt.  This is works' righteousness, no matter what the Roman Catholic Church teaches!

Biblical Response

There is nothing we can do in any way to merit the forgiveness of God.  All that we need has been accomplished in the person of Christ who was made under the law (Galatians 4:4) and fulfilled the law perfectly having never sinned (1 Pet. 2:22).  Because of the work of Christ, we receive his righteousness (Phil. 3:9) by faith (Rom. 5:1). What the Roman Catholic Church does is add a huge burden of works by which a Roman Catholic attempts to attain, maintain, and regain salvation. It is a hopeless process because it cannot save.

"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." (Rom. 3:28).

"But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness," (Rom. 4:5).

“I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly," (Gal. 2:21).

"You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:1-3).

The addition of works to salvation invalidates salvation. Essentially, is saying that the work of God in flesh is not sufficient.  This is why we have such verses that condemn salvation based on faith and works . . .

“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" (Matt. 7:22-23).

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14).

In essence, the Roman Catholic is supposed to perform works under the Roman Catholic system of law . . . it cannot save.

"Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law," (Gal. 5:2-3).

"For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them," (Gal. 3:10).

"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all," (James 2:10).

 

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 belong to the church one must accept as factually true the gospel of Jesus as handed down in tradition and as interpreted by the bishops in union with the pope. Fundamental in this divine tradition is the Bible , its text determined and disseminated by the church. Adherents must also accept the church as possessing the fullness of revelation, and the church, according to the Roman Catholic catechism, is the only Christian body that is one, holy, catholic [universal], and apostolic. 

The doctrine of apostolic succession is one of the keystones of the Catholic faith; it holds that the pope (the vicar of Christ) and the bishops have in varying degrees the spiritual authority Jesus assigned to his apostles. The voice of the pope, either alone or in conjunction with his bishops in council, is regarded as infallible when speaking on matters of faith and morals taught in common with the bishops (see infallibility )

The chief teachings of the Catholic church are: God's objective existence; God's interest in individual human beings, who can enter into relations with God (through prayer); the Trinity ; the divinity of Jesus; the immortality of the soul of each human being, each one being accountable at death for his or her actions in life, with the award of heaven or hell ; theresurrection of the dead; the historicity of the Gospels; and the divine commission of the church. In addition the Roman Catholic Church stresses that since the members, living and dead, share in each other's merits, the VirginMary and other saints and the dead inpurgatory are never forgotten

 

The church is seen as having from God a system of conveying God's grace direct to humanity (see sacrament ). The ordinary Catholic frequents the sacraments of penance(required at least once a year) and theEucharist (required once every Easter time; see also sin ). The Eucharist is the center of public worship, often embellished with solemn ceremony (see Mass ).

Private prayer is also regarded as essential; contemplation is the ideal (see mysticism ), and all believers are expected to devote some time to prayer that is more than requesting favors. Different methods of prayer are recommended (see rosary ; Saint Ignatius of Loyola ; Thomas à Kempis ). Self-renunciation is a necessary part of prayer (see fasting ;Lent ).

The church teaches that the main motive for ethical behavior is the love of God. Nothing that God has created is evil in itself, but evil use may be made of it. The doctrine concerning persons not Catholic is that since God affords each human being light sufficient to attain salvation, all will be saved who persevere in what they believe to be good, regardless of ignorance. Only those will be damned who persist in what they know to be wrong; among these are persons who resist the church when they know it to be the one, true church.