Catholic Verses - 95 Bibles Passages That Confound Protestants?
THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF WORKS (AND ABSENCE OF FAITH) IN JUDGMENT DAY ACCOUNTS
Pages 87-90: Matthew 7:16-27; Matthew 16:27; Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Peter 1:17; Revelation 22:12; Ecclesiastes 12:14. All of these passages are in complete accord with the Catholic belief that although works themselves do not save us, they are intimately connected with the process of salvation, being always enabled and caused by God's grace. The remarkable thing about these passages is the utter absence of "faith alone" in them. This cannot fail to strike a person who believes in that doctrine (the standard Protestant position).
Note: The author is ignorant of the New Covenant based on the death of Jesus Christ for our sins that Christians accept in faith.
Galatians 3:22-24 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Note: Billions of people have died not hearing about Jesus Christ. Accordingly, they will be judged based on their actions or works.
Page 90: Why is it that in the very scriptures concerning the final judgment, "faith" is nowhere to be seen, yet mentions of good works are everywhere? It does not seem plausible, given Protestant assumptions. Would the Bible have been written this way if sola fide were a true principle and if works - however necessary in the Christian life, as virtually all Christians agree they are - had nothing whatsoever to do with salvation or eternal destiny? I think not.
Note: The author is ignorant of the judgments of God and believes that Christians will be judged along with pagans at the same time.
Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Page 90: The desperation of the Protestant position on this particular point (at least on a subscholarly level) was forcefully brought home to me in an Internet dialogue I had on a Protestant discussion board with the professional Calvinist apologist who maintained it. This person believes that Catholicism is apostate, a system of works-righteousness, and no different from "cults" such as those of the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses. His position is that Catholics, therefore, ought to be evangelized, and he makes it clear that this is the purpose for his "Catholicism discussion forum." This was how he approached me personally. He had no idea whether I was a "saved" Christian (from his perspective) or not. If I were indeed a Christian, it would be, of course, in spite of the Catholic Church and its doctrine. This is how millions of Evangelical Protestants think.
Note: This Calvinist was correct in regards to his approach with the author.
2 Timothy 1:8-12 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
Page 91: Later, I became curious and proceeded to look up passages concerning judgment, to see what could be learned about how God speaks at those terrible moments of eternal destiny. Sure enough, after I scrutinized the passages above, I discovered that works are discussed in every one of them, but never faith.
Note: The author is ignorant of the judgments of God and believes that Christians will be judged along with pagans at the same time.
1 Thessalonians 5:4-10 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Note: Christians live in faith and love that produces the hope of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Page 92: I had some fun with this line of thought, asking rhetorically whether Jesus had attended a liberal synagogue, influenced by heretical "Romish" ideas, and wondering why He kept talking about feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, inviting in strangers, clothing the naked, visiting prisoners, and judging people "according to their deeds"? "What in the world do all these works have to do with salvation?" I asked. Why did Jesus not talk about "faith alone"? Something was seriously wrong.
Note: The author is ignorant of the judgments of God and believes that Christians will be judged along with pagans at the same time.
Revelation 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Note: Billions of people have died not hearing about Jesus Christ. Accordingly, they will be judged based on their actions or works.
Page 93: Calvin uses the same faulty technique we have seen previously, of introducing the element of faith where it is not mentioned, and equating it with works, which are mentioned. He also exhibits a common misunderstanding of what Catholics mean by merit: as if we were somehow attributing the reward of salvation to man's own self-generated efforts, rather than adopting St. Augustine's maxim that merit is nothing more than offering God's gratuitous, gracious gifts back to him. It is sad that Calvin was continually unaware of how similar in many ways the Catholic position on faith, works, and grace is to his own. His distortions of the Catholic theology of grace (along with Luther's many calumnies and silly statements about Catholicism) have reverberated down through the centuries, causing millions of Protestants to have a warped, deficient view of Catholic teaching, and leading to further unnecessary division.
Note: Cult members become vicious through their personal slander as they exhort mandatory works that are necessary for salvation.
John 6:35-40 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Note: Will you do the will of God the Father and place your sincere belief or faith in Jesus Christ for everlasting life?