Justification
Of late I continue to be intrigued by alternative perspectives, and have been reading a little more on Catholicism.
One of major bones of contention of the Reformation surrounds the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Noting that the 1908 catholic Encyclopedia cites this doctrine as 'heresy'.
Intersetingly, it has been reported that in recent times there has been dialogue and some resolution between the Lutheran and Catholic Churches on this matter. Alternative (esp. American Baptist Church) sites are somewhat more skeptical...
Personally, I am unqualified to make a judgment on what it all means and whether it is a positive move or whether there is something with a more sinister agenda behind it all.
For now, I stand firm in my conviction that we are justified by Grace alone (Acts 16:29-31), and will put these things on a 'watching brief' for the time being.
I guess every move towards Christian Unity is positive, but of course Truth must never become a casuality of the process.
2 comments:
You bring up a difficult point here and I don't know that I can give a brief comment. First, I believe that the Catholic church is changing and that is a good thing, to a more personal relationship with the Lord. Second, your scripture is great (Acts 16), but not enough. I'm am VERY concerned about people gaining fire insurance! Christ gave us an unfathomable GIFT and that IS GRACE, but I am concerned about HOW we receive that gift. Belief, and this has been debated, is NOT enough "for even the demons beleive" (James 2:9) and "he who is not with me is against me" (Mat. 12:30) and "not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mat 7:21).We can not be "just a little there", luke warm. If LORD is MASTER and we make Him LORD of our life, then beleiving is NOT good enough as the basic idea of the Reformation suggests. So, I beleive that simply saying a prayer is not going to do it. I'm not a Bible scholar! My husband, however, is on his last year of Seminary and a Pastor. I'm sure that he would be thrilled to address this, after finals are over that is. He will be writing on my blog soon because his schedule does not give him the time to maintain his own. I think that he and I will balance one-another. I am more of a dreamer and write from my heart and he is very technical...I tried.
Teresa,
Thanks, and you are correct. I believe Acts 16 is wholly true, in that it is that simple belief in what Jesus did on Calvary is our Salvation.
But with True belief comes responsibility and repentence. What the scripture means is that you must believe with all of your heart. A True belief will manifest in respentence and a transformed life over time.
Thats the wasy that I see it anyway. Will look forward to reading your Husbands comments.
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