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| 23/04/26 11:36pm | [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3] ] |
| Subject: Re: Is not one religion as good as another? | |
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Author: Canadian Eh? |
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Date Posted: 16:14:50 02/06/04 Fri In reply to: Stephen 's message, "Is not one religion as good as another?" on 00:13:55 10/16/03 Thu Stephen There is so much in this article that I agree with and yet there are some points that I would like to suggest need to be rethought. First, I will define, for the purpose of understanding, that I believe there are Roman Catholic Christians as I believe there are Protestant Christians. I do not believe that every member of either church is saved, I believe that the church universal is to be found within the various families of Christianity. I would class it as one faith as defined by “The Apostles Creed”. However, while many of our concerns remain the same, some of what you would take as true of Protestantism is incorrect and some of what I would take as true about Roman Catholicism will be incorrect. As you have posted an article that you believe to be true, I will respond to it and look forward to a good, friendly and Christian discussion. For the purposes of debate, I do not accept as true the councils of either your church or mine. The final authority rests within Scripture. I believe that this could cause us some difficulty, but certainly nothing that we need to “split” over. I agree with what you have said about indifferentism, it is a curse upon the church (universal). The RC church is not alone in suffering intolerance for her “intolerant” position. All branches of Christianity suffer for being faithful to the exclusivism that Christ has implanted in His church. Where we will part ways is if you, exclude other branches of Christianity from faithfulness to our Lord, and of course on the infallibility of the R. Catholic church (in whole or in part). I would say that Scripture alone in its original form is the infallible mouthpiece of Divine revelation. We would both agree however, that there is one road to the kingdom of heaven and that is through Jesus Christ alone. As far as educating our children in our beliefs, we both would face a similar objection by the world. The difference in my country, is education in the RC schools is included with the taxes but I am forced to pay both public (secular) school taxes and private school tuition in order to have my children educated in the faith. The government insists that only the wealthy send their children to private schools, therefore, they do not need a tax break or assistance with tuition. The reality is that people give up a great deal in order to educate their children in the faith. We both agree that the indifferentist will try to subvert Christian morals as far as family & social issues go. Also that indifference is worse than hatred of the church because of its nature, the one who hates the church has passion which can be changed. The one who is indifferent has no interest or feelings either way, they are neutral. I would however, challenge the tracing of indifferentism to Martin Luther. To summarise many books of teaching into a single line can obviously not do it justice. Faith alone will produce works by the nature of salvation. Works are the fruit of our salvation! As a saved person we do not remain the same after we have faced God as we were before we stood in His Presence. We are different people, the old person has passed away the new person has been born. Regarding: “His follower to-day says: "Do right, and I care not what you believe."” Within each church there are those that are indifferent to the teachings of the church. Although not Lutheran, my church recognises the teachings of Martin Luther and celebrates his role in the Reformation. There is noone who can (denoting ability) do right. Scripture is very clear on this. Psalm 14:3, which is repeated in Romans 3:12 “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Therefore, we can safely say that the quote attributed to followers of Luther is incorrect. They would be contradicting Scripture! We do good, whether Christian or not, only by the grace of God who has placed us in the environment which we were raised. He has restrained our evil nature to the extent that he has for His own good purposes. Not because of any worthiness in us. We do good out of gratitude to Him for His goodness to us. It is a product of our faith! A “good” (sic) man is not so by anything that is inherently his. He is “good” by the grace of God and will persevere in a godly life by the grace of God. Man’s reason is not the supreme arbiter of the revelation of God. The Holy Spirit is the one that reveals Scripture. Do we make errors? Absolutely! Why? Because we are not fully tuned to the Holy Spirit. This is why we have teachers in the faith (Priests or Pastors)to help us in the process of sanctification. Do they all agree? Obviously not, but then Councils have also contradicted each other therefore, any human interpretation is fallible and must be very carefully done. The main thing, salvation, however, Scripture is crystal clear on. God is Truth and to try to confuse truth with lie, is obviously unworkable. They are contrary to each other as are good and evil. We are in agreement! We also agree that if religion is merely a matter of opinion all certainty in anything, not just morals, becomes impossible. We agree that a standard has been set and it is incumbent on each one of us to live up to that moral standard. All of our excuses will not change the fact that we have a moral obligation. I would carry the final paragraph one step further in that I would see the sin of disbelief as even greater than the sin of adultery or murder. As this is committed against the Holy Spirit who brings the revelation of God. May each church, Roman Catholic or Protestant, work together to drive home to a sinful, godless world the reality of God and the divine standard that He has given us to live by. Soli Deo Gloria [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Re: Is not one religion as good as another? | Seán | 14:31:40 04/16/04 Fri |
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