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There is within the Roman Catholic community an unwritten
testimony that may be summed up in the formula, "I am not
bad enough to go to Hell, and I am not good enough to Heaven."
Everything about Roman Catholicism lends support to this [implied]
understanding of the way things are.
In Rome, original sin is washed away in the waters of baptism
but the desire to sin remains, giving rise to actual sinning.
This actual sinning must be forgiven through.. confession, penance
and partaking of holy communion, and the desire to sin must be
lessened through the faithful participation in the grace- dispensing
sacraments of the Roman Catholic religion. Sin is messy, and
life is one long series of failures and clean-ups through the
Roman system.
The real hope for the Roman Catholic is to go to Purgatory, which
for Catholics is the fair middle ground where both boastful pride
(e.g., I am not bad enough to go to hell), and false humility
(e.g., I am not good enough to go to heaven) can co-exist peacefully.
It is in Purgatory where the Romanist [waits] until God cleans
him up to heaven's standard of holiness. Purgatory, oddly enough,
is a place of safety since it is designed to launder its inhabitants
of things left unclean, and is by design, temporary.. The entire
concept of cleansing oneself through somebody's religious system
is foreign to the Body of Christ and all those born from above..
Having been freed, forgiven and justified from the chains of
guilt and penalties of sin (which used to dominate one's life),
by the blood of Christ, the Christian looks with horror upon
all man-made institutions that essentially sell Heaven at a price.
Recoiling from any and all "merit" based systems of
religion, the Christian proclaims the good news of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. The good news is that Jesus paid it all and
justification is by faith apart from works of any religious system
(Romans 3:28).
Faith in the finished work of Christ is all one needs to be fully
assured of eternal life..
All Romish dogma on penance, mass, confession and purgatory falls
in the light of this Gospel.. The Lord has seen fit to stamp
out forever the notion that our justification is conditioned
on any definition of works. Whether works are defined as originating
from the mind of mankind or alleged to be "works" of
faith, "works" of grace or "works" of condign
merit .., it all amounts to works and they cannot be the ground
of justification before God.. It is another Gospel when placed
as the way in which God justifies the ungodly.. based on the
godly works produced in a person.
"And if by grace, then [is it] no more of works: otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if [it be] of works, then is it no
more grace: otherwise work is no more work."
(Romans 11:6)
[Our favorite verse here to describe the state we would
be in, is in Isaiah 64:6. Without the innocent, pure blood of
Christ Jesus spilled for us, replacing our righteousness with
His righteousness, "we are all as an unclean [thing], and
all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade
as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
(Isaiah 64:6)]
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus:" (Romans 3:23,24).
It has long been the deceit of Rome to construct a system of
merits which lead to nowhere and then attribute this aimless
scaffolding to God as His gracious gift to mankind..
"Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." (Romans 4:6). [This concept took us a long
time to get.] There is a righteousness that is given, [a rightness
in other words], i.e., imputed to David and all Christians, which
is not "faith itself." Rather, it is given through
faith. [In other words, by believing what the `Word' says, the
rightness of Jesus Christ is imputed, deposited in us like we
deposit money in the bank. God, Jesus the Word, the Holy Spirit
deposit the righteousness in us and that is the resurrection
in Christ Jesus. No other righteousness will do for God the Father.
God's own righteousness is the only righteousness that satisfies
Him.
God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God. Then
what about sin beyond this point? When a person is hit with this
realization, that he or she has eternal life in the presence
of our maker, joy sets in, followed by repentance (regretting
every sin committed by us and wondering what we can give back
to Him to show our gratitude for such a marvelous gift). We are
filled with His love for others who are lost and could have the
same opportunity we have. Our attention begins to flow in that
direction and we move from selfishness to selflessness, which
is the joy of being in the Lord looking forward to eternal life
with assurance.
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law." (Romans 3:28)
"Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well:
the devils also believe, and tremble." (James
2:19)
Rome has from long ago blurred the line between works and faith.
[So do all other heretic teachings.] Thus, works and faith are
comingled in Rome as the righteousness which God accepts for
justification.. The Gospel of God admits no other righteousness
contemplated, in the verdict of justification, than the righteousness
of Christ.. To have faith in one's faith is no better than having
faith that one's work, done in faith, is the substructure of
justification. Both lead to a miserable end and neither represent
the faith spoken of in the Bible. Material in [ ] and emphasized
writing added by editor. |