What is the largest Church in America?

[Earth Wind and Fire]

My authority is the Word of God.
The J.W's authority is the writing of Charles Taze Russel.
The Mormon's authority is the Book of Mormon plus a couple of other writings.
The Catholic's authority is Tradition and the Catechism and/or the magesterium.

Let me ask you, what is your authority?

Glad you asked....54 years of living with Catholics. Ancestry back to the Romans. But it isn't authority, its knowledge. So if you want to stand on Gods authority, be my guest.....LOL. Now where is your knowledge of Catholics?

 

[DHK]

Glad you asked....54 years of living with Catholics. Ancestry back to the Romans. But it isn't authority, its knowledge. So if you want to stand on Gods authority, be my guest.....LOL. Now where is your knowledge of Catholics?

My knowledge of Catholics is from experience: 20 years in the Catholic Church. It is also through extensive personal study.

But even if I had never studied one iota of RCC doctrine my authority is the Bible. Everything that comes across my plate is tried and tested by God's Word. If it doesn't agree with the Word of God it is rejected. That is the basis on which RCC doctrine is rejected. It is contrary to the Word of God. Much of it is anti-Bible, let alone simply unbiblical. It goes directly contrary to the work of Christ on the Cross.

Christ saved me from the darkness of the RCC. I praise him for that.

 

[ReformedBaptist]

My knowledge of Catholics is from experience: 20 years in the Catholic Church. It is also through extensive personal study.

But even if I had never studied one iota of RCC doctrine my authority is the Bible. Everything that comes across my plate is tried and tested by God's Word. If it doesn't agree with the Word of God it is rejected. That is the basis on which RCC doctrine is rejected. It is contrary to the Word of God. Much of it is anti-Bible, let alone simply unbiblical. It goes directly contrary to the work of Christ on the Cross.

Christ saved me from the darkness of the RCC. I praise him for that.

Amen DHK. I praise Him too for saving you out of the RCC. If you don't mind me asking, how did He do this?

 

[DHK]

Amen DHK. I praise Him too for saving you out of the RCC. If you don't mind me asking, how did He do this?

Some friends of mine had recently been saved. I was visiting them in their dorms at the University. They asked me if I believed the Bible. I answered (as a good Catholic), that I did (though I had never read one).
They asked: If you were to die tonight would you go to heaven.
A Catholic could never know that. If I committed a mortal sin, had a heart attack, I would go to hell. So the answer was no. I could not know for sure.
Then they simply asked if they could show me through the Bible how I could know for sure that I could go to heaven. Since I had already said I believed the Bible, I didn't really have a valid objection, and then they shared with me the "Romans Road."
I have never doubted my salvation since.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

They asked: If you were to die tonight would you go to heaven.
A Catholic could never know that.

And my mothers answer to that after 72 years as a Catholic was....Im going to heaven because I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord & Savior! She died a week later secure in her salvation.:godisgood:

 

[DHK]

And my mothers answer to that after 72 years as a Catholic was....Im going to heaven because I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord & Savior! She died a week later secure in her salvation.:godisgood:

I am glad she did. But that is the first time in 20 years I had ever heard the gospel. It was never preached, never taught in the Catholic Church. They don't preach it. They preach against it. They preach a salvation by works; not of faith. Salvation is by faith alone. It is not of works as the RCC states, as my father died believing. He believed he was good enough to make it. He kept the Ten Commandments. He went to mass on a regular basis. He went to confession and did penance regularly. He did all that the RCC demanded of him. His works (the works of the RCC) were going to get him to heaven. He wasn't interested in what I had to say of the grace of God that brings salvation. He was confident in doing the works of the RCC that that would get him to heaven.

 

[annsni]

And my mothers answer to that after 72 years as a Catholic was....Im going to heaven because I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord & Savior! She died a week later secure in her salvation.:godisgood:

That would be in spite of the Church's teaching.

The church teaches that you go to heaven because you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.....AND you participate in all of the sacraments AND do good works, then you MAY get into heaven if you die in a state of grace or else you go to purgatory to be cleansed before you enter heaven IF you're Catholic.

 

[DHK]

This is a argument that goes on & on & on ..... Catholics consider themselves saved by their own belief & interpretations. They generally resent non-catholics trying to convince them otherwise just as you would resent a JW or a Mormon telling you that you aren't whatever the heck they are. You aren't going to convince anyone who views you as a pest so stop trying. If the Holy Spirit gets to them & convicts them then fine, you are put there to help guide but brothers proselytizing to a Catholic who has a deep commitment to his or her religion is pointless.

Jude says: "Contend for the faith."

In Mark, Jesus said:
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

In Matthew Jesus said:
Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

In Luke Jesus said:
Luke 24:46-48 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.

In John Jesus said:
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

In Acts Jesus said:
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

You say you are a Baptist. I would be ashamed to make such a post as a Baptist.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

She did those also & to care of my cerebral palsy sister. Besides she read the bible, sent my brother to a Baptist College, supported his ministry & never once altered her opinion of herself as anything but a good Christian Catholic. I have a woman in my baptist church that goes to services every Sunday, participates & supports her baptist family but she will not convert. Both my mother & this lady give there lives to Christ but your right they do good works only there good works are a result of being called to a higher understanding of God.

Anyway, Christ first was seeded in both my brother & my soul because Christ was taught to us by my mother.... the rest of the ritual was just that. It was her goal to develop good Christian men of us.

Personally I wish she had not. Could have perfected my evil lifestyle to infinity. Instead I am preparing a Mens Bible Study for tomorrow....Romans of all things!

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Jude says: "Contend for the faith."

In Mark, Jesus said:
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

In Matthew Jesus said:
Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

In Luke Jesus said:
Luke 24:46-48 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.

In John Jesus said:
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

In Acts Jesus said:
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

You say you are a Baptist. I would be ashamed to make such a post as a Baptist.

Well maybe I'm not as full of myself as you are....at least I can spell Judea properly.

Here is something for you in return:

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness & reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.

 

[Jedi Knight]

Regardless, if what is necessary for salvation is repentance and faith in Christ Atonement, then most of the Catholics I know sure seem to have met the criteria. What matters,if a person is truly born again or if a person has YOUR understanding of what Jesus meant by being born again? Of course the answers is: actually being born again.

I would concentrate on outreach to the lost if I were you.

I went to Roman Catholic School and they do not teach you how to get saved. Thus they are a mission field.

 

[lori4dogs]

I went to Roman Catholic School and they do not teach you how to get saved. Thus they are a mission field.

Sorry about your experience in your Catholic school. The liberal Baptist church down the road from me doesn't teach how to get saved either. None of you seem concerned with outreach to the many liberal Baptists that don't believe in the essentials of the faith.

 

[DHK]

Sorry about your experience in your Catholic school. The liberal Baptist church down the road from me doesn't teach how to get saved either. None of you seem concerned with outreach to the many liberal Baptists that don't believe in the essentials of the faith.

We do. We evangelize all those that are unsaved. I would never enter the door of a Catholic church and try and take over the priest's pulpit. Would you expect one of us to barge into a liberal Baptist church and take over the pulpit? I think you need some common sense here. Many of us go from door to door and no matter who they are or from whatever background they come from, if they are not saved, we witness to them.

The great majority of the RCC are not saved; the great majority of the Baptists are saved. Those are just the facts.

 

[Jedi Knight]

We do. We evangelize all those that are unsaved.
The great majority of the RCC are not saved; the great majority of the Baptists are saved. Those are just the facts.

Dito! :thumbs:

 

[lori4dogs]

We do. We evangelize all those that are unsaved. I would never enter the door of a Catholic church and try and take over the priest's pulpit. Would you expect one of us to barge into a liberal Baptist church and take over the pulpit? I think you need some common sense here. Many of us go from door to door and no matter who they are or from whatever background they come from, if they are not saved, we witness to them.

The great majority of the RCC are not saved; the great majority of the Baptists are saved. Those are just the facts.

I used to believe 'the great majority of Catholics were not saved' myself. Now I 'R' one!

 

[annsni]

Sorry about your experience in your Catholic school. The liberal Baptist church down the road from me doesn't teach how to get saved either. None of you seem concerned with outreach to the many liberal Baptists that don't believe in the essentials of the faith.

Why do you say that? ANYONE who does not have Christ needs to be preached to - Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Muslim, Athiest, Pagan - ALL of them.

 

[lori4dogs]

Why do you say that? ANYONE who does not have Christ needs to be preached to - Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Muslim, Athiest, Pagan - ALL of them.

I am in complete agreement with you. However, I don't believe for one second that 'the majority of Catholics are not saved'.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Romans 10:9

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. Romans 10:12:thumbs:

 

[DHK]

I am in complete agreement with you. However, I don't believe for one second that 'the majority of Catholics are not saved'.

I live in a predominately Catholic nation. I don't recall ever meeting a saved Catholic. They are as blind to the gospel as Muslims are. I try to point this out to you. You are blind to it as well. And if you believe the RCC doctrine on it you are not saved either.

Choose ye this day which you believe.
Are you born again? If so by whose theology? the RCC? Or, by the evangelical teaching of the Bible? The one contradicts the other and both cannot be right. The one sends a person straight to hell, and the other leads a person straight to heaven. Lori are you born again? And by whose interpretation?

The RCC's interpretation of the new birth is to be baptized. That interpretation will send a person straight to hell. The new birth is not baptism.

To be born again is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (and his sacrificial work) and trust him as your Savior. Come to him as a sinner, admit your need as sinner. If you got what you deserved you would end up in hell. But Christ died and took the penalty for your sins. You were born into Satan's family. Christ asks you to trust him that you might be born into God's family and be His child. Will you accept him by faith and faith alone. This has nothing to do with baptism.

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

There are many in the Reformed that are not saved. I am not in the Reformed Church at all, nor am well acquainted with it. I don't consider myself a Protestant. That being said, there are Baptists that are not saved either. But we do preach the gospel. The gospel is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone--something that the RCC does not believe. If they believe not the gospel how can they be saved?

GE:
Very enigmatic. But I consider myself a Protestant and Reformed Protestant for that, even though I differ on cardinal ethical doctrines -- 'water-baptism' and Sunday-worship. NOTHING EVER can undo my affiliation with the only Christian Church of all time; least my own differences I have with God's only Children on earth.

Please note, I do not say or imply here the Baptists are not also this Church of God.