LEAVING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

rbrent,

Without a doubt, leaving the Roman Catholic Institution is a very hard thing to do.

Take it from me.

I left the Roman Catholic Institution some years back, and I still struggle with it. The hold it has on you is a very intense hold, and you may be tempted to run back to it. I made that mistake once (which is still used against me by some people on this board -- I am looking in your direction, trying2understand), so please don't go back.

Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust in Him and Him alone for your salvation.

God bless you each and every day.

 

John 3:16 tells us that when we receive Christ into our hearts with a repentant attitude about turning from our sins, we are eternally saved.

The area of Christian perfection or development in the Christian life comes to us through what the Bible says, is our sanctification. This is continual work of the Holy Spirit [John 14:16] where He keep us conscious of our shortcomings and sins. Because He resides in our lives forever, [John 14:16; I John 3:9] as He promised, He Shepherds our life [I Peter 2:25; 5:4] into His likeness. [Romans 8:29]

God speaking through the Apostle Paul offers this truth and prayer for His people. 'And the very God of peace sanctify {purify} you wholly, {through and through} and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto {or as the Greek says, 'at'} the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.' [I Thessalonians 5:23]

As Christians we can live in obedience to Jesus but we cannot purify ourselves in His sight. Yes, we can confess our sins to the Lord, but it takes His ministration of cleansing to get the work accomplished in our, at times, wayward hearts. [I John 1:7]

At the second of our dead we immediately go into the Presence of Christ in Heaven [II Cor. 5:8; Philippians 1:23] because He has covered our sins in His own blood. [I John 2:1-2]

Christ did not die for just our past sins but according to I Corinthians 15:3 He has made an atonement {a covering} for all of our sins including our Original Sin nature.

If you want to trust the merits of your church you might find a problem at the judgment, but if you trust in Christ He has already made the promise that He has given you eternal life when you received Christ as Savior. This is not because I think so or think this way, but because Jesus immutable promise has been made to you in John 10:27-30. Immutable means not subject to a change in plans. Whatever God does He does perfectly, all by Himself. II Cor. 5:17 tells us at the moment of our salvation when we receive His Son, He makes us a new creation and all things are become new.

Christ daily keeps us in line and warns us if we falter because of the indwelling of the Spirit. When you are genuinely saved you don't need that alleged 'last ditch effort by the church to expunge your bad record.' Jesus is quite capable of saving us all by Himself, apart from our 'good works' and performance. [Eph. 2:9]

 

Well said.

Keep up the faith. Rejoice in your freedom to embrace the Word of God - and fully trust what He said - knowing Him personnally without having to defend all the many-thorned-errors of the RCC at each step of the way.

You are free now to simply read the Bible and trust what it says.

In Christ,

Bob

 

And he clearly exercised this freedom, which explains why he is not an adventist.

 

Wow! You are an angry person!

 

As someone who grew up in the CC all my childhood I feel I am qualified to chime in here:

When I left the whore of Rev. 17 I RAN AS FAST AS MY LEGS COULD POSSIBLY CARRY ME! When the Holy Spirit led me into a used bookstore to grab a KJV that fateful day in 1990 in Ferndale MI it was ALL of God and none of me that did that thing!

Do I love my Catholic friends and family members? very much so

Do I fret over the fact that these same ones are always trying to get me back into "mother church"? No, not at all, rather in love of the Truth that is Jesus Christ do I ever make my position known to them that as long as they are trusting in ANYTHING OR ANYBODY but the PERFECT PERSON AND 100% COMPLETE WORK OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS-- YOU ARE NOT SAVED!!

I struggled with this issue for YEARS while I was a child growing up because of the things I saw and experienced in chaticism and mass on Sundays for example:

Being taught that the "priest" is "more holy" than laity and the farther you get up the food chain, ending with the pope, the closer you get to "god" and that the pope is the only human being on this earth presently that has the most direct communion with "god" in the purest sense.

I hope I do not need to expound on the idolotry issue here; suffice to say it is VERY BAD inside them thar CC walls!

I now fully realise that even in my youth the Blessed Holy Spirit was working in me something wonderful to always keep in my heart that something was VERY WRONG with this whole picture; something was just NOT RIGHT!

Oh wreched sinner that I am!!!
That He would have it in HIS Holy Heart to save me!! Thank you Lord Jesus, Thank you!

All Praise and Glory ever be to His name that is far far above every other name written in Heaven! The Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!

 

An excellant letter. Praise God!

Actually, come to think of it, I fled the clutches of Rome 24 years ago, but I have never written such a letter.

RBent,

Where does one send that letter, in order to have ones name stricken from their membership rolls. I feel that I should share my testimony with them, and make my rejection of the RCC known to them.

My name is written elsewhere now.

God bless,

Mike

 

"ANYTHING OR ANYBODY but the PERFECT PERSON AND 100% COMPLETE WORK OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS-- YOU ARE NOT SAVED!!"

I guess its a good thing Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of human kind and it is only through faith in Him that we can be saved!

 

"John 3:16 tells us that when we receive Christ into our hearts with a repentant attitude about turning from our sins, we are eternally saved."

John 3:16 doesn't say anything about OSAS. Read it in its larger context.

Notice how Acts 2:21 says "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be Saved" yet, in Matthew 7:21 Jesus says NOT everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of his father in heaven. The whole context of the passage is about the fruits of the Christian.

When you start taking only the verses out of the Bible that will fit your style of theology you start to chop the Word of God into pieces. The scriptures no doubt do fit perfectly together, maybe not the way you'd like them to.

Also check out Acts 10:47. Everyone who believed recieved the Spirit that day, yet not everyone recieved the authority to preach as the Apostles did.

"As Christians we can live in obedience to Jesus but we cannot purify ourselves in His sight. Yes, we can confess our sins to the Lord, but it takes His ministration of cleansing to get the work accomplished in our, at times, wayward hearts. [I John 1:7]"

YES!!!

"At the second of our dead we immediately go into the Presence of Christ in Heaven [II Cor. 5:8; Philippians 1:23] because He has covered our sins in His own blood. [I John 2:1-2]"

II Cor. 5 actually supports the idea that we will lose our earthly bodies to gain new bodies in heaven. This may be immeadiate, or it may take some "time". Since time is merely the measure of an event, what seems a split second to someone entering heaven may be a thousand years to someone on earth.

I read through the entire 1st chapter of Philippians, but didn't see him talking at all about entering heaven immeaditaly after death, only that we may depart from the body after death.

 

(Adam)
I guess its a good thing Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of human kind and it is only through faith in Him that we can be saved!

(Singer)
Uhhhhhhhh........did you just admit that all that superfluous Catholic rigamarole is just so much hot air then?

You may as well stay Protestant then as you just described the Protestant belief.

 

Brother Adam,

Go to a catholic thread sometimes and ask if they believe we are justified before God through faith in Christ... alone, as the scriptures teach.

Also, do you believe there is a "Queen of the Universe" who is our "life, our sweetness and our hope", and that we should "abandon ourselves to her care" at the moment we die?

God bless,

Mike

 

"Go to a catholic thread sometimes and ask if they believe we are justified before God through faith in Christ... alone, as the scriptures teach."

Scripture hardly supports your "alone" word or theology.

"Also, do you believe there is a "Queen of the Universe" who is our "life, our sweetness and our hope", and that we should "abandon ourselves to her care" at the moment we die?"

It is the "Queen of Heaven", and you clearly show your lack of understanding of the prayers of the Rosary. Please don't rip things out of context without taking the time to fully understand them first.

 

Being saved by "faith alone" as most protestants define it, and being saved "only through faith in Jesus Christ" as Catholics see it, is two different things.

Faith means more than superfluous belief.

 

A study of the trinity shows that it is Biblical even though the word it is not found in the Bible.
A study of salvation shows that we are saved by faith, and by faith alone, even though "faith" and "alone" are not found in juxtaposition one to another. Study Eph.2:8,9 along with Rom.4:1-4. The teaching is there. The concepts are taught. It is naive to say that they are not.
DHK

 

A study of the trinity shows that it is Biblical even though the word it is not found in the Bible.
A study of salvation shows that we are saved by faith, and by faith alone, even though "faith" and "alone" are not found in juxtaposition one to another. Study Eph.2:8,9 along with Rom.4:1-4. The teaching is there. The concepts are taught. It is naive to say that they are not.
DHK </font>[/QUOTE]Rather, it is naive to force your own perspective into the verse's meaning and think every one else is naive for not agreeing with you.

 

As has been pointed out many times before, what other possible meaning can these verses have?

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
DHK

 

As has been pointed out many times before, what other possible meaning can these verses have?

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
DHK </font>[/QUOTE]You said earlier:

"we are saved by faith"

Then you post a verse which says "we are saved by grace (through faith)"

by faith...by grace...

Are you equating the two?

 

No, not at all.
We are saved by grace. That means that salvation is all of grace, and not of works. It is the grace of God, and only the grace of God that provides salvation. Grace rerfers to Christ dying on the cross, and His atoning work for us. He paid the penalty for our sin. There is nothing more for us to do. He did it all. He said in John 19:30, "It is finished," meaning the work of Christ is finished. There is nothing that you can do (by baptism or any sacrament) to add to Christ's work. This why baptism and purgatory are so blasphemous. They take away from the grace of God, from the work of Christ on the cross. Salvation is all of grace.

Romans 11:6 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.

"through faith"
It is through faith or by my faith in that sacrificial work provided by the grace of God, that I am saved. There is nothing that I can do. As it says: "not of works, lest any man should boast."
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
The only requirement is to believe, that is, to have faith. There is no other requirement. It is faith alone in the sacrificial work of Christ, in which He was gracious enough to provide for mankind. It was the grace of God giving man a chance to be saved by faith.
DHK

 

As has been pointed out many times before, what other possible meaning can these verses have?

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
DHK </font>[/QUOTE]You said earlier:

"we are saved by faith"

Then you post a verse which says "we are saved by grace (through faith)"

by faith...by grace...

Are you equating the two? </font>[/QUOTE]Grace is God's part and faith is ours.

 

So we're saved by grace AND faith? You just said it takes both.

But "saved by faith alone" contradicts that.

DHK,

You just said we are saved "by or through faith." Since when are "by" and "through" synonyms?