tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371436.post112045845971740800..comments2023-08-11T06:11:22.868-07:00Comments on Poling Place: The Magical ChristianSteve Polinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06095291939072131815noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371436.post-1120696209150956082005-07-06T17:30:00.000-07:002005-07-06T17:30:00.000-07:00The Roman Christian rejects Pelagius and his relia...<I>The Roman Christian rejects Pelagius and his reliance on works for salvation, but Rome insists that you can lose your salvation if you do something to make shipwreck of your faith.</I><BR/><BR/>Uh ... not quite. Or maybe - sorta? :-)<BR/><BR/>Remember the expression that "Baptism is an outward expression of an inward change?"<BR/><BR/>It could be argued that a mortal sin is an outward expression of a rejection of Christ. It's not just that you have to comitt one of the seven deadly sins - it has to be:<BR/>1) A serious matter<BR/>2) Given sufficient reflection,<BR/>3) Full consent of the will,<BR/>(Ref: Catholic Book of Prayers, pg. 255)<BR/><BR/>I submit that #3 makes mortal sin the outward expression of an inward change - rejection of faith alone. <BR/><BR/>I have another little book, called:<BR/><BR/>"Catholic and Christian: An explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs"<BR/><BR/>Chapter 1 is called:<BR/><BR/>"Salvation: God's Free Gift in Jesus Christ."<BR/><BR/>I never heard of a free gift that had to be earned. :-)<BR/><BR/>I don't have time to write up the whole chapter, but at one point it quotes the "Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity" which says:<BR/><BR/>The Church's mission is concered with the salvation of men; and men win salvation through the grace of Christ and faith in him.<BR/><BR/>But I suspect you allready knew all this; after all, you quoted Augustine as a real good thing, and my pastor is a member of the Order of Saint Augstine (OSA) - he's an Augustinian priest.<BR/><BR/>So, if you knew all this, why the roundabout? Well, the same reason you talked about Baptists who get caught up in the "works" of the sinner's prayer or the alter call.<BR/><BR/>C.S. Lewis once wrote that if the Devil can't lie to us outright, his next trick is to take something important (like works; read James!) and make it of higher importance than it deserves (elevating works over faith) - thus creating the _effect_ of a lie. And that's dangerous.<BR/><BR/>And if that's all you are worried about, then Brother, I'm with you. The Catholic Church emphasises James, and that's great - we put our lives where our mouths are. But it's easy to miss the point of "Faith Without Works is Dead" and end up with "Saved By Going To Church Every Sunday Morning and Wendesday Night and Abstaining from X, Y, and Z ..."<BR/><BR/>As someone much smarter than i once said: The Main Thing is to Keep the Main thing the Main Thing.<BR/><BR/>That said, I'll try to spend less time replying on blogs and more time growing in my relationship with Christ. (Not your blog; I'll just try to spend less time on Cadetstuff.org or something. :-)<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/><BR/>--heusserAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com