Christian fundamentalists vs. Catholics
By Tom Quiner
Sadly, there is a rift between Christian fundamentalists/evangelicals … and Roman Catholics.
As a Catholic convert who has great respect for my Protestant brothers and sisters, I am deeply saddened by those who view Catholics as “unsaved.”
The issues that divide them from us are many and varied; from the Pope to Mary; from eucharist to the saints; and from the nature of salvation to the source of authority.
And what is the source of Christian authority? Fundamentalist Christians claim it is the Bible alone, a philosophy that goes by the term “Sola Scriptura.” Catholics believe it is scripture and tradition.
Patrick Madrid is a former adversary to Catholicism who eventually converted, which he recounts in his book, “Surprised by the Truth.” He will be in Des Moines this Saturday speaking at the Iowa Catholic Men’s Conference.
I have posted a video above where Mr. Madrid explains the flaws of Sola Scriptura. I am no theologian, but I find his explanation cogent, accessible, and charitable.
For my non-Catholic readers, whom I very much appreciate, I hope you find the video helpful in understanding why Catholics believe the way they do.
This has never been my belief. How do you know when you are “saved”?
1. You understand that you are a sinner, unworthy of heaven.
2. You understand that Christ died for our sins, and that that sacrifice has cleansed us of our sins, past, present, and future, and removed them “as far as the East is from the West”.
3. You accept that gift, and Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and ask for forgiveness of your sins.
At least, this is my understanding of salvation. What say you?
Hi Shawn: Thanks for sharing this. The Catholic belief is very similar, with perhaps a critical addendum. We have the free will to accept or deny Him, as you express in #3, but once saved does not necessarily mean always saved. In other words, just as the thief on the cross accepted Christ at the last moment, by the same token, we can still reject Him.
It is my belief that if you accept Christ, truly and honestly, then a rejection at a later point would be impossible. Although, admittedly, I have known Christians who have walked away from their faith. That simply made me question the authenticity of their salvation. This explains it fairly well:
http://www.comereason.org/can-you-lose-your-salvation.asp
I like the verse he used especially, Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Also, John 10:29: “And I give eternal life to them; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Interesting. I think it is important to understand our Brothers and Sisters who believe differently from us. “Whoever in not against us is for us”, right? What if we spent as much time learning and studying as we spent criticizing others?
Interesting, but he made one major error: the New Testament, as it is commonly referred to, was not written by and for Catholics; there were no Catholics at the time. There were Jews and gentiles who believed Jesus was the Messiah, and there were Jews and gentiles who did not believe in Him. Except for the books of Luke and Acts, the entire NT was written by believing Jews to others, Jews and gentiles, who were also followers of Jesus.
One of the major problems with many interpretations of the Bible is the efforts made to disassociate followers of Christ from their Jewish roots. Another is the attempt to distill everything down into doctrines that become straitjackets trying to hold in the truth. Nevertheless, given just the Scriptures that we possess today, any one can find Christ in reading them with an honestly searching heart and mind.
There is one Body of Christ on earth. It is composed of ALL believers, whether Catholic, Orthodox, any of the numerous Protestant denominations, messianic Jews, or anyone not even affiliated with a religious body, who know Jesus. To claim that any one of these bodies has an exclusive option on the truth is to be sadly mistaken. Christ-followers need to stop arguing among themselves and focus on the mission He gave us: to live out His life on earth, suffering and all, and to bring His light to all the nations, one person at a time.
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