Faith in Christ is the only thing that will save sinners.
All the faith in the world could not save a sinner who intends to go on sinning. A man must repent of his sins, and try to live a good life.
Sin & Free Will
199 articles from the existing collection.
Is it not blasphemy to use mingle mangle in baptizing children?
It would be. But no mingle mangle occurs in the baptism of children. Mingle mangle means a meaningless jumble of formulas. But every least item in the baptismal rite is full of meaning and significance. And it is to God’s honor and glory to use the holy ceremonies instituted by the Church of Christ with the authority of Christ. …
Our First Parents — Original Sin – Primer Catechism
CHAPTER 6. — OUR FIRST PARENTS. — ORIGINAL SIN.
But we Protestants believe that if a man lives a good life, no matter what Church he accepts, he will save his soul.
Some Protestants believe that. Many do not. Good Protestants can be saved, but if they are good they are Protestants in good faith who have the will to do God’s will, and are not Catholics merely because they do not realize their obligation to join the true Church.
You say that religion is necessary. I say that it is positively evil and degrading. It restrains our freedom.
Sincere religion spells freedom—freedom from vice, from all injustice and want of charity. There is no absolute freedom. You must be free from vice and subject to virtue, or free from virtue and subject to vice.
Would work for an hour he servile, but not for ten minutes?
The term servile refers, not to the time spent in the work, but to the nature of the work. If the work is of a servile nature in itself, it cannot be done even for ten minutes without genuine necessity. If not servile of its very nature, it would not become servile if done for ten hours.
Is it a sin for a Catholic to employ a Mason?
No. The Freemason may have no personal antipathy towards Catholics at all, and even if he had, the law is, “Do good to those who hate you.” If a competent Catholic applies for a position together with a Mason, a Catholic may employ his fellow Catholic by preference because he wants to do a good turn to a fellow Catholic from a m…
Whatever you say of other churches, you will never he able to prove that toe Seventh Day Adventists are wrong whilst we remain true to the Bible.
If you were true to the Bible, no one could prove you wrong. But you are most unbiblical. Your very system leaves you without any real proof that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It cannot say what is the real sense of all that is contained in the Bible. It concentrates upon a few misinterpreted texts, and ignores the whol…
There must be something radically tcrong with your conscience!
There would be, if I could take part in a religious service conducted in the name of a religion opposed to the Church established by Christ. It would be disloyalty to Christ, and I cannot sin even for the sake of my mother. She would not be my mother but for the love of God, and the more we appreciate God’s gifts the less right …
I am honest without being religious. But I know many people who are religious without being honest.
Now you take your own virtue as a standard, and proceed to find other people wanting when measured by it. It often happens that those who practice no religion canonize themselves as the models of perfection, and regard religious people as sinners and hypocrites. But those who go to church are constantly told of their own failing…
I mean, why don’t you acknowledge civil law as binding before God and in conscience.
We acknowledge that in the case of each and every law which does not conflict with the law of Christ. In the matter of marriage there are laws which conflict with the law of Christ, and these state laws are not valid before God. As I have said, if every state law is necessarily the law of God, then you claim infallibility for th…
I do not see that I am responsible for my position. I applied my reason to the Bible just as I would to anything else, and I doubt Christianity.
You have ignored the element of grace, and have not implored the help of God. Merely human reasoning is not enough. Brains cannot be the condition of salvation. If so, the intellectual would have a better chance of salvation than the less intelligent. You must look round for another method of approach to the religious problem. W…
After due purification in purgatory, you maintain that souls will be admitted to heaven. What is this heaven?
Heaven is the destiny in which a human soul will, if saved, be happy in the clear and immediate sight of God for all eternity. Before the resurrection of the body the soul alone enjoys this vision of God; after the resurrection, the body will be re-united with the soul and will share in its glory and joy.
Are you aware how many millions there will be? This makes me doubt even the existence of God!
Now I must ask you to take this reasonably. That there will be millions of human beings proves the existence of God. How can their number disprove it? Each being is a reason for God’s existence, and if anything, the multiplication of beings is the multiplication of reasons for His existence. Meantime I am not aware how many mill…
Your Church will have increasing difficulty in getting intelligent men to believe in hell.
The stream of converts from the ranks of intelligent men is sufficient answer to that suggestion.
Will the Priest tell the police or is it a sacred secret?
The Priest will certainly not tell the police. He can never act upon information submitted to him for the purpose of absolution before God.
Christ said that it is just as easy to say9 “Get up and walk” as to forgive sin. Do this and we will believe in your power to forgive sin.
It is just as easy to God to say, “Thy sins are forgiven thee,” as to say, “Arise and walk.” But it is not just as easy to a man unless God has given him the power. But I presume that you are a Christian, and believe in Baptism. What does Baptism do? It destroys sin. Prior to Baptism, the soul is without the life of grace and in…
But what if he be fully convinced that the Catholic Church is wrong, even though his conscience be erroneous, would you blame him for leaving rather than violate his conscience by remaining?
I would blame him for allowing his conscience to become so convinced by insufficient reasons, and for not studying the grounds which absolutely guarantee the Catholic Church as the only completely Christian Church. His first difficulties should have led him to seek advice from competent guides.
Do the Gospels Meet the Standards of Historical Reliability?
The Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—are the primary sources for the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, forming the cornerstone of Christian faith. To assess their historical reliability, one must consider the standards applied to ancient texts. Historical reliability hinges on factors like authorship, proximity to events,…
Will a Catholic who is convicted of murder go to Heaven if he confesses his sin to a Priest?
If he has confessed his sin sincerely and with genuine sorrow, his sin will be forgiven and his soul saved.
All know that creed has nothing to do with conduct. Religious people sin, and are hypocrites.
All do not know that creed has nothing to do with conduct. In fact no man knows precisely what motive has moved men to do given things. God alone can read the heart. We have no experience save of our own interior dispositions. Religious people may sin. But they do not call vice virtue. They know they sin. Nor do their sins dispe…
They will certainly lose their friends by such neglect of civil duties, and the causing of such discord.
If any discord arise, it is unavoidable. It is good to have peace, but not peace at any price; above all when the price is the violation of conscience. If Protestants are angry because Catholics will not do what the Catholic conscience forbids, then it is not the fault of Catholics. In any case, are not religious obligations gre…
You will not admit that Christians thought it fashionable to have a virgin-born Savior, so invented or borrowed one in desperation?
Such an admission would do violence to both reason and history. The invention theory supposes that the writers of the Gospel were liars, a theory abandoned by all the critics of Christianity worth while. The borrowing theory involves the old post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. That one thing is prior to another does not prove tha…
It is necessary, then, that we should be on earth?
It is necessary in so far as God has decided that we should be here. It is not absolutely necessary for any being to exist except God. All other beings depend upon God’s will. But God has willed that we should have our opportunity to praise, love, and serve Him in this life, and be happy with Him forever in the next. Surely a gr…