Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Why Not Leave Such Questions for God?
Dan Delzell writing at Christian Post argue the doctrine of salvation with Catholics:
I love as if my works may just matter to my salvation - the theology I hold says they don;t but the question is just open enough that I am going to hedge my bets. Which is what really ticks me off about guys like Delzell - the fact that they are so cocksure of themselves means there is a huge part of the gospel they have missed - you know the whole humility thing.
And it particularly angers me when it comes to Roman Catholics. These guys act as if the church, the only church for about 1600 years was just wrong for those 1600 years. How the heck to they think something got to them to reform? And if they think it was, why isn't Martin Luther revered in our traditions like Joseph Smith is in the Mormon tradition?
I would never judge who is saved and who isn't, but if you ask me to lay odds, I think I am more likely to meet Catholics that Delzell.
Theology humility
The booklet states, "We do not 'earn' our salvation through good works (Eph. 2:8-9, Rom. 9:16), but our faith in Christ puts us in a special grace-filled relationship with God so that our obedience and love, combined with our faith, will be rewarded with eternal life." (Rom. 2:7, Gal. 6:8-9) Did you catch that? According to Catholic Answers, a grace-filled life of obedience is said to be rewarded with eternal life.
So is "grace" in the Bible God's unmerited love, mercy, and forgiveness for sinners on account of Christ? Or....is it those things, plus man's "grace-filled" works of obedience? Everything hinges on how a church defines the "grace" that is said to save us.Oh just shut up! Frankly I have seen so much abuse of reformed theology that I find myself siding the the Catholics on this one. And frankly, in the end, I'm not sure we will know the answer. I think God is so much smarter than we are and so much deeper than we are, that even once our sin is removed in heaven, this one is still going to be a puzzle. The perfect dog will never understand how to fix a toilet and that's how I feel about this question.
I love as if my works may just matter to my salvation - the theology I hold says they don;t but the question is just open enough that I am going to hedge my bets. Which is what really ticks me off about guys like Delzell - the fact that they are so cocksure of themselves means there is a huge part of the gospel they have missed - you know the whole humility thing.
And it particularly angers me when it comes to Roman Catholics. These guys act as if the church, the only church for about 1600 years was just wrong for those 1600 years. How the heck to they think something got to them to reform? And if they think it was, why isn't Martin Luther revered in our traditions like Joseph Smith is in the Mormon tradition?
I would never judge who is saved and who isn't, but if you ask me to lay odds, I think I am more likely to meet Catholics that Delzell.
Theology humility
