He is Risen!

Posted on by Tom

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. – 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

19 thoughts on “He is Risen!”

  8. Greetings Tom and to all who follow and comment on the topics that Tom writes about. I trust that everyone here felt some sort of renewal in their Faith after celebrating Easter with Believers throughout the entire world this past weekend. As promised, I did as Tom requested and I read the information contained in an article written by “Got Questions” titled, “I am a Catholic. Why should I consider becoming a Christian?” I found the article to be very typical of the grave misunderstandings that non-Catholics have with what the Catholic Church teaches in the Bible, and I hope that the conversations that follow will help to shine a light on the many errors of Protestantism.

    Tom, I also read through your bio concerning the Faith and I suppose that would be a great place to kick off the conversation. However, first I would like to establish a couple of facts taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica concerning our two Faith Traditions. Concerning Catholicism, Britannica states that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ c. 30 A.D. in Jerusalem, and that can be found here:
    https://www.britannica.com/question/Who-founded-Roman-Catholicism

    Conversely, Britannica states that Protestantism was NOT founded by Jesus Christ and did not exist before the 16th Century, and that the roots of Protestantism are to be found in Europe by disgruntled men standing against what the Church teaches in the Bible, and that can be found here: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protestantism

    In your statements Tom, I find confusion about what you believe and what the Church teaches in the Bible. You stated in your bio, ”I found from the Bible that salvation cannot possibly be earned by baptism, church membership, obeying the Ten Commandments, or trying to be “good” as Catholicism teaches, salvation for sinful man is only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ ALONE!” And you went on to say that, “Rome has a false Gospel of Salvation by Sacramental Grace and Merit.”

    First off, I would like to say that you might be surprised to learn that you are in total agreement with what the Catholic Church teaches in the Bible, that Salvation cannot be earned by Baptism, or obedience to the Commandments, or for being good, and that Salvation is only by the Grace of God through Faith in Jesus Christ. The Church has been teaching that for 2000 years, however, did you notice that I omitted what you said about “Church membership”?

    So considering that, then the next thing that I will present to you is that there is not a single teaching or example of a person being Saved that was NOT a member of the Biblical New Covenant Church – which is the Catholic Church, as we discovered from the facts laid out in Britannica. Nobody was saved like a Protestant, by “faith alone” and without a Sacrament of the Catholic Church. If you don’t understand what happened on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, then you are certain to misunderstand the rest of what is written in the NT. Acts chapter 2 is the Biblical Blueprint for Sacramental Salvation and is the lynch pin in understanding the Apostolic teaching on the Sacraments throughout the Bible. For Jesus said, “He who believes AND is baptized will be saved….” (Mark 16:16) When you fully understand Acts chapter 2, then all of the other anti-Catholic arguments disappear. God bless.

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    1. I have engaged in lengthy tête-à-têtes with passionate Roman Catholics in the past, which were fruitless. You have already demonstrated a reluctance to seriously engage the information I provided. I have a limited amount of discretionary time to prepare my blog posts and I must be a good steward of my time. Please keep your comments very short and precisely to the point.
      Encyclopedia Britannica obviously takes a common/general view and few would think to cite its articles as proof texts in a discussion of this kind.
      Below is a link to a post in which I previously addressed this baptism question. Just a couple of quick counters:

      If baptism were a requirement of salvation in conjunction with “belief” (belief in what?) the vast majority (80%) of your church members would be disqualified because they were baptized as infants and incapable of belief.

      At the Second Vatican Council, the RCC officially acknowledged that all non-Catholic religionists and even atheists could also possibly merit Heaven. The result is that RC-ism holds to the dichotomously untenable position that baptism IS a requirement for salvation and simultaneously IS NOT a requirement for salvation.

      Answering the alleged “95 Catholic Verses” – #s 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, and 64: Baptismal Regeneration?

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