Byblos, thanks again for the time you took to answer my questions. I know how sensitive a subject this can be for some(myself included). Moving on to your quote above, IF OSAS is what scripture teaches, then Catholic doctrine is a works based system. I believe OSAS teaches that we only need God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, indwelt in a believer, to keep one from losing his salvation. Any sacraments that have to be performed, in order to keep salvation, are works other than the atoning work of Christ, that was all that was needed. Even IF one could prove the sacraments were established by Christ himself. Remember, the ten commandments were established by God, and no one can gain nor keep his salvation by following those. 2 Corinthians 1:22 shows that God has given us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of His promise of what is to come. God made the way for eternal life, and He promised that we can know we have eternal life, by the evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Once we realize that, we are free to live a life guided by the HS, instead of being burdened by sacraments, commandments, or whatever else we feel we need to do to gain or keep our salvation. It is all God's work through Christ, not of ourselves.(Ephesians 2:8) If we need to keep sacraments to keep our salvation, it now becomes of ourselves.What this comes down to is whether or not one believes in OSAS (actually it really comes down to a matter of authority but we’ll get to that eventually I’m sure). If one believes in OSAS then what you are reading above probably sounds like a works based salvation. But to us Catholics who do not believe in OSAS they are nothing of the kind. These are called sacraments and we believe they were established by Christ himself to increase us in God’s graces and to KEEP us from losing our salvation. Now I’ve had this discussion numerous times and what it boils down to is this, there is absolutely no difference whatsoever between believing that one can lose their salvation and believing in OSAS but that one can prove they were never saved to begin with. Please think on that for a while then we can come back to it if you wish. For a better understanding of the Catholic position on OSAS please read this.
I will read the links you posted when I get more time, and thanks again for being patient. I know you've gone over this subject many times on this board, and you show more patience than I probably would.
. My only hope is that I shed some light on the subject(s), at least enough for you guys to say okay, we vehemently disagree with this guy Byblos but at least we understand where he's coming from; that is all I I ever asked for out of these discussions on here.
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