Tag: Bible

  • Real Presence: Real or Not

    The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches teach that when the priest says the words of consecration, the bread and wine transform into the physical body and blood of Jesus. This is known as the Real Presence of Christ in the communion gifts. The Roman Catholic church dogmatizes this process under the rubric of transubstantiation. It…

  • A Case Study in Idolatry: Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism

    In Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, the clerical and laity worship Jesus’ mother Mary. They also worship certain dead people, whom they designate as “Saints”. We know from Scripture that all believers in Christ are saints. Their veneration of the saints and hyper-veneration of Mary constitute a clear case of idolatry. Christ alone is the…

  • Determining Doctrine

    During the time of the Apostles, when Scripture was being written, the Apostle Paul warned us (the Church) against error creeping in if we weren’t vigilant. Sadly even within the New Testament period, heresy was being introduced into the visible Church. Many new heresies arose during the 3rd to 5th centuries, particularly false teachings about…

  • From Darkness to Life: Roman Catholicism in My Family

    Both sides of my extended family have been Roman Catholic for at least hundreds of years. My parents were raised Roman Catholic. My Daddy was an altar boy in the Latin Mass (before Vatican 2). Through God’s mercy and sovereign grace, my parents are Elect. In college they repented of their sins, and believed the…

  • Roman Catholics Conflate Justification With Sanctification

    LET’S CLARIFY MERITIVE AND SALVING A response to Catholics who say they are saved by faith and that good works are not salvific and meritorious. Your denomination teaches that the practice of good works is necessary for salvation and that the Christian under the influence of grace deserves for himself and others the graces to…

  • The Lord’s Supper: The Real Presence of Christ

    I used to believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper (communion). I now believe the Lord is present, but not in a physical way, rather it is spiritual. Communion is spiritual food to nourish our souls. I held to the Roman Catholic view that during consecration the bread and wine become…

  • Divorce

    Sadly, I am a child of divorce. My parents divorced in 1989(my mother initiated the divorce) when I was 13 years old. They had been married for 16 years. The breakup of our nuclear family had a devastating effect on me. To be honest, I must admit that now even 35 years later, the sting…

  • A Tale of Authorities

    When defining doctrine, we Reformed affirm Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) as our highest authority. It restricts us from tainting our interpretation of Scripture by adding extraneous sources of doctrine. Roman Catholics affirm Sola Ecclesia (Church Alone) contains the dual authorities of tradition and the magisterium (teaching authority). Scripture, tradition, and the magisterium are all equal…

  • Eastern Orthodoxy and Scripture

    Unlike us Reformed Protestants, the Eastern Orthodox (EO) place their phronema (collective consensus over time), which is merely the fallible traditions of men, to a place of preeminence. This is an extremely dangerous position to be in. The EO do not have the corrective force of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) to guide and safeguard their…

  • Salvation: One Way or Many?

    The prevailing and dominant position among most people is that there are numerous paths to God and salvation. It teaches that Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jewish, and others will be saved by living a “good life”, and God will judge them on the basis of how many good vs evil works they did. The truth is…