Author: Eric
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The Five Bible Passages That Led Me To the Catholic Church
The Five Bible Passages That Led Me to the Catholic Church The Bible contains over 31,000 verses, each offering profound wisdom and truth. Yet, it was five specific passages that prompted my journey to Catholicism. These verses didn’t just challenge my Protestant beliefs—they illuminated a path that ultimately led me home to the Catholic Church.…
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Is Faith Sufficient for Conversion?
Are individuals converted and justified solely through the disposition of faith, i.e. justified by and through faith alone? As mentioned previously, God justifies the ungodly by making an unjust soul just. But is the disposition of faith sufficient for this act of God to be efficacious to the particular person? Does an unjustified soul need…
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God Justifies, Faith Disposes
In the context of conversion (initial justification), who or what exactly makes and declares us to be righteous in God’s sight? In other words, what is the primary (efficient) cause of our justification? Is it faith? Is it God? Is it both? First, it is entirely necessary to be properly disposed in order for God…
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Is Marriage the Hardest Vocation?
Saint Francis de Sales said, “The state of marriage is one that requires more virtue and constancy than any other; it is a perpetual exercise in mortification.” (emphasis mine) Notice the key words ‘constancy’ and ‘perpetual’, because in marriage the dying to oneself (“mortification”) is 24-7, 365 days a year. Not only is it required…
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Monergism or Synergism?
Does the Christian have any amount of responsibility when it comes to his or her own salvation, or is the Christian completely and entirely passive? When applied to a Christian’s eternal destiny, the theology of Monergism implies that God is entirely, completely, and solely responsible for any person’s salvation. In contrast, the theology of Synergism…
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Made Righteous or Solely Declared Righteous? (Infusion Vs. Imputation Part II)
This is what Martin Luther had to say regarding the righteousness of Christ only covering us through imputation: Christ has suffered for our sins and has fulfilled the law for us. We have only to believe in Him, and by believing in Him, take hold, as it were, of His merits and put them on…
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Made Righteous or Solely Declared Righteous? (Infusion Vs. Imputation Part I)
How exactly is a Christian considered righteous in the sight of God? Are we solely declared righteous, or, are we in reality made righteous? Catholics and Protestants have been in disagreement on this doctrine for hundreds of years and many Christians continue to be baffled about the idea of a sinner being righteous before God…
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Justification by Works?
All Christians are in complete agreement in confessing that a person is justified by faith. Why then are Catholics and Protestants in such stark disagreement about confessing whether or not a person is justified by works, at least by faith and works? Perhaps we are asking the wrong question, or, perhaps the question needs to…
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Scandal in the Catholic Church
Scandals within the Catholic Church have been all over the media and people everywhere are repulsed. I cannot even begin to imagine what goes through the mind of a non-Catholic looking on from the outside. So, what gives? Why is this happening and, perhaps more importantly, why are Catholics, clergy and laity alike, hush-hush and…
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Where Did the Bible Come from?
Why did not Jesus Christ write a single jot of his teachings down on parchment? How come He did not command His Apostles to write anything down? And, yet, we have this collection of books called the Holy Bible that most every Christian reveres as the written Word of God. Many of those Christians claim…