tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199275616659608977.post4534973481818645777..comments2023-09-18T05:33:48.793-04:00Comments on By Every Word...: Chris Castaldo's book, "Holy Ground"Douglas Phillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09040240128377241820noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199275616659608977.post-77195904479431805772009-11-22T22:45:52.384-05:002009-11-22T22:45:52.384-05:00Nick Hill's comment on Kevin's blog pointe...Nick Hill's comment on Kevin's blog pointed me to what looks like a very worthwhile book. It's "Nothing In My Hand I Bring" by Ray Galea. You can get a sense of what the book is about, including reading the enaging first chapter at <br />http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/<br />Samples/nimh/nimh_sample.pdfDouglas Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09040240128377241820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199275616659608977.post-67197352615423539952009-11-22T22:41:40.777-05:002009-11-22T22:41:40.777-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Douglas Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09040240128377241820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199275616659608977.post-42496215702610787112009-11-21T23:13:42.168-05:002009-11-21T23:13:42.168-05:00The link to the Catechism above was truncated by B...The link to the Catechism above was truncated by Blogger.com somehow. It should have read <br /><br />http://www.vatican.va/archive/<br />catechism/p3s1c3a2.htm#I<br /><br />(delete the space between archive/ and catechism)Douglas Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09040240128377241820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199275616659608977.post-59954657280064614242009-11-21T23:04:57.711-05:002009-11-21T23:04:57.711-05:00On Kevin DeYoung's blog, in a parallel discuss...On Kevin DeYoung's blog, in a parallel discussion, Dr. Francis Beckwith essentially endorsed Chris's explanatory comment.<br /><br />…and yet, when I read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and its section on “Justification” I simply cannot see how this can be portrayed as essentially compatible with the Protestant-evangelical understanding of this crucial doctrine.<br /><br />Compare http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s1c3a2.htm#I with just one section of a recent evangelical declaration regarding the Gospel:<br /><br />12. We affirm that the doctrine of the imputation (reckoning or counting) both of our sins to Christ and of his righteousness to us, whereby our sins are fully forgiven and we are fully accepted, is essential to the biblical Gospel (2 Cor. 5:19-21).<br /><br />We deny that we are justified by the righteousness of Christ infused into us or by any righteousness that is thought to inhere within us.<br /><br />13. We affirm that the righteousness of Christ by which we are justified is properly his own, which he achieved apart from us, in and by his perfect obedience. This righteousness is counted, reckoned, or imputed to us by the forensic (that is, legal) declaration of God, as the sole ground of our justification.<br /><br />We deny that any works we perform at any stage of our existence add to the merit of Christ or earn for us any merit that contributes in any way to the ground of our justification (Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).<br /><br />14. We affirm that, while all believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are in the process of being made holy and conformed to the image of Christ, those consequences of justification are not its ground. God declares us just, remits our sins, and adopts us as his children, by his grace alone, and through faith alone, because of Christ alone, while we are still sinners (Rom. 4:5).<br /><br />We deny that believers must be inherently righteous by virtue of their cooperation with God’s life-transforming grace before God will declare them justified in Christ. We are justified while we are still sinners.<br /><br />http://www.ligonier.org/thegospel_affirmations.phpDouglas Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09040240128377241820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199275616659608977.post-34326261159421845842009-11-21T19:32:00.452-05:002009-11-21T19:32:00.452-05:00Chris sent me this reply to the key question I all...Chris sent me this reply to the key question I alluded to: e.g., if Trent’s Decrees are “binding” how does that fit with the assertion that “many Catholics, including Pope Benedict himself, don’t understand justification in this Tridentine light”?<br /><br />Here is Chris's helpful answer: <br /><br />'...I think Tony Lane provides helpful groundwork for understanding the reason when he writes, “The canons [of Trent] were deliberately not addressed against specific people and the statements condemned were derived from second- or third-hand compilations of the statements of the Reformers, taken especially from the earlier years of the Reformation and not seen in their original context' (Anthony Lane. Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue: An Evangelical Assessment, pp. 104-105). <br /><br />'Thus, unlike Alexander V’s papal bull against Wycliffism in 1409 or Leo X’s Exsurge Domine against Luther in 1520, Trent’s Canons were aiming into a mist of hearsay (not to be confused with the word heresy). Moving forward in history, even to the present, Catholic theologians have said, in effect, that because the bishops of Trent didn’t accurately understand Reformation teaching, the object of their canons were different from what truly was or is Reformed theology. Accordingly, the preamble of the Joint Declaration, an official ecumenical document endorsed by the Vatican in 1999 with the Lutheran World Federation, says in paragraph seven, “…this declaration is shaped by the conviction that in their respective histories our churches have come to new insights.”<br /><br />'The “new insights” about which the Declaration speaks is the realization of Trent’s misguided critique of Reformed doctrines such as justification by faith alone. This, it seems, is the view that guides the understanding of Catholic theologians like Pope Benedict.'Douglas Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09040240128377241820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199275616659608977.post-91452195951316740732009-11-20T16:16:14.017-05:002009-11-20T16:16:14.017-05:00JoyinJesus said...
Thank you for recommending th...JoyinJesus said... <br /><br />Thank you for recommending this book! <br /><br />I am a former Catholic. I was saved by grace through faith by HEARING the gospel! No one first convinced me that some Catholic doctrine was incorrect. It was like every other sin. God saved me and THEN began to sanctify me and change my life. It was AFTER I was saved and began to read the Bible that my eyes were opened to the errors in the Catholic church. No one gets saved by first believing correct doctrine... but we are saved when we turn to Jesus in faith and repentance of our sins! THEN, God shows us the truth of Scripture. So, as a former Catholic who had the gospel shared with her I say that we should spend less time arguing with Roman Catholics and more time sharing the gospel!!! Amen?Douglas Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09040240128377241820noreply@blogger.com