This is a common misnomer taught by Baptists. The Catholic Church doesn’t teach that good works get a person salvation. https://www.catholic.com/qa/why-does-the-church-teach-that-works-can-obtain-salvation
Good article, but I would take umbrage with the grace + works tone of it. I agree that "good works" follows salvation and they astutely cite Philippians 2:13, but the tone of the article puts almost a legalistic emphasis on works.
That says they teach works *alone* do not save. They do teach that salvation is faith + works. The Council of Trent declares anathema anyone who believes that salvation is faith alone.
They teach the same regarding the person of Jesus Christ. They do not teach the same regarding the work of Jesus Christ. Catholic theology does not teach that the work of Jesus accomplished everything regarding our salvation.
carm.org
That article you posted is misleading. The one I posted earlier touched on this very subject of “anathema” and what was meant by the Council. https://www.catholic.com/qa/why-does-the-church-teach-that-works-can-obtain-salvationNot only does the Roman Catholic Church not preach the gospel, but they officially condemn those who do - see Council of Trent, Canon 12:
“If any one shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ’s sake, or that it is that confidence alone by which we are justified…let him be accursed.”
Council of Trent: Canons on Justification | Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry
Explore Christian Apologetics, theology, and critical answers to today's questions about God, the Bible, and the Christian faith at Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry.
I agree based on my understanding, but I’ll explore further.
I think the article is playing fast & loose with the definition. I was raised as a Roman Catholic in a very faithful Catholic family. I went to Catholic grade school & high school. I was taught if you were outside of the Catholic church, you were damned to Hell. Excommunication puts one outside the church. Unless there are contemporary (to the council of Trent) writings that elaborate that the Council of Trent's meaning differs from the meaning of the same word in scripture, the article is wrong.
You really do not understand Catholic doctrine.
Maybe, but I’m using a very well-known and reputable website that has roots going back fifty years for most of my responses. The ministry actually started as a result of Christian fundamentalists leaving attack flyers on the windshields of cars in the parking lot of a Catholic Church, and of course it was full of misinformation. Here’s more on their background: https://www.catholic.com/about
I was not raised Catholic, but I attended Catholic school after elementary. It was considered by my parents to be the lesser of two evils versus the public school. Back in those days, charter schools didn’t exist, and we didn’t have a Protestant affiliated school near our house, so it was either Catholic or public. Of course nowadays there are a plethora of school options, including virtual.
Like you, I was also taught misinformation, but from the pulpit of IFB and SBC churches. I think most of us on here can point to misinformation we were taught back in the 70s or 80s or whatever. Isn’t that part of the lifeblood of this forum, people jaded by experiences in the IFB world?
Of course. But the number of Catholics teaching doctrine that doesn't line up with official Catholic doctrine is astounding. They are not as united and catholic as they claim to be. When Catholics give me stuff to read, if it doesn't have the stamp of the imprimatur, I've stopped wasting my time. I've grown weary of debating their human reasoning and emotions when those don't line up with official doctrine. Even the stuff with the imprimatur is loaded with human reasoning and conjecture and passages taken out of context. The Catholic church has strayed so far from the church of God. It left orthodoxy centuries ago.
True, but that was my world growing up in the Bob Jones IFB church. Half of what they used to espouse is now no longer preached, and of course it was all human and cultural conjecture and spinning. The same could be said of the Methodists splitting with the gay marriage issue. Ironically, I actually found the Catholic school a respite from my IFB church, but maybe if I’d grown up in a Catholic family I’d have a different POV.
Yeah, that’s one of the main reasons I never became a Catholic—that and the sacrament of reconciliation.
