Well, you asked. Dude, justification sola fide sets up an irreconcilable dilemma: If all your sins, past, present, and future were forgiven at Jesus' death on the cross, by the instrumentality of your faith in that event, and that alone, there is no theological necessity to pursue holiness. God either sees you as you really are, or you are covered with Christ. It really must be one or the other. God cannot truly threaten consequences for sins He cannot see. You might say that none of its proponents ever actually intended that "faith alone" meant, "intellectual assent alone," but that's what you're left with, if you stick with the Reformation sola fide. If you say there is a connection between the pursuit of holiness and your justification before God, that's good, I think, but that ain't Reformed. And you're stuck with the former as a Protestant, because the Protestant notion of the Fall doesn't allow you to say that man is able to become more just, more conformed to the image of Christ in response to the Cross and in the hope of attaining eternal life. To be blunt about it, to believe the pursuit of holiness by grace is not only possible but necessary, (and not inevitable) is to be Catholic.
Hilarious Com-Box Quote of The Day: "I was caught immediately because it is the Acts of the Apostles, not the Acts of the Holy Spirit Acting Erratically."--Donald Todd, reacting to the inartful opposition of the Holy Spirit and the Magisterium. Mark Galli, an editor at Christianity Today, had suggested that today's "confusion" in evangelicalism replicates a confusion on the day of Pentecost. Mr. Todd commented after this reply , and the original article is here. My thoughts: By what means was this Church-less "consensus" formed? If the Council did not possess the authority to adjudicate such questions, who does? If the Council Fathers did not intend to be the arbiters, why do they say that they do? At the risk of being rude, I would define evangelicalism as, "Whatever I want or need to believe at any particular time." Ecclesial authority to settle a particular question is a step forward, but only as long as, "God alone is Lord of the con
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