Protestants who believe in the doctrine of “perseverance of the Saints” (that the saved can never lose their salvation) often point to 1 John 2:9 as support. There, St. John speaks of those who “went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” Here’s why it’s irrational to base belief in perseverance of the Saints on that verse.
Tag: OSAS
Three Major Arguments Against “Assurance of Salvation”
I am frequently asked by Protestants why we Catholics don’t teach “assurance of salvation,” the belief that those who are currently saved are guaranteed ultimate salvation, no matter what. Someone cannot be temporarily saved and ultimately damned. Calvinists and many Evangelicals affirm this doctrine (under different names: assurance of salvation, perseverance of the Saints, “Once Saved,… Continue reading Three Major Arguments Against “Assurance of Salvation”
“Once Saved, Always Saved” and Three Cups of Tea: Cup 3
This is the third (and final) part of a three-part guest post by David Bates of the blog Restless Pilgrim, on the topic of the doctrine of eternal security, better known as “Once Saved, Always Saved”: In the last two blog posts I critiqued the Scripture interpretations of Mack, a commentator on my Once Saved, Always Saved post. Mack had responded… Continue reading “Once Saved, Always Saved” and Three Cups of Tea: Cup 3
“Once Saved, Always Saved” and Three Cups of Tea: Cup 2
This is the second part of a three-part guest post by David Bates of the blog Restless Pilgrim, on the topic of the doctrine of eternal security, better known as “Once Saved, Always Saved”: In the last post I began to examine the responses of Mack, a recent commentator on my Once Saved, Always Saved post who offered some… Continue reading “Once Saved, Always Saved” and Three Cups of Tea: Cup 2
“Once Saved, Always Saved” and Three Cups of Tea: Cup 1
David Bates David Bates, on his blog Restless Pilgrim, has written a three-part analysis of “Once Saved, Always Saved,” the Protestant notion that “the elect” can never lose their salvation. He gave me permission to cross-post here. (By the way, if you’re wondering about all the references to tea, he is a Brit living in… Continue reading “Once Saved, Always Saved” and Three Cups of Tea: Cup 1
Perseverance of the Saints v. the Great Apostasy: Calvinism’s Internal Contradiction
Calvinism affirms two critical doctrines that are in apparent contradiction with one another. On the one hand, Calvinists claim that nobody falls permanently away from the faith. On the other hand, they claim that the entire Church fell away from the faith for generations, and that the Divinely-ordained Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was destroyed,… Continue reading Perseverance of the Saints v. the Great Apostasy: Calvinism’s Internal Contradiction
Fr. Most and St. Paul on Justification and OSAS
Fr. William Most wrote a sharp but very insightful piece on Luther, entitled “Luther Writes Obituary of His Own Church.” What makes it worth the read is his use of Luther’s own writings, showing that Luther still clearly struggled with the question that perhaps he was wrong and the Church was right, long after he… Continue reading Fr. Most and St. Paul on Justification and OSAS
Assurance of Salvation and “Evanescent Grace”
Nick, responding to my earlier post on assurance of salvation, brought up a very good point: John Calvin clearly taught something called *evanescent grace* in which God gives a ‘fake grace’ to the Reprobate to make them *think* and act as if they were Saved, and this only so that He could damn them with… Continue reading Assurance of Salvation and “Evanescent Grace”
Assurance of Salvation?
A number of Protestants find it singularly compelling that they “know” that they’re eternally saved. I’ve always found this line of reasoning sort of strange. To the last individual, they’ve argued or admitted that: The saved can know that they’re saved; The damned often think that they’re saved, but they aren’t (obviously); Even those saved… Continue reading Assurance of Salvation?
St. Paul, Sola Fide, and OSAS
I. Paul on FaithPaul writes a lot on the neccesity of faith for salvation. Most famously, in Romans 3:28, he writes, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” That’s the NIV translation. The KJV translation says, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without… Continue reading St. Paul, Sola Fide, and OSAS