How do you “get saved” as a Catholic? This is something I’ve had on the burner for a long time, and have started writing more than once before. Now my dearest reader asks the question and I’m motivated to come up with a concise response. “Getting saved,” in the parlance of Evangelical Protestants, refers to …
Tag Archives: Baptists
Catholicism and Assurance of Salvation
My next post in the current series is already queued up and scheduled; but I think I’m going to delay it for a timely reflection that turns out to be quite apropos. [Part one. Part two.] Last night I gave my testimony to a room full of Baptists. On Wednesday nights I attend a home …
Does Baptism Regenerate? A Look at the Times It Didn’t (Series on Baptism)
(Part of an in-depth series on Baptism. Part 1. Part 2.) When we left off, we were examining the Baptist view of Baptism, that it is merely a symbol, a sign of a work of grace that has already taken place in the believer by faith, an ordinance of the Church, not necessary for grace …
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The Baptist View of Baptism: Symbol or Sacrament? (Series on Baptism)
(Part of an in-depth series on Baptism. Part 1.) In this and ensuing posts I will examine in particular the view of Baptism held by Baptists and other evangelicals in their tradition: that Baptism is not sacramental but merely a symbol. I want to make every effort to be fair and consider the Baptist arguments …
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Whatever Happened to the Eucharist? Why Don’t Evangelical Protestants Celebrate It?
The major topic that prompted me to delve into a series on the Sacraments was wondering why Evangelical Protestants* don’t celebrate them. How can a people who profess to base their faith on Scripture alone ignore the very things — in fact, some of the only things — that Jesus told us explicitly to do? …
Off the map
(It’s been months since I last posted an entry in my personal story. That’s because this next chapter is one of the most painful, and most personal. I was nearly inclined to skip over it — but it’s an important prelude to the events that followed. I’ve written three or four entries and discarded each …
Baptism: Symbol or Sacrament?
Why do Protestants, especially evangelicals, reject the Sacraments, and the concept of sacramentality in general? Even Baptists, who per the name, are very particular about Baptism, consider Baptism merely “a symbolic act of obedience” (“Basic Beliefs,” Southern Baptist Convention). The Early Church, from the Apostles at the Day of Pentecost, down through all the ages, …
Premises
Today was a long day. I had several posts I spent most of the day plotting in my head, but when I got home, I was met with something far more exigent: the first real, vehement opposition I’ve met from a friend to my becoming Catholic. She raised a valid point: To what degree have …