Once, For All

Among my on-going search for deep patience in my living situation, search for my own kindness to continue to be the face and front inter-action on this farm I have loved for 7-8 months... along with this on-going work as evidenced in my last post with Lysol.... I also am deliberately studying what I just see as a growing problem with my dear friends' Catholicism.

I grew up Catholic; Mass 6 days a week. Loving the Rituals. The Chants. The Incense. The Kneeling. The Getting up. The Dresses. The Gloves.
Don't remember any Jesus.

I am looking and learning, honestly.

There are so many topics to dig into and to pray over. I am using this...."desire for clarity" as a backdrop for deep study.

I cannot come up with the positive power or correctness of Catholicism.

Let me start.... not with praying to Mary and she being the intermediary for us.... though the Bible so clearly states otherwise.

1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Nor with the Immaculate Conception stating that Mary was a virgin all her life, and sinless... the first sinless Human..... WHERE does it say ANY of that in the Word?

Matthew 12:46:
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.
Matthew 13:56:
Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?

Mary knew she was a sinner. She knew she needed a Saviour.
She was never stated to be a "Perpetual Virgin", nor do we ever have anyone pray to her in the Word. (As a matter of fact - 100% of PRAYERS are to GOD. Not Mary, Saints, Dead Relatives - just GOD.)

LUKE 1 46-47
46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Okay, leaving threads still knotted and bound, let me resist the so many troubling beliefs, and make an attempt to settle, to come to this just one, for now.

TRANSUBSTANTIATION and THE EUCHARIST.

Hebrews was written specifically to and for JEWISH CHRISTIANS - facing very real persecution, and perhaps tempted to revert to the Jewish faith.
So this letter, by Paul, we think, is an encouragement to stay the course of faith in Jesus Christ.

To Jews.

It seems the key to Mass is Eucharist: Transubstantiation.
I cannot get behind it, I cannot believe it, and I want to dig and dig and dig to understand this "feeling" I have about it being a man-made ritual.

I cannot believe that the Last Supper Communion and breaking of the bread was to then, in the immediate future, and then daily, was to be repeated as the actual body and actual blood being taken in by "Pope Peter"?

Why isn't it in the Word?

Jews and Blood?

In fact:

“But make sure that you do not partake of the blood [of an animal whose meat is being eaten]. For the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh.” (Deuteronomy 12:23) To the Jews, consumption of any blood, animal or human, has always been viewed as vile (although it was widely practiced by their Near Eastern neighbors) and is the oldest dietary prohibition in the (Genesis 9:4).

Acts 15:29
That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

That is one huge thread intermingling to where I am feebly trying to actually get to. Again, this is such a massive weaving of points and counter points to such a new student as I, that it is so easy to get sidetracked and overwhelmed.

HERE, this is my opening point:

JESUS DIED, Once, for All.

The Eucharist re-bodies the bread as Jesus' body the wine as Jesus' blood.
Over and Over, as though Jesus' perfect sacrifice, His Gift, His Grace.... is not enough.
Why?

I have to believe my bible. I am spending time on the discussion of when the church was the Church, and when Bibles were written/agreed upon, and by whom.
It is a massive exhausting exhilarating study direction. Not all of it of Salvation Concern.
And there is plenty to read and pray over.
But Solo Scriptura really is my direction.

I am learning, I am studying.
After so much study, how does Catholicism answer Hebrews 9. It is written....

Hebrews 9:29
King James Bible
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

New King James Version
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

New American Standard Bible
so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

NASB 1995
so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

AND 1 PETER:

1 Peter 3:18
King James Bible
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

New King James Version
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

New American Standard Bible
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

NASB 1995
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

Why would I doubt the Word?
Either I believe or I do not believe. This is not interperative, it seems to me.

The Eucharist: I don't read anywhere that Peter or Andrew or any of the original disciples lifted up bread and called forth the Body. I believe they broke bread together "in rememberance of Me".

I cannot see it any way other than Jesus' "It is finished" was "not enough", and the Catholics believe that taking "in" the actual Body and Blood of our Lord needs to be repeated from one mass to the next, with an immediate prayer that a Mortal sin not be committed before the next mass or confession or we will go to Hell, or Purgatory.
And that somehow they have the Authority to do so!

Faith + Works. YIKES. IF Paul comes against a teaching of Works, if Jesus teaches against Works...shouldn't I?

Romans 11:6
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Submissive to the Pope to be saved.

WOW.
WHERE does the Word say this is true?
That you are forgiven and made clean, and then can lose it all again through the human brokenness of sin... and so have to do good things (more than faith? repentance?) to earn back our place in salvation.

GALATIANS 2:15-21 outlines it is by FAITH, Not Works that we are saved. Sufficiency by Faith.

Justified by Faith
¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that a person is not justified^[a] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

AND JAMES is always at the center of the works VS faith: HOW can it be missed?

JAMES 2:18
King James Bible
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

New King James Version
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

New American Standard Bible
But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

NASB 1995
But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

JESUS and His Grace of Forgiveness - it is enough.
I am sure of my salvation, as I am sure that I Love God, I am sure that God Loves me, and that I have made Jesus my Lord and my Saviour.
I speak these words.

My Catholic friends say that they cannot "know", no one can know, that they are saved and going to Heaven.

This is another thread to unravel (there are so many to consider) but staying on this point:
Jesus' death, once, was purposeful and complete.
There are no works to add to my salvation to secure it.
There is no penance and there are no confessions to add to my salvation to secure it.
It is only by His Grace that I am saved.

I confess, I change, I am convicted -

not to secure my salvation but because of it.

I am not well read enough, or sophisticated enough in my historical studies to defend more intellectually. But - blessed, as a child - innocently I can search the Word and Find Truth.

This blog-though it meanders - well, I have done what I can do this morning with so much pulling at my mind about the differences in this Catholic tradition. Admittedly, it is feeble but I too am a work in progress. The Holy Spirit is working in me as I ask direction and clarification.

Solo Scriptura - okay with me.

I do Stand for the Gospel, for the Word:
I do not defend it as though it might be endangered without my defense.
The Word stands.
It is the person(s) that may be endangered.

Sola Scriptura
Affirming the Authenticity, Accuracy, and Authority of the Bible – the Standard for Truth

Psalm 119:160 & 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“The entirety of Your word is truth… given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

1 John 2:2 ESV

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Hebrews 10:10 ESV

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Romans 6:10 ESV

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Hebrews 9:28 ESV

So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:26-28 ESV

For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 9:26 ESV

For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Hebrews 9:12 ESV

He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

John 1:29 ESV

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 11:25 ESV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

Matthew 20:28 ESV

Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

John 19:30 ESV

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Hebrews 10:12 ESV

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

Romans 5:8 ESV

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16-17 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Hebrews 2:9 ESV

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Romans 5:12 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

John 5:24 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

2 Corinthians 5:15 ESV

And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

1 John 3:16 ESV

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Romans 4:25 ESV

Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

1 John 3:5 ESV

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

1 Timothy 4:10 ESV

For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Galatians 3:13 ESV

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Romans 8:3 ESV

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

John 14:1-3 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

John 10:11 ESV

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

1 Peter 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Hebrews 2:14 ESV

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

2 Corinthians 5:14 ESV

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

1 Corinthians 15:3 ESV

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

Isaiah 53:6 ESV

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Revelation 21:4 ESV

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Hebrews 7:27 ESV

He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

Romans 8:11 ESV

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

John 10:17-18 ESV

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Isaiah 53:1-12 ESV

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ...

Romans 5:6 ESV

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Revelation 1:18 ESV

And the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Ephesians 5:2 ESV

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Romans 3:23 ESV

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

1 John 4:10 ESV

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 Peter 3:18-20 ESV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

Romans 6:11 ESV

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

John 3:18 ESV

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Matthew 26:28 ESV

For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 10:14 ESV

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Ephesians 1:7 ESV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

1 John 4:14 ESV

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Hebrews 10:4 ESV

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Acts 4:12 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

John 10:15 ESV

Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Philippians 2:8 ESV

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 1:4 ESV

Who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Colossians 2:14 ESV

By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Acts 20:28 ESV

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

1 Timothy 2:6 ESV

Who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Philippians 3:20-21 ESV

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

2 Corinthians 5:8 ESV

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

John 17:9 ESV

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

John 10:3 ESV

To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

John 5:28-29 ESV

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

John 5:21 ESV

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

Luke 23:43 ESV

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Isaiah 53:12 ESV

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

Posted 1 day ago

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