Apologetics for the Masses #522 - Will Pope Leo XIV Preach John 3:16? Pastor Dan Delzell's Response (Part 3)

(2) "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:26) An apple tree produces apples, and Christ produces good works in the life of every believer.

(3) Man is justified on the front end of his relationship with God, as evidenced by what Jesus told the thief on the cross who placed his faith in Christ: "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43) The thief's faith was alive, and so he was washed, saved, redeemed, born again, justified, sanctified, and forgiven right there on the spot.

My Comments
Don't you mean, "It's a shame that Catholics couldn't get things figured out 500 years ago"?  First of all, thank you for recognizing that your faith tradition did not exist until 500 years ago when Martin Luther went his separate way from the church.  Secondly, again you are showing your ignorance of the Catholic Faith.  We believe in John 3:16, James 2:26, and Luke 23:43, just as we believe in every single verse of Scripture.  Check the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).  Paragraphs 219 and 458 directly quote John 3:16.  Other paragraphs in the CCC reference John 3:16.  Paragraph 1815 directly quotes James 2:26.  Paragraphs 2616 and 1021 directly mention the good thief and others cite that passage indirectly.  What we do not necessarily believe in, however, are your private, non-authoritative, fallible interpretations of those verses. 

In other words, Catholics have no issue at all with what you call "three foundational points of Christian doctrine".  We believe and teach those very things.  We believe John 3:16.  We believe James 2:26.  We believe that man is justified "on the front end of his relationship with God".  Where you have a problem with us, though, is that we do not believe your private, non-authoritative, fallible interpretations of those Scripture passages.  We believe the Word of God, Pastor, we don't believe the Word of Dan.  

We also believe James 2:24, "You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone."  We also believe Rom 2:6-7, "For He will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing [good works] seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life."  We also believe in 2 Peter 3:21, "Baptism, which corresponds to this [being saved through water] now saves you."  We also believe in John 6:53, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."  We also believe in Matt 9:8, "When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, Who had given such authority [the authority on earth to forgive sins] to men."  And we believe in a whole lot more in the Scriptures that Lutherans apparently do not believe in.  

And, yes, it is a shame that Martin Luther decided to flaunt the authority of the Church founded by Jesus Christ and go his own way and rely solely upon his own private authority to start his own "church".  A church founded by a man, in Germany, in the 16th century, is not the church founded by Jesus Christ in Israel in the 1st century.

Pastor Dan Delzell
If Luther and the Catholic church had been able to agree on "Christianity 101," it could have laid a foundation for even broader reform in the church. And it could have led to important discussions about other matters of doctrine as well. Obviously, that is not how it played out.  

My Comments
"Christianity 101," Pastor, is that Jesus established a church that has authority...His authority...and we are to obey the teachings of that church in matters of faith and morals (Matt 28:20; 18:15-18; 16:18-19).  And, as you have indirectly pointed out above, that church was not the Lutheran church.  Martin Luther rebelled against the original church and its authority.  He brought division to Christianity with his novel dogmas of Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura and his rejection of authority.  And look at the mess that has resulted from it.  There was no "Reformation," rather, what Martin Luther wrought should be called the "Deformation".  

{I'll pick up here next issue...}