See this is the lie that the mainstream Christian “faithful” believe and it is I think an attack by Satan.  The mainstream Christian teaching is that we are to make ‘reasonable” attempts to be holy, falling short is certainly okay, come as you are, there is no need to change you…Christ has already perfected you by His resurrection. 

Hmm…did ya catch that?   No need to change.  I’m already perfect.  I think I should switch Churches because that sounds a lot easier.  Perhaps my new Pastor could tell my wife I’m perfect and we will no longer discuss (not argue) the dishes or laundry since being perfect, I shall have no need for such tasks.

[back to reality]

The real question is this: Is faith reasonable?  Is it reasonable?  Come on, think long and hard about this.  Is it?  Most people immediately say “No” to the question.  Please think about this very hard.

Let me ask you something…Is it reasonable that a man, who looks like a man, walks like a man, and talks like a man…could heal someone with his words?  Or how about turn water into wine?  Or raise someone from the dead?  How about have a basic conversation with guys who we know already died? 

Wait, let me guess…you think that the Bible is a collection of stories meant to inspire faith…but they aren’t really actual factual events.  I get it, you believe the Word of God is inspired, but that it is fiction used to inspire us.  I mean come on, how is it possible that a man can raise another from the dead using nothing but his words.  Yeah right…

So tell me….What Do you believe in?  Is Jesus a happy guy who died for our sins and did so as a human, with nothing special about him except that he was a great guy?  Golly thanks Jesus.

Or maybe Jesus didn’t really exist and the stories were made up over the years to help children understand moral teachings…and then that mean old Catholic Church men’s club needed something to control people with so they made the stories part of history so that 2010 years later they could have beautiful buildings and become the largest human rights organization on the planet.  Of course that last part is an unintended consequence.  J

Let’s be serious….ah…for real this time.

If you or I say that we are “Christian” then we can no longer subscribe to “reasonable” expectations.  Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that is a fact.  Prove me wrong……  Thank you…. Now that we agree say it with me.

JESUS CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD!

How is that reasonable? 

The truth is that we have allowed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to become a bedtime story meant to make people feel good about what happens when they die.  “Oh honey, if you just believe in Jesus all will be well.”  Believing in Jesus Christ means not just given rhetoric to good feelings!  It means transforming your life to a supernatural existence in which everything – all thoughts, feelings, actions, words – are all directed toward a higher purpose of achieving God’s Will in the world.  Remember that cute little prayer that the baby Jesus taught us (I’m saying baby Jesus because I like the baby Jesus!)

Our Father who art in Heaven…..THY WILL BE DONE….

If we are not focused on His Will then our faith cannot be real.  Sorry friends, no backsliding here…just real action with real purpose and a real faith.

So…is your faith reasonable?  Or are you a Christian…

We live today in a world of comfort.  You may disagree…perhaps you will tell me of the number of people suffering from hunger, poverty, and the like.  And you are correct, a portion of the world suffers, but overall we are an ungrateful glutton bunch.  Look around, note the number of things people own…the amount of wasted food at any restaurant or house…the amount of apathy among men. 

Last night while in Adoration I read this:

And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?” But Satan answered the LORD and said, “Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing? Have you not surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land. But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face.”  - Job 1:8-11

While Job had everything he praised the Lord who is worthy to be praised.  Satan argued that Job is of course an upright servant of the Lord, for God has allowed him to have many possessions and a wonderful family.  The Lord hath looked with favor on Job.

So the Lord, knowing the strength of Job’s faith allowed Satan to test him.  In the first trial all of Job’s livestock is stolen and all of his seven children are killed on the same day at the same time.  Job, being the upright and fitting servant of the Lord responds by saying this…

Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair. He cast himself prostrate upon the ground, and said, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!” In all this Job did not sin, nor did he say anything disrespectful of God. – Job 1:20-22

BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!  Are you kidding me!  Job praises God on the very day when his livelihood is taken from him!  And on the same day in which his children are killed!  Are you kidding me!!

See if you can follow me on this.  The U.S. is the richest country in the history of the world, we all have houses, cars, refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, Costco, Wal-Mart, Target, Guitar Center, Lehboner Children’s Hospital, St. Jude, and on and on and on.  People born in the U.S. are the luckiest people on the planet because no matter your race, in the U.S. you have more opportunity to survive then anywhere else. 

We have all of this, and yet we are not upright and worthy servants of the Lord.  You tell me how many people here truly, honestly, when attacked by Satin say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”  Rather people respond “God why have you forsaken me!” 

America…you are weak.  We call ourselves a Christian nation and then we live and act like pagans. 

Christ tells us in the Gospel of Matthew (7:21) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

I wish to be like Job.  I wish to honor the Lord with all of my being every day, despite the weather, or my house, my car, my groceries, my friends, my family.  I wish to be like Job more today than ever before in my life.  Bring it on Satan…you haven’t met a man more focused on Praising the Lord.  I will not be stopped because I do not walk under my own power but only by the Grace of God go I. 

Please don’t mistake this as a woe to us post.  I am writing this more as a join me, let’s change the world, let’s make Christians Christian again.  We know that Christ has the victory!  This time will pass and He shall reign again in the hearts of all men.  Let us answer God’s call to carry our crosses, not count the cost of our labor, accept a fair daily wage, and Love unceasingly.  That maybe we could answer the Lord as Job does…

Then Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes. – Job 42:1-6

 I wish not to understand what God calls me to, but to have the Grace to say Yes and do it.  I pray that we all have this Grace and that, like Mary, we respond “Let it be done to me according to THY word.”

God bless you today and deliver you from all evil…because Satan isn’t done working, so neither should we be.

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As a fun study, perhaps as a refresher or as a first timer, I though you all would like to read up on this topic. Here are some notes to help you.

First: Catholics believe that Christ’s act of sacrifice on the cross was a once and for all act that needs no additional work nor help to accomplish our salvation. The Mass, for example, is a re-participation in Christ’s sacrifice. Often times Catholics get attacked for re-crucifying Christ. This is just not true either in our theology nor biblically.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.”

Second: There is no assurance of Salvation. In fact, we can engage in the sin of presumption if we presume we are saved no matter what our actions are. The Catechism states in paragraph 2092: “There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God’s almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).”

Also, as we attempt to be more Christ-like we look to the Apostles of the Church for guidance. Paul himself did not presume his salvation.

“I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God.” – 1 Cor 4:4-5

Paul states “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time.”

Also, read this…

“…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” – Phil 3:10-12

Third: Do we believe we can work our way into heaven? No more than we can fake our way through American Idol.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not
because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Eph 2:8-10

Also, we read in Romans 1:17 “For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.”

We believe that it is our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that brings salvation. However we also believe that one who believes in our Lord will resound with internal joy by being in relationship with Him who is God. It is this inner faith and joy that causes us to purse conversion and manifests itself in our lives. We believe that while our faith brings us into relationship with God, our works reflect what we believe and are also important.

“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a
brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. – Jam 2:14-26

Also, Revelation 22:12 states “Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds.”

We must live our lives according to the will of God, otherwise our faith is just lip service and is nothing, or dead as it states in James.

Please listen to the show and go to http://www.thecatholiccafe.com/listen.html to listen to all of the shows of The Catholic Café. This is a great ministry in Memphis and a great tool for you to learn more of the faith.

If you have any questions about what Catholics believe, email me at bob@bobnicholas.com and I will be happy to help.

God bless