Defending Your Catholic Faith
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Eastern Catholic Re-Evangelization Center The Book of Armaments ܞ Defending Your Catholic Faith by Gary Michuta CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE - SALVATION WHAT IS SALVATION AND JUSTIFICATION?.........................................................................................2 A Word of Warning...............................................................................................................2 Defining Terms: ....................................................................................................................2 Grace .....................................................................................................................................3 Faith.......................................................................................................................................3 Works ....................................................................................................................................5 -In Brief-....................................................................................................................................6 UNDERSTANDING JUSTIFICATION ........................................................................................................7 The Preparatory Stage ...........................................................................................................7 Justification Proper................................................................................................................8 After Initial Justification .......................................................................................................9 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................10 HOW PROTESTANTS USE THE BIBLE................................................................................................12 Trump Verses ......................................................................................................................13 Why Classical Catholic Apologetics Fail............................................................................14 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................16 THE CATHOLIC GOSPEL: EPHESIANS 2:8-10......................................................................................17 Preparatory Stage - Ephesians 2:8-9 ...................................................................................18 Justification Proper - Ephesians 2:10a ................................................................................18 After Initial Justification .....................................................................................................19 Ephesians 2:10: ...................................................................................................................19 The Pelagians and Antinomians..........................................................................................19 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................21 THE TALE OF TWO BRANCHES ..........................................................................................................22 Justification: A One Time Event Or A Process?.................................................................24 Answer the following questions:.........................................................................................24 Problems with Scripture......................................................................................................24 Adam and Eve .....................................................................................................................25 King David ..........................................................................................................................25 St. Paul ................................................................................................................................26 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................30 SALVATION AS OUR INHERITANCE ...................................................................................................31 1) We are adopted as children of God.................................................................................31 2) Eternal life is our inheritance as children........................................................................31 3) Once you are born again (that is baptized and regenerated) you cannot cease to be a child of God nor can you be re-born again or re-regenerated. ............................................31 Taking The Warning About Losing Your Inheritance Seriously ........................................33 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................35 KEEPING THE LAW............................................................................................................................36 God Does Demand Perfection, But Not Absolute Perfection .............................................37 Scripture ..............................................................................................................................38 Fulfilling the Law................................................................................................................39 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................40 ROMANS 2.........................................................................................................................................41 The Gentiles Being Justified ........................................................................................................41 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................43 ROMANS 3.........................................................................................................................................44 Justification through Faith ..........................................................................................................44 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................46 ROMANS 4.........................................................................................................................................47 Abraham Justified Through Faith ...............................................................................................47 Christ as the New Adam ..............................................................................................................48 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................49 ROMANS 6.........................................................................................................................................50 Baptism & Living the Life of Grace.............................................................................................50 ROMANS 7.........................................................................................................................................50 The Fleshly Man / Concupiscence...............................................................................................50 The Holy Spirit.............................................................................................................................51 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................52 CHAPTER TWO - THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE BIBLE WHAT IS SOLA SCRIPTURA?..............................................................................................................54 Fundamentalists and “Solo Scriptura” ................................................................................54 Evangelicals and Sola Scriptura..........................................................................................55 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................56 TAKING THE RIGHT FIRST STEP.........................................................................................................57 Differences in Evangelism: Catholic and Protestant...........................................................57 Achieving Both Goals .........................................................................................................58 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................60 AVOID THE RED HERRING.................................................................................................................61 The supremacy of the word of God.....................................................................................61 Red Herring 2 - The Glory of the Scriptures.......................................................................62 -In Brief-..................................................................................................................................63 SOLA SCRIPTURA