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Predestination According to Pascal

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

“It thus follows that God is never obligated to extend grace except to those who ask for it, and not to those who do not ask for it. And since no one can ask for the grace to pray unless he has it, then obviously God is never obligated to give anyone the grace to pray, since no one would persevere in asking for it unless it was continually given to him.

But because God has bound himself by his promises to give to the children of promise, before they ever request it, he has bound himself to give them the grace to pray so that they might thereby attain the grace to live well; but since the obligation only follows his promise, he is only obligated to those to whom he promised it—in other words, only to the predestined.”

Joint Declaration quotes

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

The following are a few quotes from the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church agreed upon in 1999 and subsequently adopted by the World Methodist Council as well. While it does not by any stretch put to rest the theological differences between the Catholic church and Protestantism, it does offer a new paradigm through which to view inter-church relations.

By grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works. (15)

Through Christ alone are we justified, when we receive this salvation in faith. (16)

Our new life is solely due to the forgiving and renewing mercy that God imparts as a gift and we receive in faith, and never can merit in any way. (17)

We confess together that all persons depend completely on the saving grace of God for their salvation. The freedom they possess in relation to persons and the things of this world is no freedom in relation to salvation, for as sinners they stand under God’s judgment and are incapable of turning by themselves to God to seek deliverance, of meriting their justification before God, or of attaining salvation by their own abilities. Justification takes place solely by God’s grace. (19)

When persons come by faith to share in Christ, God no longer imputes to them their sin and through the Holy Spirit effects in them an active love. These two aspects of God’s gracious action are not to be separated, for persons are by faith united with Christ, who in his person is our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30): both the forgiveness of sin and the saving presence of God himself. (22)

When Catholics emphasize the renewal of the interior person through the reception of grace imparted as a gift to the believer, they wish to insist that God’s forgiving grace always brings with it a gift of new life, which in the Holy Spirit becomes effective in active love. They do not thereby deny that God’s gift of grace in justification remains independent of human cooperation. (24)

We confess together that sinners are justified by faith in the saving action of God in Christ. By the action of the Holy Spirit in baptism, they are granted the gift of salvation, which lays the basis for the whole Christian life. They place their trust in God’s gracious promise by justifying faith, which includes hope in God and love for him. Such a faith is active in love and thus the Christian cannot and should not remain without works. But whatever in the justified precedes or follows the free gift of faith is neither the basis of justification nor merits it. (25)

We confess together that in baptism the Holy Spirit unites one with Christ, justifies, and truly renews the person. But the justified must all through life constantly look to God’s unconditional justifying grace. (28)

We confess together that the faithful can rely on the mercy and promises of God. In spite of their own weakness and the manifold threats to their faith, on the strength of Christ’s death and resurrection they can build on the effective promise of God’s grace in Word and Sacrament and so be sure of this grace. (34)

When Catholics affirm the “meritorious” character of good works, they wish to say that, according to the biblical witness, a reward in heaven is promised to these works. Their intention is to emphasize the responsibility of persons for their actions, not to contest the character of those works as gifts, or far less to deny that justification always remains the unmerited gift of grace. (38)

What About Guilt

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

It seems to me that there are two kinds of guilt. The first kind is the guilt of breaking God’s law. It’s like a judge in a court room that says “you’re guilty” whether you actually feel like your guilty or not. You just are because you broke God’s law. The Old testament often talks about this because God would command people to go make a sacrifice in the temple if they had sinned. Then they would not be held guilty for their sin. These sacrifices were a picture of Jesus Christ. He sacrificed himself for all sins that we have done. So it’s covered. Even though you are guilty of sinning God doesn’t hold you guilty; he puts the guilt on Jesus on the cross.

The second kind of guilt is what I would call psychological guilt. When you sin there is a voice in your head that says “that was bad.” It’s a good voice because you’re supposed to listen to it and stop doing what you were doing. But guilt happens when that voice keeps saying it over and over: “that was bad, that was bad, that was real bad.” And before long it starts saying “you’re bad because you do bad things”. When it says starts to say this, you start to feel trapped: “If I’m bad, then all I can do is bad.” Do you see what has happened? That voice–or rather, listening to that voice–has effectively taken the cross back out of your life.

Remember, Jesus actually took the guilt for your sins on himself. But that voice keeps on accusing you! What’s up with that? This voice is telling a half truth. It is true that you are a sinner and that you do bad things, but this does not determine your identity; it has no more power to define who you are because you do not belong to yourself anymore.
You are forgiven. That is what you are. You are in Christ, you are a new creation, you are clothed in righteousness. But this voice would have you think about the old self, the one that died with Christ. That is why the voice of guilt is what we call the accuser, or Satan. Jesus shows us the way to combat Satan: you tell him what God says about you. Some of the best passages for this are Romans 8 and Ephesians 1.

When you tell the accuser that you now belong to Christ and are a new creation, freed from the accusations of your sin, you are not merely playing mind games with yourself in order to promote positive thinking. God’s word has power for salvation. That means it has the power to actually change you. So when you rebuke the accuser and tell him that God’s word says you are forgiven, that same word can change you and your behavior. That’s what repentance is. It is an actual change. God’s truth causes you to turn away from sin and toward the the life of doing what it good. Notice: this change is not what makes you forgiven! You are forgiven when you are made one with Christ: you and I ARE forgiven. The work is done; Christ’s promise assures it. Repentance is tyour response to that truth. If you really receive the forgiveness of Jesus, then you don’t want to throw that in the trash by sinning more! In Romans 6 the Apostle Paul says “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?…Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

We see this beautifully demonstrated in the story of Zacchaeus. When the Word of God comes walking by in the flesh and blood of Jesus he immediately receives him saying “Come to my house!” then he responds to that Word with repentance, turning away from a life of fraud by giving half of his possessions to the poor. That was great, but he did one more thing, and it is very instructive for us.

Zacchaeus is now a forgiven man; he is repentant, having turned away from his sin by God’s grace, full of good works. Now when he thinks upon the sins he has done previously he knows that his sin does not just hurt himself, but it also hurts other people. So he does something that we call “making restitution”, or making things right. He says: “If I have defrauded anyone I will restore it four times over.” I repeat, Zacchaeus is already forgiven; this act is not earning his salvation. But the point of being a follower of Jesus is not just being forgiven, but living the good life! That is what Jesus wants for us. The good life is a life of love for others, and you can start with the ones you’ve wronged. You may be sure that the accuser had no power over that man.

So after you have spoken Christ’s truth to the accuser and have turned away from your sin to a life of doing good, the surest fire way to be done with guilt is to go make restitution. Anything less would have you mired in a fog that falls very short of the life Christ has for you. Restitution has many different forms. If you have spoken with anger, tell that person that you are sorry and seek their forgiveness. If you have stolen, go pay it back. If you have acted indecently toward a young woman or man, you go tell them that you have sinned against them and commit to purity. Be very specific. If you have looked at things that draw your mind away from the love of Christ and focused on lust or greed or coveted what you cannot or should not have, then you take your Bible to a quiet place and take a long time to talk to and listen to the True Lover of your soul. I will say it again: none of this will get you forgiven; YOU ARE FORGIVEN! Restitution puts you back in a place to be living free of the accusing lies of guilt. It allows Jesus to take you to more beautiful places.

Fiat Mihi

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

“Let it be according to your word” are the words of Mary when the Angel announced to her that she would bear a son who was to be great, and would be called the son of the Highest. These are also the words of the church. God has a plan for the church: to bring Christ to the world. So the church’s reply: “Let it be according to your word.”

This reply of Mary brought with it a world of suffering, as Simeon told her, “a sword will pierce through your own soul.” So also this means suffering for the church. When the church bears Christ and brings him to the world she is persecuted and mocked; she suffers enormously.

As the church reads about the life of Mary, she can find in her a reflection of herself. Mary is the first church, who first was the temple of Jesus Christ in her very flesh. Because of her obedience the church itself was born—or reborn rather, adopted by God so that Jesus is the first among brothers. In this sense Mary is the mother of the church, the first church who set the example that we might walk in.

The apostles tell us to follow the example that they left. In this sense they are our spiritual fathers. Mary leaves us not many words, but her example is indeed one to be followed and emulated by the church.

First, God’s word came to her. She did not understand it first saying “How will this be since I am a virgin.” When the angel assured her that God was accomplishing his plan of salvation for Israel she submitted, received God’s word by faith into her very body, incarnate as Jesus Christ. Here she becomes to exemplary mother of the church: she receives God’s word and accepts it by faith. The power of God’s word planted in her the Word Incarnate for the salvation of the world.

It is true to say that because of Mary’s obedience we received life. Furthermore we might say that Mary herself birthed God’s salvation into the world by her submission to God’s will. In this way also she is our mother. While the apostles teach with their words, Mary teaches by her example. As her children we do well to emulate her.

To Make a Good Confession

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

We are in the midst of an unambiguously pagan world.

How then should we act?

I Timothy 6:13-16 “I Charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

This pagan world speaks of spiritual evolution. They speak of the Universe as a cosmic energy which can be affected and influenced by the energy one puts out through thoughts and feelings. Light is something that is deep in the heart of every individual—if that individual can learn to discern it. This pagan world seeks to immortalize the human spirit through its own recognition of its own innate power. Each person is sovereign over his or her own destiny, directing it by thoughts and feelings; the energy that one puts out. They shrink from any idea of spiritual imperative; what is true and right is determined by each individual, as long as that person does not hurt ones neighbor.

This is what our fellow Americans believe. They are articles of faith that are simply assumed to be correct. Feeling determines reality for them.

We speak of spiritual death to our own desires in order to have spiritual life. We speak of God as the source of all life and the sustainer of all things. We believe that when we are submitted to the will of God, then we are truly fulfilled. We believe that we lose ourselves and our own opinions to the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection and his commandments. We believe that Jesus is sovereign over the universe and over our lives. What is true is determined by the person and character of the Triune God: love in relationship. This is what we believe. This is the good confession. If Jesus could make it before Pontius Pilate we can make it before this world without apology or qualifiers. Early Christians were called “atheists” because they rejected the Roman pantheon of gods. Today Christians are called “narrow” and “bigoted” because we reject the premise that all spirituality leads to God.

Nothing has really changed. We have a hope in a life to come, not this one. Our hope is sure. If our generation rejects us, then we wait for our Vindicator. Meanwhile we make the good confession and seek to be “free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” To him be glory, honor and dominion forever…even in the 21st Century.