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How can the Catholic Church teach that it’s possible for us to lose our salvation when Jesus says that his sheep always hear his voice and that no one can snatch us out of his hand?Recall that the Catechism warns of “offending God’s love” and “incurring punishment” (2090). To fear incurring the punishment of hell implies that a person can’t have absolute assurance of his salvation. There is a Bible passage that some Protestants use to mount a challenge—John 10:27-29: My sheep hear my voice, and …

Catholicism teaches that the doctrines contained in Sacred Scripture (the Bible) and Sacred Tradition (the Church) are authoritative because God’s revelation is the source of both. The Catechism puts it this way: “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the word of God” (97).This means that “both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence” (82).To some Protestants, this might sound blasphemous. The idea th …

“You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition…thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on.” -Mark 7:9,13“Where’s that in the Bible?”Any Catholic who talks religion with Protestants has at some time been challenged with this question. It stems from the Protestant belief that we shouldn’t accept any doctrine that isn’t explicitly found in the Bible, since it alone is our infallible rule of faith—a belief known as sola script …

  Day 1: Spiritual or Religious? CHALLENGE: I consider myself spiritual rather than religious. Why isn’t that enough? DEFENSE: Because God loves you and wants even better things for you. When people say they are spiritual rather than religious, they frequently mean that, although they don’t practice a specific religion, they recognize there is more to the world than matter, that it has a spiritual dimension. This is good! But it doesn’t go very far. Wouldn’t it be …

  How a Popular Mis-Quotation Made it Into the Catechism In the sixteenth century, St. Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. Supporters and critics alike have called them “God’s Marines” in recognition of their founder’s military background and their willingness to be deployed around the world in service of the Church. The Jesuits’ founding document is even addressed to “Whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God beneath the …