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In short, Catholics must believe everything that the Church professes about what God has revealed to be true: the articles of faith. There are also precepts—basic requirements of religious practice—that the Church instructs believers to observe. And then there is the long list of pious beliefs and practices that, though not exactly required, are part of the rich fabric of Catholic life.   For the teachings on articles of faith, the place to begin is with the creeds. This w …

Can you lose your salvation?Some Protestants believe in the doctrine of “Eternal Security” and would say no.Catholics take a different view.Apologist Karlo Broussard tells us Galatians 5:4 is a go-to text for Catholics when it comes to defending the belief that Christians can lose their salvation:You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.Notice that St. Paul says the Galatians were “severed from Christ” and that t …

Faith and Reason: Both Come from God Both the truths of faith and truths of reason come ultimately from God, who is the truth. The Catechism, citing the first and second Vatican Councils, puts the point as follows: “Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.” …

Pope Leo X Condemns Luther’s Teachings In Exsurge Domine, the bull in which Pope Leo X formally condemns Martin Luther’s heretical teachings, the pope refers to Luther as “the wild boar from the forest” who seeks to destroy the vineyard, “an image of the triumphant Church” entrusted to Peter. The comparison of Luther to a wild boar is appropriate for two reasons: (1) wild boars are aggressive, short-tempered, and easily provoked, and they will not hesitate to attack h …

What Did the Early Christians Believe About Baptism? The Unity of the Early Church on Baptism Baptism wasn’t a controversial issue among the first Christians—it was a point of remarkable unity. Despite early theological debates on other topics, there was widespread agreement among the Church Fathers on the essential meaning and effects of baptism. Everett Ferguson, a Protestant elder, biblical scholar, and Church historian, explores this in depth in his landmark work Baptism in the …