Category: Salvation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMFqva2mHho Can I pray for a dead person? Other religions talk about there being second chances after the point of death and so there might be a good reason to pray for a dead person or be baptized for the dead. However, from a Christian perspective, my answer would be “No, you should not pray for a dead person.” The main reason is because it's not going to change their fates. Their decision has been made and their destiny has been set. Hebrews 9:27 talks about this where it says that for all people, they are appointed to die once and then after that there's judgment. Judgment happens right after you die. Also we see in the parables of Jesus teaching about the importance of being ready now, not knowing…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYaKQJVsYd8 Did Jesus go to hell? After Jesus died on the cross, where did he go until he rose three days later? Acts 2:27 quotes Psalm 16:10 and referring to Christ's resurrection saying that his soul “would not be left in hell” but on the cross Jesus told the thief “Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.” So which is it? Did Jesus go to hell for three days or did he go to paradise?  In order to understand what the Bible teaches about Hell, we have to understand the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as “hell” in the English Bible. In the Old Testament, the word translated “hell” is the Hebrew word “Sheol”. “Sheol” literally means “the grave” or “the afterlife”. It doesn't necessarily mean a…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuabwdOIRd8 This evening John Ankerberg will examine what Roman Catholicism teaches concerning their doctrine of purgatory. The Catholic church says purgatory is a place where Christians go at death, who are guilty of venial sins. Such Christians suffer in purgatory until fully purified. Not only are Christians purged of venial sins, but they must also pay any temporal punishment still due other sins. Catholicism states that a person does not remain and suffer in purgatory forever as one does who is in hell. Rather after a person's soul is cleansed of imperfections, he then goes to heaven. Protestants strongly deny that the doctrine of purgatory is biblical.  Protestants maintain that scripture says there is only a heaven and a hell but no purgatory. Protestants believe it is an affront to…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5ZZjfMSWKc Transubstantiation is the doctrine or belief in which the elements of communion or the Lord's Supper or the Lord's table supernaturally transform into the real physical body and blood of Jesus Christ during Mass. This view is uniquely held by the Roman Catholic Church but some form of “real presence” - as it's called - is held by Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans and some Anglican churches. The Calvinist reformed tradition believes in a real spiritual presence but not one of substance so most of the remaining Protestant traditions don't believe in any real presence at all, either spiritual or physical, but they believe that the Eucharist is a memorial and a proclamation of Christ's work on the cross.  In 1545 AD, the Roman Catholic Council of Trent at Session 8…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqb4xoF14Sg Tonight, both sides will present the evidence for and against the practice of confession. John’s guests are Fr. Mitchell Pacwa, an ordained Roman Catholic Priest who is a member of the Society of Jesus—a Jesuit. He has an earned Doctor of Philosophy degree and is currently a professor at Loyola University in Chicago. John’s second guest is Protestant scholar Dr. Walter Martin, Director and Founder of the Christian Research Institute in California.  Ankerberg: We’re talking about some of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and specifically, “How can your sins be forgiven?” After a Roman Catholic has been baptized and come into the Roman Catholic Church, if he commits a mortal sin, he must come back and regain his salvation—his justifying grace that was obliterated when he committed…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj4qcm_Y47w Let me read you another thing because this really bothers me: Indulgences are dispensed from “a treasury entrusted by Christ to the blessed Peter and his successors Christ vicars on earth, to distribute to the faithful for their salvation.” Volume 1 page 70 That says that when Christ left the earth, he gave Peter this treasury of merits of the saints and Peter could dispense that couple by couple to worthy people and thus “distribute to the faithful for their salvation”. Where does stuff get into that treasury from? In case we didn't know, they explain that the treasury includes the prayers and good works of the blessed Virgin Mary plus the prayers and good works of all the saints who attained their own salvation. The bible says we…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brNwijQ3g90 Today's topic is penance and works. Do we earn forgiveness or eternal life? Our Roman Catholic friends believe that we need to do an act or acts of  penance to have our sins forgiven. In an excerpt from the Catholic catechism, under the Sacrament of Penance, it says “There remains, however, some indebtedness to divine justice which must be canceled here or hereafter. In order to have it canceled here, the pennant receives from his confessor what is usually called his “penance”, usually in the form of certain prayers which is he is to say or to do certain actions which are be performed such as visits to a church, the stations of the cross, alms deeds, fasting, prayer are the chief means of satisfaction, but other penitential works…

https://youtu.be/pmbrbouyKgA The question of whether Roman Catholics are Christians or not is a very natural question for Protestants to raise because of how different our views of salvation are. When Catholics say that you're not saved by grace alone, through faith alone, it raises the question quite naturally. When Roman Catholics say according to our theology, according to our official teaching, we are saved both by faith and by good works, it raises the question for a Protestant. In response, I think we have to say, first of all, that many Roman Catholics are, no doubt, true Christians, as many of them as have repented of their sins sincerely and have trusted in Christ, are born again by faith in Christ Jesus and are saved on that basis. And they…

https://youtu.be/DRDOYgjQZV4 This evening John Ankerberg will examine what Roman Catholicism teaches concerning the doctrine of justification and what are the issues surrounding this doctrine that divide Catholics and Protestants today. The doctrine of justification deals with the question how can a sinful person be accepted by a holy and righteous God. Both Roman Catholics and Protestants agree that this doctrine is important since if a man seeks to be forgiven in a way in which he cannot be forgiven, then he won't be forgiven. Both Catholics and Protestants agree that the benefits and merits of Christ are necessary for a man to receive justification but where Catholics and Protestants disagree is how do the merits of Christ become mine.  Catholicism carried to its logical conclusion is a denial of justification…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5ZZjfMSWKc Transcript of the video Roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine consumed during Mass are the actual body and blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine. Therefore, the Mass is instituted to represent and continue the sacrifice of the Cross. Catholics refer to the following verses to support their doctrine. Matthew 26:26­28 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (NIV) John 6:51­52 51 I am the…