Roses wrote:There was a topic in another forum and I wanted to reply but I couldn't because I guess it was only for moderators.
You cannot view those forums that are restricted to moderators since they are hidden. What forum are you referring to that did not allow you to post a reply?
Anyway...
The Holy Spirit was part of the subject and rightly so. I was "saved" when I was baptized; and when I was baptized the Holy Spirit entered also. I was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son AND the Holy Spirit!
5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5; NIV)
Some people don't believe in being baptized with water, much less being baptized as infants. I was baptized as an infant; it is biblical.
16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas (1 Corinthians 1:16; NIV)
15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us. (Acts 16:15; NIV)
Infant baptism is most definitely not Biblical. Unless one believes baptism is nothing more than getting wet.
Mark 16:16
16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. NAS
What makes you think Stephanas and Lydia were married with children or if they were that the children were infants who could not first believe? Lydia was a wealthy women based on her occupation so her household would have also included slaves and the fact Luke does not record she had a husband adds to your assumptions. You are reading details into those passages that cannot be confirmed.
Whenever there are converts to the church (True Church of Christ - Catholic Church), they are baptized if they weren't baptized before. If they don't convert to Catholism until they are adults, of course they will be baptized as adults. So you have to keep in mind that in the days of the first Apostles, they had new converts. So those new converts were of course adults. But their whole households were baptized including babies. So those new converts would then include any new member of their household as soon as they were born into it.
I see a couple of assumptions in this that are mind boggling. First the True Church of Jesus Christ is composed of all who believe and do the will of the Father regardless of what church they are afffiliated with. Second, if you read the Bible there is no indication that infants were baptized. In Acts 8 we read this:
Acts 8:12
12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. NAS
I don't read that Philip baptized children let alone infants.
So if you ask a Catholic if they are "born again" the answer is YES! But your salvation CAN be lost. How you ask? By sinning of course. Sin separates us from God and therefore our salvation is lost. That is why I love my Catholic faith. We have the Sacrament of Confession where I can once again be reconciled with Jesus. Confession with a priest is also biblical; for another topic which I will post another time... gotta run.
While it is true that one can loose their salvation, once lost salvation cannot be regained.
Hebrews 6:4-8
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. 7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. NAS
Sin does not cost one their salvation; sin grieves the Holy Spirit, which takes us out of fellowship with God. Confession of sin repairs our fellowship with God.
1 John 1:5-10
5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. NAS
Even though I don't have an NIV bible I used the quotes from that version of the bible since most of you here are Protestant. I don't own an NIV bible because it is not Catholic since Luther removed 7 books from the Old testament. So I got the verses from BibleGateway.com. I myself have three different Catholic versions; Ignatius RSV (Revised Standard Version), Douay-Rheims (which is the English translation of the Latin Vulgate; which is the Latin translation of the Original Greek & Hebrew bible) and I also have the NAB (New American Bible).
I believe you have your facts reversed. The Catholic Church added books to the Hebrew Bible. The Jews were given authority to perserve the Old Testament, not Greek men who included books the Jews reject as inspired.
Matthew 23:34-36
34 "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35 that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 "Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. NAS
Jesus did not recognize any prophets or writings after Zechariah, which shows the OT canon was closed or completed by 516 B.C., which was the end of the Babylonian Captivity.