Comments on Evangeliku: The Blood of His Cross

To Dr. Mizzi how do you interpret this passage fro...

2009-09-06T07:05:54.416+02:00

To Dr. Mizzi how do you interpret this passage from the Bible:

James 5:20:"...let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will SAVE his soul from death and WILL COVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS."

It looks like a "good work" that can SAVE a man's soul from HELL and also have an ATONING VALUE to it by COVERING MULTITUDE of sins.

You always say according to your theology that any good works or sacrifices we do are in vain, doesn't impress God and have no atoning value to Him. Those were your exact words.

I wonder how are you going to wiggle this time. It always makes me sigh when you try to wiggle out.

To Mr. Anonymous who said bravo to Mr. Mizzi and h...

2009-07-21T08:13:34.765+02:00

To Mr. Anonymous who said bravo to Mr. Mizzi and had stated again and again the old misrepresentation of Catholics’s justification by saying of "earning" our way to the Father.

Where do you guys get that idea from? I guess from Joe Mizzi, disgruntled ex-priest or any catholic basher.

When will you ever stop the lie?

Again if you read the official Council of Trent's justification.

The problem is the failure to understand the KIND of works that cannot be used for justification. Paul is clear in Romans 4:4 that "works of debt," which are works done prior to faith, are non-salvific, since he already told us that works done in faith and repentance to God are salvific in Romans 2:6-7, 13.

"Faith apart from works of law" only means that "works of law" cannot be added to faith for justification. Paul does not say "Faith apart from love" or "Faith apart from hope," since love and hope are under God's grace. "Works of law" are further explained by Paul in Romans 4:4 as works of legal debt, works upon which someone boasts and expects payment or strict merit. But Paul does not put the works of Romans 2:4-13 into this category, nor the works of Romans 14:10-12, or those of 1 Cor. 3:12-17; 2 Corinthians 5:10; or any number of passages which speak about works determining our salvation.

More on the comments on Mr. Mizzi’s Poll April 2009. “Can anyone see the Lord without holiness?” by Anonymous on Catholic’s doctrine on Justification.

Just logically speaking.. Why would Christ teach g...

2009-07-15T16:51:24.211+02:00

Just logically speaking..
Why would Christ teach good actions (works) and following his ways and then say "...But it's ok, you don't have to do anything, just believe, don't worry about good works, because your all going to heaven anyway!". He taught us for a reason.
The excuse is always, 'but I'm gonna sin anyway'. Well no, you don't have to perform mortal sins do you? And by asking for forgiveness and trying to live our lives closer to God, we can do stop ourselves from falling into such sin.

I am sorry but I have to say bravo to Mr. Mizzi fo...

2009-06-30T21:32:57.252+02:00

I am sorry but I have to say bravo to Mr. Mizzi for having the courage to come forth and declare that the way that Catholics practice their faith is by far not the only correct way.

On a far more personal note, I have family who feel strong guilt if they miss a communion or mass on a holy day, and I cannot even imagine the guilt they would feel if they couldn't fast, etc. They don't know why they feel that way, but they will admit that they feel that their works are contributing to whether or not they shall be forgiven and reach the kingdom of heaven some day. So here makes Mr. Mizzi's point.

There is nothing WRONG with fasting, sacrifice, etc. But it doesn't earn a place with the father because NOTHING that we can do as humans can make us sinless. Nothing. Only Christ alone can wipe our souls clean.

The time spent trying to earn forgiveness could easily be better spent in loving service of the Lord and our fellow men.

I am joyful at the intelligent arguments of the Ca...

2009-05-10T09:32:00.000+02:00

I am joyful at the intelligent arguments of the Catholics here. Defending the True Faith and with prayer, the sacraments and the Holy Spirit, these apologetics are leading many home. Praise God.

I do not think that most of the false teachers want to rebel against God; they are honest and sincere people; so I pray that God guide them back into the Fullness of the Faith where they will find the depths of God's gift to the world in the consolation of One Shepherd, one flock!

Follow - up: On the first place, how would you kn...

2009-05-06T19:06:00.000+02:00

Follow - up:

On the first place, how would you know your "hermeneutic essentials" are correct and true?

Who has the Authority that says they are true? Is it binding to all Christians? Where do you get the Authority from?

If you say the Bible, do the Bible say and grant YOU that authority?

How about other churches that claim the same authority like the Mormon church, Jehovah's witness, Seventh day Adventists and a lot more? Don't tell by just reading the Bible they are not qualified and not been granted the same authority as you have assumed yourself the Bible bestowed on you?

When Jesus commissioned His Apostles He gave them His authority to fullfill its mission regardless of generations and not just to any fellow.

Bishops are the modern successors of the Apostles and you could trace that lineage from the very beginning of the Catholic Church.

Joe, look and investigate from any secular-historical books or even the dictionary.

It is just a matter of obedience to the authority which God had established.

I read most of Joe Mizz's articles and what struck...

2009-04-29T06:59:00.000+02:00

I read most of Joe Mizz's articles and what struck me the most was his admission that he could be fallible in interpreting the Holy Scriptures.

If you admitted that you could make an error in your interpretation and thus subsequently teach wrong doctrines to your congregation.

It is needless to point out that if the Christian Faith is indeed a revealed doctrine, which men must believe under pain of eternal loss, the gift of infallibility was necessary to the Church. Could she err at all, she might err in any point. The flock would have no guarantee of the truth of any doctrine.

The "arrogance" of the claim of the Catholic Church is the same as her Master:

EITHER:

1. The Church is a liar.

2. OR The Church is true of what she claims to be.

As the Divinely appointed teacher of revealed truth, the Church is infallible. This gift of inerrancy is guaranteed to it by the words of Christ, in which He promised that His Spirit would abide with it forever to guide it unto ALL truth (John 14:16; 16:13).
(not just your hermeneutic essentials).

Guys, now I remember a holy priest once said, "at ...

2009-04-27T22:36:00.000+02:00

Guys, now I remember a holy priest once said, "at the heart of heresy is a contradiction".

Thanks and God Bless.

Hello Stef, You are absolutely right in your asse...

2009-04-27T22:27:00.000+02:00

Hello Stef,

You are absolutely right in your assessment.

The problem started when Joe Mizzi and the rest of the protestant world tried to exegete James 2:24,"You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone....so faith without works is dead also."

The expression "faith alone" only appears once in the Bible—in James 2:24—where it is rejected and CONDEMNED.

So in order to get around the plain text of the Bible, Joe tried to substitute the word "faith" to "dead faith". But clearly James was not speaking and giving definition of the word "dead faith", James was stating a fact.

Granted, let's clearly substitute the word "dead faith" whenever the text mentions "faith" if it makes sense to you.

So Joe faces a dilemma here, he must now formulate a "dead faith" and a "saving faith" to distinguish between 2 kinds of faith.

1. "Saving faith": a faith that must be accompanied by good works.

2. "Dead faith": a faith not accompanied by good works.

Whatever you choose both are correct in a sense that the necessity of good works must be present in order for faith to be "saving" or "genuine" or your faith is dead as the Bible (Apostle James) clearly stated.

In conclusion, I think Joe is in agreement with the Catholic Church, he just don't realized it.

I'm sorry if I interjected in this blog, I'm not a...

2009-04-27T20:06:00.000+02:00

I'm sorry if I interjected in this blog, I'm not a theologian but to comment on the previous post about faith and works.

Let's not throw verses at each other but by common reason.

I really don't follow the logic behind only faith is necessary for salvation and works is not.

Articles from Joe implied that faith becomes "saving" or "genuine" if it is accompanied by good works in fact he said it is a MUST or otherwise faith is dead.

However, Joe still insist that only "saving" faith and not good works is necessary for salvation.

I think there exist a cognitive dissonance here.

If good works is necessary in order for a "saving faith" to be "genuine" how could one remove good works and still call it "saving faith"? Wherein good works is a necessary ingredient on the first place for faith to be "saving"?

Therefore good works is thus necessary requirement for salvation because without which faith is not at all "saving" but dead.

Do I make sense to you, guys?

Bravo to 2000 year old catholic for his comments a...

2009-04-27T18:00:00.000+02:00

Bravo to 2000 year old catholic for his comments about sacrifice!

Dear Calvary Christian, All of the arguments writ...

2009-04-27T17:59:00.000+02:00

Dear Calvary Christian,

All of the arguments written by Mr. Mizzi against the caholic church can easily be dismissed by just one book, "Catholicism and Fundamentalism" by Karl Keating.

Let the Holy Spirit guide you, happy reading!

They (catholics)are starting to make more sense, b...

2009-04-27T06:43:00.000+02:00

They (catholics)are starting to make more sense, biblically and secularly speaking.

I read both sides of the arguments but what impressed me the most was the solid arguments put up by catholic apologist on the discourse of the Bread of Life, specially the book entitled, "Not By Bread Alone" by Robert Sungenis compared to most of the protestant's counter arguments (including this one).

This is your doctrine defend it.

Stef90, I really don't know if Joe Mizzi will "ge...

2009-04-26T12:02:00.000+02:00

Stef90,

I really don't know if Joe Mizzi will "get" the idea of catholicism, if he belongs to one of the guys who truly hated the catholic church and the ones who mistakenly out of their ignorance. (fr. Bishop Sheen)

>A. With this kind of reasoning and logic as with the rest of them, "Why do you call your priest "father"? do you know Jesus taught that call no one father because there is only one Father who is in Heaven".

>B. Or why do you catholics worship the images of Christ in statues? that's idolatry!

Even my 6th grade middle school kid could make a correct interpretation of these verses from the Bible.

Then why did Jesus Himself call Abraham "father" if the word father is for God the Father only?

Why did Paul called himself "father" to Timothy?

Why did Stephen called Abraham "father"?

Why is the 4th commandment, "Honor thy Father and .."

and so many more. So what did Jesus Mean?

B> Mr. Mizzi was insisting that he is the authority of what the catholic church truly teaches that is, catholics worship the "image" of Jesus.

And he was quoting St. Thomas Aquinas in his catechism.

I would like to remind him that St. Thomas was not the Apostolic Authority or Magisterium of the Church. People could make mistakes even for the godly in their exegesis and theology.

The part quoted by Mr. Mizzi on St. Thomas's thesis about images didn't make it to the official Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is a FACT.

With this ridiculous charge he made against the Catholic Church even a modern day Jew (or even Moses from the Ten Commandments)would have laugh at him.

Yet, he was trying very hard to make his case.

The folly of such acts deviate from the true idolatry we see in the world today...the idolatry of money, drugs, sex and other stuff that some people truly worship in place of God.

So, I don't know if he (Joe Mizzi)belongs to such group as Bishop Fulton Sheen said in the 60's.

Maybe,who knows, the Grace of God can work wonders.

God Bless.

I feel so sorry for Joe Mizzi, he was once a catho...

2009-04-24T19:14:00.000+02:00

I feel so sorry for Joe Mizzi, he was once a catholic and went to protestantism,I think to the branch of Reformed Baptist, if I stand corrected.

He had no idea whatsoever of what a precious gift given by Jesus being born as a catholic (universal).

People from different backgrounds most from scholarly, bible believing protestant christians who made a switch towards catholicism found the fullness of Christ and tell us the price they paid for just following His Truth.

I hope and pray and I know someday Joe will eventually come home to his Church of birth with the likes of Hilaire Belloc and Baylor's Dr.Francis Beckwith.

Joe,just continously seek His Truth and
let His grace guide you back.

In service of the Most Holy Eucharist!

ATTENTION: Mr. Joe Mizzi Your article was focuse...

2009-04-23T21:25:00.000+02:00

ATTENTION: Mr. Joe Mizzi

Your article was focused on the Blood of His Cross (Sacrifice)as the all-sufficient atonement, satisfaction and propitiation for the sins of the whole world.

To which Catholic Church wholeheartedly agree with you and being as part of our own Catechism.

Our acts of praise,penance,fasting and self-denial/sacrifice etc. have an atonement value for our sins IF done for the love of God and NOT IN ANY way contradict Jesus' Atonement.

THE CRUCIAL REASONS WHY:

MR MIZZI:"...prayers, fast, or do some other religious act, as a form of penance...."that is, to make satisfaction for their sins", are not Biblical and THAT God is not impressed by these and are in vain and worthless in His eyes.

2000: Do you know the meaning and definition of the word, "SACRIFICE"?

Look at the any dictionary, SACRIFICE: noun. "is an offering of any animal, human life or any thing or kind to a deity or divine being (GOD) in PROPITIATION, ATONEMENT, SATISFACTION or HOMAGE".

Now, look at these verses from the Bible:

EXHIBIT A: (Romans 12:1)"I therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to OFFER your bodies as living SACRIFICES that are HOLY and PLEASING to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship."

---So, Paul is pretty clear, we could use and OFFER OUR bodies as SACRIFICES(atonement,propitiation..look the definition in dictionary)that are PLEASING to God.Paul didn't say only Jesus' Sacrifice is pleasing to God.

EXHIBIT B: (1 Peter 2:5)
"you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to OFFER up spiritual SACRIFICES acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

---Great Apostle Peter also said that we as christians can offer ourselves as SACRIFICES (atonement, propitiation) to God.

EXHIBIT C: (Hebrews 13:15)
"Through Him then, let US continually OFFER up a SACRIFICE of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name."

---Very clear we could continually OFFER OUR PRAISES (human acts) to God as SACRIFICE.

EXHIBIT D: (Joel 2:12): "Be converted to Me with all your heart, in FASTING and in weeping and in mourning."

---God shows us how to be converted back to Him: BY fasting(human act of self-sacrifice) and weeping and in mourning (sincere repentance).

FOR LAST EXHIBIT TO SHOW HOW THE DOTS(verses)FIT TOGETHER:

EXHIBIT E: “Now I rejoice in my SUFFERINGS for your SAKE, and in my flesh I COMPLETE what is LACKING in Christ’s afflictions for the SAKE of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24-25).

THEREFORE: All our praises, fastings and self-sacrifices directed to and out of love to God are ALL important and have an atonement value and PLEASING to Him!

Fasting and self-sacrifice as a virtue in context ...

2009-04-22T09:19:00.000+02:00

Fasting and self-sacrifice as a virtue in context for the love of God:

An act is virtuous through being directed by reason to some virtuous good. Now this is consistent with fasting (self-sacrifice/denial), because fasting is practiced for a threefold purpose.

First, in order to bridle the lusts of the flesh, wherefore the Apostle says (2 Corinthians 6:5-6): "In fasting, in chastity," since fasting is the guardian of chastity. For, according to Jerome "Venus is cold when Ceres and Bacchus are not there," that is to say, lust is cooled by abstinence in meat and drink.

Secondly, we have recourse to fasting in order that the mind may arise more freely to the contemplation of heavenly things: hence it is related (Daniel 10) of Daniel that he received a revelation from God after fasting for three weeks.

Thirdly, in order to satisfy for sins: wherefore it is written (Joel 2:12): "Be converted to Me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning."

The same is declared by Augustine in a sermon : "Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one's flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, kindles the true light of chastity."

It is Biblical for christians to do fasting, self-sacrifice and mortifications for penance and atonement for sins and does not in any way contradict Jesus' sacrifice.

Anonymous, while I agree with your comments, prote...

2009-04-22T08:26:00.000+02:00

Anonymous, while I agree with your comments, protestant's theology is against the "add" concept to the "once and for all" suffering of Christ. They don't understand the sign of true love which is sharing and participating as One Body.

As the great Apostle Paul said..if one part of the body feels pain the whole body felt it too, including the HEAD (Jesus)!

So, I honestly don't know how would they make sense of this verse from Paul.

Colossians 1:24...awesome! We as humans will sure...

2009-04-22T08:05:00.000+02:00

Colossians 1:24...awesome!

We as humans will surely go through sufferings, that's the nature of things, nobody can escape it...suffering and death!

Now, instead of just throwing it(suffering-either self denial or nature of things) away or considered of no value, God turned it otherwise to a wonderful thing.

Since Jesus loved us so much He let us participate and join in His redemptive suffering and plans for the sake of each one of us which make up the Body of Christ. (whole notion of atonement and suffering).

St. Paul in Colossians 1:24 and the Catholic Churc...

2009-04-22T03:24:00.000+02:00

St. Paul in Colossians 1:24 and the Catholic Church's teaching on sacrifice, fasting,atonement and sufferings DOES NOT in any way contradict Jesus' sacrifice "once and for all".

Jesus loved us so much that He left a room for us to participate with His sufferings as well.

If you have any questions ask Paul or you could read an Apostolic Letter on "The Meaning of Human Suffering: Salvifi Doloris." by the late Pope John Paul II.

I agree with Mr. Mizzi’s interpretation on the Blo...

2009-04-22T03:11:00.000+02:00

I agree with Mr. Mizzi’s interpretation on the Blood of His Cross but the sad part is when he tried to compete and ask the reader to choose once again between Christ’s atonement and our participation in procession of Jesus's passion and death, which our way of expressing repentance, sacrifice and commemoration which are all acts of love for Christ.

Mr. Mizzi mentioned St. Paul addresses a similar situation in his letter to the Colossians about the ascetic pratices were in vain to which I agree but the way Mr. Mizzi's put it was very misleading.

Paul is clear here but it had nothing to do with religious practices and good works done for the love of God.

By the time that Paul wrote his epistle to the church at Colossae, several problems had developed. The church had come under the influence of teachers that denied the deity of Christ, taught false philosophies and spread false religious practices.

Of course doing good works or religious actions/good works apart from Christ is nothing of value however, if done for the love of Christ it is very pleasing to Him.

If you remember the good work of this woman found in Matthew 26:6-13:

“...a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

All the subjects of fasting, repentance and atonement boils down and related to our sufferings being offered to God as our sacrifice for the SAKE (means also atonement) of one’s self or the whole Church as One Body of Christ.

If only Mr. Mizzi and the rest of protestants know the full depth and the richness of this passage from St. Paul,

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is LACKING in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24-25).

----Shouldn't the Bible say that Paul's suffering was nothing of value because Christ's "once and for all" had completed all the sufferings for the sake of His Body, that is the Church?

"Do not neglect TO DO good…for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." (Heb 13:16)

----Shouldn’t the Bible say Jesus’s sacrifice is the only one pleasing to God.

God didn’t forbid us to show our turning away from sin by repentance and self-sacrifice in fact Jesus encourages us to do such acts written in the Holy Scriptures:

Matthew 26:6-13 (It is a form of a sacrifice and good work for the part of this poor woman by means of a perfume she freely gave and offered to Jesus.)

"Then He began to upbraid the cities where most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. "Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." (Matthew 11:20-21 ).

"So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of The Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he cried, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. Then tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them cry mightily to God; yea, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands." (Jonah 3:3-8)

"And I will grant My two witnesses power to prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."( Revelation 11:3-6)

His servants said to him, "Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings, please let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will save your life." (1 Kings 20:31).

So I suggest to Mr. Mizzi don’t try to put down other people’s actions because you don’t know what’s inside their hearts and consequently of God’s judgment.

God Bless.

Nick, I wholeheartedly agree with you. With just...

2009-04-21T19:28:00.000+02:00

Nick,

I wholeheartedly agree with you. With just simple Biblical answer you always put Mr. Mizzi's arguments to a halt.

Heresy begins with A correct doctrine but when one focuses ONLY and rejects ALL other truths then it becomes gravely in error.

God Bless.

I don't see anything a Catholic would really disag...

2009-04-20T20:20:00.000+02:00

I don't see anything a Catholic would really disagree with. The notion of penance is not about us working our way into Heaven apart from Christ. Places like Prov 16:6; 1 Pt 4:8; Luke 3:9ff, etc show you can do penance without contradicting Christ's work. The whole notion of sackcloth and ashes has a strong presences in the OT to show true sorrow for sins and desire to amend your life.