Am I Nuts?

I started to post this else where, but then thought better of it. Would you all look at this and see if there's any validity to my thinking (I am on medication) or am I just nuts?


It struck me years ago, while still Protestant, how the selling of indulgances looked an awful lot like the concept of "getting saved."

Here's what I mean:

The selling of indulgances, who's priamary role was to make money, allowed the buyer of the said indulgance to sin at will ,as it were. The humerous story goes that a thief bought an indulgance for future sins and then robbed the priest who sold it to him.

The idea of "getting saved" almost has the same flavor. Now I know not all Protestants believe like this, but many do. If you say a prayer, with sincerity of course, Jesus enters your life and you are good for eternity. You have "gotten saved." Now you are good to go. You have your ticket for the glory train.

What bothers me about this is that when you say your prayer with sincerity, God is now OBLIGATED to save you. You are no longer reliant on His grace. Like the priest in the story, there's nothing God can do to you if you turn away because you "got saved" and He has to save you.

Doesn't this nullify the Grace of God?

I know we as Orthodox hold a far different view of salvation. But I've got a ton of Protestant friends and salvation is a topic that comes up when we talk.

Thank you.

Peace.

Peter

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"Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." Jaroslav Pelikan

What you describe is called antinominism (sp?).

Most Protestants who use the phrase "get saved" are Calvinist. They try to escape the dilemma you have pointed out by saying that people who willfully sin after "being saved" had not actually "been saved". It seems that the only way to know if you have truly "been saved" is to be able to see the future.

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Christ is risen from the dead! Trampling down death by death! And on those in the tombs bestowing life!

It seems like a quite proper view of what Baptists feel and hold. They sort of hedge when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount, and that those who are on the Narrow Way are doing the will of the Father, and not just saying it, like the Parable of the Two Sons; Matthew 21:28-32.
Jeff the Finn

Don't Catholics believe that indulgences cannot determine whether you go to heaven or hell, but only reduce the time spend in purgatory? Don't they believe that they only remit the temporal punishment for sins already forgiven in the confessional and for venial sins, rather than being for the forgiveness of mortal sins? If I'm correct about that, then your example of someone buying an indulgence then robbing the priest wouldn't apply since they wouldn't help with an unconfessed mortal sin. Or has the Catholic teaching on indulgences changed and did it at one time teach that?

Philip, Evangelicals use the prase "get saved" too.

Good points Peter. I never thought of it that way.

You are correct. It is for time off in purgatory, not salvation.

I had a friend whose sister was at one time a very active and committed Baptist who later turned away from Christianity altogether. When approached by Evangelicals who were attempting to witness to her, this young woman would ask them, "Do you believe in 'Once-Saved-Always-Saved'?" They would invariably answer, "Yes, we do," to which she would reply, "Well, leave me alone then and go save someone else."

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This is a lie.

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Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals. I get my back into my living. I don't need to fight, to prove I'm right. I don't need to be forgiven.

I was learning in class about the mystical union theology of the orthodax, even as a protestant I think I agree with this, could anybody explain this better.

Originally Posted by Godzman

I was learning in class about the mystical union theology of the orthodax, even as a protestant I think I agree with this, could anybody explain this better.

Theosis is a good introduction, but if you want some real meaty works, any by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos would be good and by far the best introduction is The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimir Lossky. The Biblical text is 2 Peter 1:4; so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. The whole of life as a Christian is to put on Christ and as St Seraphim of Sorov said was to aquire the Holy Spirit.
Jeff the Finn