Syntheses

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A Catholic is not justified by receiving the sacraments, because only faith justifies a man. Once justified in the sight of God, the man is “formally holy”; the purpose of the sacraments is to help him become “actually holy”.

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Faith is a grace from God; it is not a sort of formalism or intellectualism. True faith moves mountains, meaning it changes lives from inside out. Saying “I believe that Christ died for me and I acknowledge Him as my Lord and Savior” is not all a man needs to be saved. Faith not proven is not faith at all.

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Faith is not just about believing that Christ saved you from the punishment of hell. Jesus died and rose from the dead to make us holy…and to believe that Jesus can make us so is what faith is about. As He overcame sin, one with Him, so can we.

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How much faith is enough? Knowing your sorry condition and saying that you accept Christ’s offer of salvation is not enough. Your faith is enough to save you if it has at least the size of a mustard seed, meaning enough to uproot at least a mountain in yourself. Believing is not the same with knowing.

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Is it true that the error of Adam and Eve is that they worship God in a forbidden way, and not because they stop believing God? What a daring claim! Our first parents were convinced by Satan that God did not tell them the truth because He is afraid that they will be like Him. Believing Satan’s “truth” simply means not believing God’s “lies”, am I wrong with my logic? They did not worship God their way when they eat the forbidden fruit.