Although some non-Catholics believe that a Christian is “once saved, always saved,” the Bible has many verses explaining that a believer can in fact lose or reject their salvation. In his book Not by Faith Alone, Robert Sungenis notes:

In reality, next to the person of Christ, Scripture attends to no topic more than the warning to Christians not to fall away from the faith and lose their salvation. In fact, every book in the New Testament, with the possible exception of Philemon, in some way or other suspends the outcome of our eternal destiny based on the duration and degree of our faith and obedience. Scripture offers absolutely overwhelming evidence that a believer can fall from the salvation he once possessed. (Quote taken from page 275)

Sungenis goes on to list “a representative sample [of verses] from each book of the New Testament” to prove this point. Below are the citations which begin on page 275 and run for several pages. I’m only listing the citations below, not the full text of each passage. However, a mouse-over ought to show the verse in a popup window:

Matthew 7:21-23; 10:22, 28, 33; 24:12-13; Mark 9:43; 10:21-23; 13:22; Luke 8:13; 12:43-46; John 12:47-48; 15:6; Acts 13:43, 46; 20:29-30; Romans 2:6; 8:12-13; 11:20-22; 1 Corinthians 3:17; 4:5; 6:8-9; 9:27-10:6; 10:11-12; 15:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; 11:3; 12:21-13:5; Galatians 5:19-21; 6:7-9; Ephesians 5:5-6; Philippians 3:10-16; Colossians 1:21-23; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15; 3:6, 14; 1 Timothy 4:1; 5:15; 6:10-19; 6:20-21; 2 Timothy 1:15; 2:12; 2:17; 4:10; 4:16; Titus 1:16; 3:10; Hebrews 2:1; 3:1-6; 3:12-14; 4:1; 4:11-13; 4:14; 6:4-6; 6:11-12; 10:26-27; 10:35-38; 12:1, 3; 12:14-17; 12:25, 29; James 1:14-16; 1:21-22; 2:13-14; 4:4; 5:9; 1 Peter 4:17-18; 5:8; 2 Peter 1:9; 2:20-22; 3:14-17; 1 John 2:24-26; 2:28; 2 John 8; 3 John 9-11; Jude 5; Revelation 2:5; 2:10; 2:16; 2:23; 2:26; 3:3; 3:11; 3:16; 3:21; 16:15; 22:12; 22:19

Eric Gorski of the Associated Press writes:

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops have taken a consistent line on a health care overhaul: It’s vital, but they cannot support proposals that go too far in covering abortion and not far enough in protecting health workers who don’t want to provide that procedure.

Now, at least a half-dozen bishops have gone beyond that position, some of them using hard-hitting terms such as “socialization” and “monopolization” to launch a broader critique of big government.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, and Bishops Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa, Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill., and Samuel Aquila of Fargo, N.D. are “[a]mong the bishops who have written columns, commentaries or pastoral letters including comments about excessive government control of health care” according to the article.

Read the full story: Some Catholic bishops question gov’t health care

Vanessa Barnes of the Houston Examiner has an interesting article about 10 Episcopal nuns converting to become Catholic nuns this past Thursday, Sept. 3. The sisters cited “orthodoxy and unity” as the reasons for their conversion, and the report explains that these nuns “became the latest in a long line of defectors leaving the Episcopal denomination divided over the approval of women’s ordination and the ordination of a gay bishop.”

Get the full article here: “Episcopal nuns become Catholic nuns“

I may have overdone it.

I devour books. Not literally of course. But I love to read.

Recently on my birthday, I was given gift cards and cash earmarked specifically for books. And like a shark on a feeding frenzy, I couldn’t control myself when I went shopping. Now, I have a rather intimidating stack of nearly a dozen books. And not just small books either. Some are in the 400-700 page range:

• Dialogue Concerning Heresies by Thomas More
• Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (1John-Revelation) by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch
• 101 Questions and Answers on Deacons by William Ditewig
• The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism by Louis Bouyer
• Because God is Real by Peter Kreeft
• Not by Scripture Alone by Robert Sungenis
• Prove It! – Church by Amy Welborn
• The Fathers by Pope Benedict XVI
• Charity in Truth by Pope Benedict XVI
• The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
• A History of Apologetics by Avery Cardinal Dulles

This is like being given a giant dish of your favorite dessert and told that you can eat it all yourself. If you consume it too fast, you might get sick and never want to eat it again. But if you pace yourself, it will be oh so fulfilling.

Now, with which one shall I begin?

So it looks like Pope Benedict XVI is one busy bee. The daily blog from the National Catholic Register has a nice article about “One Busy Holy Father.” Check it out!

Sorry for the nearly two-week hiatus. It was not intentional, I’ve just been busy trying to score some work (got laid off a few months back). I should have enough breathing room to more regularly post.