Jeremy Cooley
Jul 23, 2017 · 3 min read

Few thoughts —

Where does your understanding on justification come into play? I find it remarkable that you give 3 reasons you returned to Rome and none of them address the issue of justification. This was the heart of the Reformation and still is. Do you believe in justification by faith alone in Christ alone, imputed to the believer by God or do you believe in infused justification by faith and works? If the former you are still Protestant (and an anathema according to the Catholic teaching at Trent) and if the latter, you never were Protestant. Salvation, Mark, that is what it comes down to.

You also take a dig at the Protestant view of salvation by describing it “as the concept that salvation is through individual mental ascent.” Yet, you acknowledge that “Ultimately, myself and many other converts have discovered what millions of Christians have over the years which is the honor and humility that comes from worshipping with the Saints at the foot of the cross during Mass.” Is discovering a mental exercise? And aren’t these millions discovering individually? Seems they, and you, are coming to salvation in the same manner that Protestants are accused of. I’m willing to bet that no elder or pastor in the Reformed church you attended would have defined salvation in such a manner either. I have a hunch it might have more to do with the regeneration of the Holy Spirit revealing the truth of the gospel to a sinner and enabling him to repent of his sins and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It’s striking that the work of the Spirit is completely absent from your journey back to Rome. In fact, each step of the trip is described as discoveries you made, by your effort. You even made the very Reformation-sounding claim of opening Scripture and reading it for yourself…sure does sound like individual mental ascent to me.

You are way off base with your closing argument as well. If you knew anything about church history, and Luther in general, you would know that his was not a battle for independence but a genuine desire to reform the Catholic church, a church that had resembled Babylon more that the Heavenly city for some time. Also Luther stressed our union with Christ and our new identity in Christ often in his writings; hardly an individualistic philosophy.

I found the Revelation/liturgy argument to be completely unconvincing. Perhaps you can point out to me in Revelation where we read of Christ’s body and blood being offered on a daily basis? I must have missed it.

One last thought — your use of the Didache in no way supports the Eucharist. This is simply anachronistic on your part. Simply because the author mentions the word sacrifice does not mean you can read back into his writings the Catholic system. And it is completely inaccurate to suggest that confession is foreign to Protestant churches. (Luther believed it should be done regularly, by the way.) There are several Reformed churches, such as mine, that read a Prayer of Confession each time before we partake of the bread and wine. We are also exhorted to confess our sins to God prior to participation. In other words, it is common for corporate and individual confession of sin to precede Communion in Protestant churches. This isn’t unusual. It’s simply following the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians.