Sola Fide (faith alone)

I am going to plagiarize a bit here from John Martignoni @biblechristiansociety.com because it is worth passing along.

This is from a book he is writing and the chapter is Sola Fide – Salvation By Faith Alone?
Sola Fide, the belief that faith alone saves us – that works play no role in our salvation whatsoever. One of the major issues that separates us from our Protestant brothers.
Please do not think that Catholics believe that we can “work” our way into Heaven. That is a misconception. But, we do believe that we cannot just be baptized, “accept the Lord” into our hearts and live our lives as we wish.
His calling is one of discipleship.


John Martignoni makes an interesting point;
…. if Jesus has done everything that needs to be done in order for us to be saved, if there is nothing that we can “add” to Jesus’ death on the cross that counts towards our salvation, then you have to assume that everyone is saved – no exceptions. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, New Agers, and even atheists are all saved.
They will be in Heaven with us worshipping their own gods.

And this is pretty thought provoking;
…. To illustrate all of this, let’s say that as of March 10, 2008, I had never accepted Jesus into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior. I had never said a sinner’s prayer. I had never been born again. Would I be saved? “No,” says the Sola Fide believer. But, if Jesus did all that needed to be done for my salvation, and that happened two thousand years ago, then why am I not saved? If the work of salvation is “finished,” and there is nothing that I have to do, or can do, that counts towards my salvation, why am I not saved? What work has been left undone that keeps my name from being written in the Book of Life?
To continue the example, let’s say that on March 11, 2008, I answered an altar call and “came to Christ.” On March 11, 2008, I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior! On March 11, 2008, I said a sinner’s prayer and asked God to forgive me of my many sins.
Would I be saved?
“Yes,” says the Sola Fide believer.
Now I’m really confused. I was unsaved on March 10, 2008. I was “saved” on March 11, 2008. What was the difference between my being unsaved on March 10 and my being saved on March 11? Was it something I did, or was it something that Jesus did?
Well, according to the doctrine of Sola Fide, Jesus’ work was finished two thousand years ago on the cross. “It is finished,” He said. So, it can’t be something Jesus did.
On the other hand, according to the doctrine of Sola Fide, there is nothing that I can do during my lifetime that counts towards my salvation. Everything that needed to be done for my salvation was done by Jesus two thousand years ago on the cross. So, it cannot be something that I did.
How then was I unsaved on March 10 and saved on March 11, 2008?
This is the logical dilemma of the folks who believe in Sola Fide. A logical dilemma that results from a bad interpretation of Jesus’ words on the cross (as well as other Scriptures) and from the logic of Sola Fide that absolutely requires them to hold fast to the illogical assertion that the act of believing is not, in and of itself, a work.

This is the problem when you have 33000 different Protestant denominations. Interpretation of the bible becomes muddled, doctrines become what people feel instead of what the Scriptures teach us.
Christ founded only 1 Church, and I believe that it is the Catholic Church.