And what of Asia Bibi?

For those who want to judge use these Scriptures to back up your reasoning. Remember, we may not agree with a certain denomination but we must see each person with the eyes and heart of God.

Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,

Gal 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,

Gal 5:21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told [you] in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Neither of these woman fall under these.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But they do produce these.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Gal 5:24 And those [who are] Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Gal 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

I have signed the petition to allow Asia Bibi to be released. I pray for her and with others. I did not know she was Catholic until now. So, will I stop praying for her now because I may not agree with the Catholic denomination. Absolutely not. I will continue to pray for her protection, release, testimony to be strong etc. Her family who loves her. But she will not stand down and deny Christ the lover of her soul. She will not.

It would be good if we all were praying the same. I pray God forgive us our ignorance and repent and ask for YOUR heart and YOUR eyes our Lord that we may be found pure in heart and faithful to YOU and to those who are so dear to YOUR heart.

She is suffering for Christ

What does "suffering for Christ" consist of?

"So does this include Asia Bibi? She is suffering for Christ, yet a Catholic. We consider her a believer?"

This reminds me of an issue the early Anabaptists faced.

The Anabaptists were being severely persecuted in the 1500s (and later) by the Catholics, the Lutherans, the Reformed. They were being hunted down like rabbits, taken to prison, tortured and sometimes killed either by drownings, burning at the stake. The fact the movement exploded and thrived was due in a larger part to sympathetic Lutherans, Catholics and Reformed persons who rendered them protection from Anabaptist hunters. These Anabaptists were doubly thankful for the kindness shown to them by these persons, even though they were Catholics, Lutherans or Reformed.

The persecution was so severe that when a man was ordained to leadership his life expectancy was reduced to two years! This demonstrates how severely these people were hunted down by Catholics, Lutherans or Reformed.

The issue arose in some Anapbaptist churches as to whether these sympathizers were saved! The issue became so heated that it even caused church splits!

SIGH

But ah reckon some things never change, do they?

Salvation of the spirit is when the heart of one responds to Jesus in a receptive way.

One does not need to know how it works.

One does not "do" anything but recieve.

Salvation of the soul is when Christ is formed in ones heart by the love and fear of the Lord.

We call this a relationship based on trust,faith, and love.

A catholic can have these things in there life.

Are not we all learning to grow in Him?

by martyr on 2011/9/22 4:26:43 writes:

For those of you who sit in judgement in this forum I ask what of Asia Bibi? She is a woman who took a stand for Christ in Pakistan and landed in jail. She is sentenced to be executed for her testimony in Jesus. She is also a Roman Catholic. Even the Pope sent an envoy to Pakistan to plead for her release.

Now I have been informed in this forum that Catholics, including, Mother Theresa are not saved. Ok. So does this include Asia Bibi? She is suffering for Christ, yet a Catholic. We consider her a believer."

I do not Judge any individual Catholics. Having been a Catholic myself for the first 25 years of my life, and I know I was a Catholic and a Christian.

However, I did leave the Catholic Church because they suffered from quite a bit Theological drift from the Time the Catholic Church came into existence, which was shortly after Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th Century AD. The Catholic Church was established by Pope Leo, in 400 AD, He established the official succession of Popes by claiming a Line of alleged popes going back to the Apostle Peter, claiming that only Bishops of Rome can become Popes. He himself was a Bishop of Rome, what a coincidence.

There were no official Popes before Leo.

In reading the Bible, I discovered that we are saved by the atoning Blood of Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God whose blood washes away the sins for all time for all who believe Him for this. None are saved by the sacraments of the Catholic Church, only by Jesus keeping the entire Mosaic Covenant in his life on Earth, then becoming our Paschal Lamb, that washes away the sins of we who accept His Blood atonement for forgiveness of our sins. By the Faith of Jesus we are saved. And not by the sacraments of the Catholic Church.

I also discovered that Jesus had real brothers and sisters born from his Mother, Mary. The Greek word for brother actually means brother, and not cousin. The Greek is the best known language for expressing exactly what one means to say. The Greek has a separate word for cousin. I also read an early church letter where the author describes one of his friends as a man who descended from one of Jesus brothers, a son or a grandson.

And note that the Protestant reformation started on a wide scale by the invention of the printing press, whereby people could buy and read a Bible. And apparently they saw major differences between the teachings and practices of Catholicism and and what the Bible teaches with regard to what constitutes salvation and living as a Christian.

However Blaine, I do believe there are Christians who attend the Catholic Church. But as you can see that I have problems with the fact that much of what the Catholic Church teaches does not match the Good News of Jesus Christ, and other New testament writings.

I certainly like your posts that I have read, and I agree that we should not Judge who is a Christian or who is not. When I was a catholic, I was certainly a Christian, primarily from reading and believing the Scriptures.