The Sacred Scripture from the Old Testament to the New Testament mentioned the word “Sin” 418 times. The sheer number of times that it was mentioned should tell us something, and that is to avoid sin and its consequences. Sin is an offense against God, it violates His will and draws us away from his sanctifying grace.
In order to lure as many souls to hell the devil devised two lies that are easily accepted by the people and adhered to it for centuries. In 16th century a French reformer named John Calvin, using only his personal understanding of the Bible and devoid of any guidance from the Holy Spirit invented two new doctrines that has become the hallmark of reformed theology.
- The fall from grace made people incapable of avoiding temptation and sin
- In light of the first premise, God assures that one saved no sin can undo it
The problem with the doctrine that John Calvin invented is that it goes against the core teachings of Jesus Christ. The fall from grace by Adam and Eve did not render us helpless against our struggle from sin. This reality was demonstrated to us by Jesus Christ when he was tempted in the desert (Mt. 4:1-11). Though, Jesus Christ was God yet he is fully human like us, he shared everything in our humanity except sin, with the help of God’s grace we are not entirely useless against sin but we can actually avoid and fight temptation.
St. Paul in his epistles to the Hebrews told us that after our initial justification or that is being put right back into the state of grace, yet if we continue to commit sin then there is nothing left for us but the fires of hell.
For there is no longer any sacrifice that will take away sins if we purposely go on sinning after the truth has been made known to us.27 Instead, all that is left is to wait in fear for the coming Judgment and the fierce fire which will destroy those who oppose God! Hebrews 10:26-27
St. Paul is telling us that we can lose our salvation especially if we continue sinning, this is opposed to what John Calvin taught that once saved is always saved. In fact even Martin Luther did not adhere to nor teach this error. Calvin’s doctrine of “once saved is always saved” makes the process of salvation a form of convenience rather than obedience to the will of God. John Calvin’s teachings are the devised made by the devil in order to lure as many souls to hell than to heaven.
The Catholic Truth Society 