Trent's Most Dangerous Doctrine
Christ promised that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. In John 10:28, He puts it in such strong terms, it's as if Christ is jumping up and down and shouting "THEY WILL NEVER EVER EVER PERISH".1 The biggest problem I have with Catholicism is their doctrine that true believers sometimes perish and do not have eternal life. I don't know why this problem doesn't receive that much attention from Protestants. Perhaps it's because many Protestants teach salvation cannot be lost. Calvin 's response to the Catholic teaching on unformed faith was to insist that faith cannot be separated from love.2 True enough, but Luther's reaction was stronger: "In this manner they completely transfer justification from faith and attribute it solely to love". 3 Could the difference in these responses be due to Calvin's saying temporary faith is false faith whereas Luther said temporary faith is true faith? Catholics teach b...