:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 ::

The Wayward Sheep Looks Back At The Fold Once Again

LeonPeon has finally responded to my earlier post (though not, apparently, to my interim post from when she was incommunicando). As her response is short, I'll just post it first and respond after.

Hey Squire,

Yup, I'm still here, I just haven't had a chance to check my e-mail or blog in a while. Sorry, I left you hanging. So, I have a question...You said at the end of your blog that one needs to wash away one's sins. (or something like that) Ok, so what can YOU do to cleanse your sins? Just think of the best thing you could ever do. Whatever you thought of is not enough. In Isaiah 64:6, it says, "but we are like an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags." So, nothing that we humans can do is enough to cleanse our sins. Yes, you are right. One can cleanse our sins, but the only One who can do that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So, do you believe that baptism saves? I hope to hear from you soon.

1 love, 1 God, 1 way

LeonPeon

LeonPeon,

I said that "one baptism is good for the rest of your life. It washes away not only all one's previous sins, but also the original sin committed by Adam and Eve." Baptism is in itself a necessary step in one's journey of salvation, because it is one's first affirmation of belief in God as well as an acknowledgement that we, humans, are sinful and we need God's help and His power to remove our sins and their spiritual repricussions. The temporal repricussions of sin, namely evil, still remain, though. To reiterate a point you seem to be ignoring, it is still possible to backslide after one has been baptized. If one realizes that he or she has gone astray, they can still reconcile themselves with God, either through participation with Christ's sacrifice in the Eucharist for lesser sins or through Reconciliation and Pennance for more dire sins.

Again I point out the disparities between bible translations, as my NAB Isaiah 64:6 reads "There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; For you have hidden your face from us and delivered us up to our guilt." This really doesn't do too much to further your arguement. You apparently want Isaiah 64:4-5, which reads in the NAB "Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean men, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; We have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind." What the author of the text (most likely not Isaiah himself but one of his later disciples) illustrates here, to the Christian reader, are the effects of unrepented sins upon the relationship between God and men. When one sins one chooses something other than God - it is this choice that separates the sinner from God. Without removing this barrier between one's self and God, one cannot achieve salvation. Admittedly, the writer of this section of Isaiah predated Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, and so did not know of the means I mentioned above for the removal of sins. Purgatory exists for those who do not carry the stain of mortal sin on them to, in a more direct manner, avail themselves of God's grace and forgiveness to remove their last remaining sins and become perfect beings, thus completing the journey of salvation that began in life at (or occasionally before) Baptism.

I hope this makes things more clear for you.

Yours in Christ,
TheSquire

:: The Squire 1:14 AM :: email this post :: ::
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