The Not-so-Simple Protestant Plan of Salvation

In this episode Trent examines videos from the Protestant channel Got Questions? and questions their claim that there is only "one step" to be saved.

00:00 Intro
00:45 Mike Gendron's Explanation, Fine Print of Salvation
02:48 Got Questions Example and Response
04:25 The necessity of Baptism
06:15 Modus Ponens / Modus Tollens
08:41 Conclusion

[rudya.hernandez]

I've always preferred to frame salvation as a gift. One doesn't "earn" a gift, but can certainly refuse it.

[tiberbridgecatholic]

Thank you for this. As a former evangelical it was VERY difficult to understand the Catholic view of salvation. It came down to differences in cultural language between Catholics and Protestants. Now that I’m on the other side, I look back and see how scattered and inconsistent the views I came from were!

Very thankful to be Catholic now! Praise God!

[catkat]

I don’t understand how some Protestants characterize Catholics as having this anxiety-inducing view of salvation when I think it’s the opposite! Can you imagine committing a sin after having “been saved” and then having to believe that, since you did so, you must never have been saved in the first place?? Thank you Lord Jesus for your Church. We all fall, every single day. Sometimes we sin greatly but His mercy is always there for us!

[chrispeele]

Confessional Lutheran (LCMS) here, great video Brother!

[asgrey]

As a Protestant, I think I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior 6 or 7 times just in case the first ones didn’t take. It was the sacramental structure of Catholicism that gave me true confidence. As I became more aware of the goal of perfect contrition/better understanding of Christ’s love, I increasingly understood that he wasn’t trying to catch me on a technicality. For me, the structure gave me some logical points and concrete action instead of some amorphous understanding. This led me to understand the truth of salvation doesn’t subsist in these little “rules” or definitions, but that they pointed to a bigger picture, and guided me in word and action, to truly live and experience a reality that is beyond words.

[skuttsupreme]

I’m am 37 years old and currently going through the process of converting to the Catholic Church. I’ve explained in several comment sections, I am from the Bible Belt and have been a Methodist and southern baptist my entire life. We basically accepted both. I did not plan on this conversion and I was called during a hard trial in my life. I’ve always been anti-catholic and feel my conversion was an act of the holy spirit. I do not take this time in my life lightly and I am still shocked this has happened.

I wanted to say one of the things I noticed over the last few months of this happening is I finally realized what grace is, and for the first time I’m brought to tears and feel the real love
of God in this way: purgatory. Until I realized the Bible does point to purgatory, I felt god was simply a tyrannical entity that would damn me unconditionally. I’m so thankful for this concept. That’s not to say I want an out, I do not want purgatory. However, the concept shows me what the Bible talks about, God is merciful and gracious. He tries to reach us in any way possible, and isn’t the tyrannical being Protestants have created him to be.

I say this because to me it’s weird how any Protestant could think the false Protestant God is less stressful and brings less anxiety. To me it’s complete nonsense. The Protestant God is impossible and will damn most people without the ability to do much about it. It’s a terrifying religion, just listen to John MacArther.

My mother is psychotic and abused me as a child. I also come to tears when I realize God gave me a mother and I can pray to her. I’ve never had a mother and it’s been really hard transitioning in life without one. This is another aspect that has beought me closer to Christ. It’s shown me I have everything I need in Christ, which I never fully understood until now.

I feel terrible for being nasty to Catholics over my 37 years and because I was so far off, God did this and I’m sure of that. I’ll always feel awful for how I used to speak about them and I’m so thankful they’ve welcomed me into the fold. I’ve gone from a lost, drug abusing Protestant without a feeling of spirituality to a therapist with a graduate degree turned catholic with so many answers. I worked hard for God to meet me halfway and I finally feel I’m there.

[lanbaode]

The ex-Catholic now rabid anti-Catholic, Mike Gendron, featured here best exemplifies our Catholic adage about one’s scope of Bible reading, study, and understanding and how this unfolds: “Weak Catholics become Evangelicals; Strong Evangelicals become Catholics.”

[rachelpops]

Repent Believe Receive and Remain!Finally a short catchy phrase for Catholics. Thank you Trent for breaking down this topic that makes me stumble many times

[DecentFellowship]

I'm set to be confirmed a Catholic this Pentecost Sunday. I have been a Protestant Christian since I was 11 years old. This all seems semantical to me, which one of the reasons I had to ask myself, "What am I protesting, anyway?". Not much. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep My commandments." The Protestants' mistake is to think that "belief" or "faith" is just some sort of mental assent. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as a tangible thing ("the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen"). The rest of the chapter goes on to describe how the Old Testament saints acted on their faith. Abraham is often called the father of faith...he was *faithful*. We know that faith is a gift from God in the first place (grace). Protestant N.T. Wright discusses the Greek for "faith" as "faithful" or "faithfulness". The love and grace of God through Christ in baptism creates faithfulness in our hearts, no?

[Nebraska]

Thanks so much Trent for another cogent, educational video! These videos are crucial to spreading the truth of Christ and His Church to the world.

[Mrs_Homemaker]

I was constantly anxious about heaven as a Protestant. Was i REALLY saved? I dont feel like my life changed so i must not be, better go answer another "altar call" and say the sinners prayer again. Even better if its during a youth event with music and lights.

As a Catholic, when i fall, i know the exact steps to take to get back on the path. Its objective, not subjective. Im no longer leaning on my own understanding (or the pastor of the church with the better worship band). I have deep peace now. ❤

[bobblacka]

I have a Catholic family member who converted to a Bible-believing Evangelical Protestant. He now tells us at every opportunity that Catholics are going to hell because all we need to do is believe in Jesus to be saved. I tell him that Catholics actually do believe in Jesus, so I guess all Catholics are saved. He says no, because of all the other stuff Catholics do.
So I ask him, if someone believes in Jesus, but prays multiple times a day using a Rosary to keep track of the prayers, eats the bread and drinks the wine as Jesus commanded us to do, honors Jesus's mother Mary as he commanded us to do, and asks the Saints to pray for us, do all those those things cancel out the belief we have in Jesus for our salvation? He answers yes, because all we need to do for salvation is believe in Jesus. So Protestant logic is this; if you do anything more than just believe in Jesus, you won't be saved. I wonder where it says that in the Bible?

[RebelXero]

As a Protestant I prefer the Catholic understanding of salvation. Protestantism makes it far to easy to become complacent. I’ll become Catholic someday.

[grand]

Everyone is saved through Grace Alone in baptism. It's a free gift so no one can boast. However, you can receive a free gift, but lose it by your own actions. Nowhere in the Bible it says you cannot lose this "free gift so no one can boast". To return to that free gift of Grace after sinning is to turn towards God. It means repenting, and remaining in communion with Christ by obeying what we have been asked to do. Believing Jesus means accepting what He taught as true and taking his commands seriously which means acting according to them. Only logical conclusion from "faith alone" -passages and how they can be reconciled with the "faith + works" -passages is that Faith is more than just confessing a belief. Faith includes Belief, Obedience, and Repentance.

[CK-ubjf]

Thanks Trent. I was a protestant for 40 years. (In my community circles Catholic was a swear word - and the Pope the antichrist. Even Catholic was literature was not marketed in bookstores. In such a world it is virtually impossible to discover the truth. I was one of those who could never quite figure out how their illogical gospel matched what I read in the Bible. Aftet decades I began reading commentaries of the church fathers. Whwnever I did so I realised that the ancient church was definitely not Protestant. I am now a Catholic and I feel sincerely sorry for the majority of Protestants. They spend their whole life trying to understand truths which have long ago been clarified. They are like people who are trying to re-invent the wheel - but I love their devotion and sincerity.

[omarvazquez]

The terms and conditions may apply is a great touch 😂

[thenazarenecatholic]

Thank you! I’ve been trying to work on an argument against this perspective of “necessary/result, ” but you put it better than I could

[Marilyn-npxh]

You have this so right, Trent! I was a reformed Protestant for 30 years before becoming Catholic.
There was a lot of peer pressure to do good works, because if you didn’t do enough good works, then you weren’t really saved to begin with!

[DavidLTJ]

I always love your well presented vids, Trent. Well done. As a lay minister working with many ministers from different denominations, I can confirm that the Protestant view of salvation is very much the same a ours. They call it ongoing refinement to become Christ-like. As the fruit of the Spirit develops in each and everyone of us, so too do we stumble and fall as some fruit takes longer to develop than others.

[firmbiz]

This was a great one Trent ! Well done.