You may have never set foot in a Catholic Church your entire life. You may even be a life long member of a Protestant Church. But, because so much of Protestantism has wandered away from sound Biblical preaching you may actually have far more in common with Catholicism than you do with Orthodox Christianity (Protestantism). Below is a short 10 question diagnostic tool to help you determine what you are.
Please record your answers to the 10 questions. In each of the following 10 choices, mark either (a) or (b), whichever you believe is correct.
1. (a) God gives a man right standing with Himself by mercifully accounting him innocent and virtuous.
(b) God gives a man right standing with Himself by actually making him into an innocent and virtuous person.
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2. (a) God gives a man right standing with Himself by placing Christ’s goodness and virtue to his credit.
(b) God gives a man right standing with Himself by putting Christ’s goodness and virtue into his heart.
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3. (a) God accepts the believer because of the moral excellence found in Jesus Christ.
(b) God makes the believer acceptable by infusing Christ’s moral excellence into his life.
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4. (a) If a Christian becomes “born again” (regenerate, transformed in character), he will achieve right standing with God.
(b) If the sinner accepts right standing with God by faith in Christ’s sinless life and atoning death, he will then experience transformation in character.
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5. (a) We receive right standing with God by faith alone in the blood of Christ.
(b) We receive right standing with God by faith which has become active by love.
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6. (a) We achieve right standing with God by having Christ live out His life of obedience in us.
(b) We achieve right standing with God by believing that Christ obeyed the law perfectly for us.
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7. (a) We achieve right standing with God by following Christ’s example by the help of His enabling grace.
(b) We follow Christ’s example because His sinless life has given us right standing with God.
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8. (a) God first pronounces that we are good in His sight, then gives us His Spirit to begin to make us good.
(b) God sends His Spirit to make us good, and then He will pronounce that we are good.
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9 (a) Christ’s intercession at God’s right hand gives us favor in the sight of God.
(b) It is the indwelling Christ that gives us favor in God’s sight.
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10. (a) Only by faith in the doing and dying of Christ can we fully satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.
(b) By the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, we can fully satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.
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Answers.
1. A=Protestantism, B=Catholicism
2. A=Protestantism, B=Catholicism
3. A=Protestantism, B=Catholicism
4. A= Catholicism, B= Protestantism
5. A=Protestantism, B=Catholicism
6. A= Catholicism, B= Protestantism
7. A= Catholicism, B= Protestantism
8. A=Protestantism, B=Catholicism
9. A=Protestantism, B=Catholicism
10. A=Protestantism, B=Catholicism
How did you do?
If you are unwittingly subscribing to Catholicism rather than Biblical Christianity then we recommend that you read all of the articles in this issue of Present Truth Magazine. It will be a tremendous help to you.