Sainthood

["Kyrie eleison"]

Sainthood by the Catholic Church is through the beatification process, how do protestant churches determine who
is a saint?

There is not one person other than Blessed Mary, that has been so filled with the HOLY SPIRIT, that Mary herself, was moved to proclaim from her own mouth, "FROM HENCE FORTH ALL GENERATIONS SHALL CALL ME BLESSED."

In the fundamentalist world, everyone is considered a saint. They use the word very freely and I have even heard fundamentalists state that they are equal to and or ABOVE, Blessed Mary.

It is OBVIOUS, there are individuals who LABOR and have GIVEN more of thier lives to do God's work, thus, the term SAINT is used friviously in the protestant circles.


comments....

[Era Might]

If you are in a state of grace, then you are a Saint, because God dwells within you. But when we speak of "Saints" in the more specific sense it refers to those who are already in Heaven, since they are no longer on pilgrimage and they enjoy the vision of God face to face, which they can never lose. They also lived their holiness in an exemplary way here on earth, so they are models of faith for the rest of us.

["Kyrie eleison"]

[quote name='Era Might' post='1372429' date='Aug 28 2007, 01:36 PM']If you are in a state of grace, then you are a Saint. You are holy because God dwells within you. But, when we speak of "Saints" in the more specific sense it refers to those who are already in Heaven, since they are no longer on pilgrimage and have achieved their full measure of holiness, and enjoy the vision of God face to face, which they can never lose. They also lived their holiness in an exemplary way here on earth, and so they are models for the rest of us.[/quote]

So, in your opinion do you believe that protestants are justified in calling one another "s"aints vs. "S"aint, with a big "S"?

I know as a catholic I don't go around calling other catholics, per se... "A SAINT" of course there are those who like I mentioned who GIVE THEIR WHOLE LIVES to THE WORK of GOD and are DESERVING to be called SAINT LIKE, even before their death.

[Era Might]

St. Paul referred to Christians as Saints. For example:

[quote]To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia.

--2Corinthians 1:1[/quote]
The reason why he does this is because God dwells within them. They are holy because God is holy. The word "Saint" or "Sanctus" in Latin means "holy."

But if we are called Saints we had better be so in reality. It should also be recognized that we are all on pilgrimage, and that "while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it" (Hebrews 4:1). This is why the Saints in Heaven are unique, because they have reached eternal rest and have proven themselves in this life, whereas we are in the process of doing so. This is the important distinction we make as Catholics.

Many Protestants believe "once saved always saved," so they may see themselves as Saints without qualification, and maybe that's why they use the word more often. For Catholics, we believe that we can lose the state of grace through mortal sin, and so we must remain faithful to be Saints. The Saints in Heaven have remained faithful, and so they are "Saints" in the perfect sense, whereas we are Saints in the conditional sense as long as we remain in the state of grace.

["Kyrie eleison"]

[quote]St. Paul referred to Christians as Saints. For example:


QUOTE
To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia.

--2Corinthians 1:1

The reason why he does this is because God dwells within them. They are holy because God is holy. The word "Saint" or "Sanctus" in Latin means "holy."

But if you are going to call yourself a Saint you had better be what you claim to be[/quote]

If anyone regardless if they are prot or catholic are going to calling themselves a saint, or one another a saint (and I distinguish this with a "s") you better walk the talk.

It is my personal opinion that the term "saint' is used friviously, most especially with protestants.



I just want to add that Paul also stated that double honor should be given to those who LABOR well in PREACHING and TEACHING. Those who do this are in my eyes, more so, are to be called SAINTS.

Paul spoke of the need to give special honor in 1 Timothy: "Let the presbyters [priests] who rule well be considered[b] worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching"[/b] (1 Tim. 5:17). Christ himself promised special blessings to those who honor religious figures: "He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives a righteous man [saint] because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward" (Matt. 10:41).

["Kyrie eleison"]

[quote]Many Protestants believe "once saved always saved," so they may see themselves as Saints without qualification, and maybe that's why they use the word more often.[/quote]

Yes, the OSAS doctrine, is the BELIEF you cannot NEVER FALL FROM GRACE, no matter what SIN you COMMIT.




[quote]For Catholics, we believe that we can lose the state of grace through mortal sin, and so we must remain faithful to be Saints. The Saints in Heaven have remained faithful, and so they are "Saints" in the perfect sense, whereas we are Saints in the conditional sense as long as we remain in the state of grace.[/quote]

The word "Saint" literally means "Holy One".

We as Catholics recognize the holiness of those who have struggled to live holy lives, above and beyond [b]"the average"[/b] Christian.

["Kyrie eleison"]

I am curious to the protestants out there.... dairy and budge, who they would deem as "SAINTLY."

There are those in fundamentalsim who have basically called Billy Graham a pawn, Graham is now an outcast to fundamentalist Christians, mostly because he embraced and has been embraced by the Pope and other Catholics as he is linked to the ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT. Billy Graham is "saintly" in the protestant right, [i]IMO, [/i]as he has been involved in everything possible to foster the "ecumenical movement" and Christian unity.