So, you don’t have enough time for discipleship? Isn’t the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”? That’s what we are all called to do as believers — not point people to man-made systems but to the Word of God.
You keep appealing to “Catholic teaching” vs. “Protestant teaching.”
I’m not appealing to any tradition — I’m appealing only to Scripture, which is God-breathed. If we can’t agree on that as the authority, then we don’t even share the same foundation.
You said I should look it up online or through AI.
But if the truth is too lengthy for you to explain, then what does that say? The gospel itself is simple:
we are dead in sin, unable to save ourselves, and God alone saves by grace through faith.
I am telling you plainly: there is not a single verse in the entire Bible that teaches humans can choose righteousness or do good on their own apart from God. Not one.
Scripture consistently teaches:
- “There is none who does good, no not one.” (Ps 14, Ps 53, Rom 3)
- “Every intent of man’s heart is only evil continually.” (Gen 6:5)
- “The heart is deceitful above all things.” (Jer 17:9)
- “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him.” (John 6:44)
- “Those in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom 8:7–8)
- “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.” (Eph 2:1)
- “It is God who works in you both to will and to do.” (Phil 2:13)
The Bible’s testimony is unified:
we do not have “free will” toward God.
We freely choose only what our nature desires — and Scripture says our nature desires sin.
Any good that happens in us is God’s doing, because:
- He gives the new heart (Ezek 36:26)
- He grants repentance (2 Tim 2:25)
- He grants faith (Eph 2:8–9)
- He causes us to walk in His ways (Ezek 36:27)
That’s why the Bible calls salvation a gift, not a cooperation.
So again:
Can you show me even one place in Scripture — not tradition, not Catholic teaching, not commentary — where man, in his natural state, can choose good, seek God, initiate salvation, or contribute to it?
If not, then it isn’t “Protestant teaching”…
it’s simply what God has said.