(July 19, 2012 at 3:30 pm)spockrates Wrote:(July 19, 2012 at 3:11 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
This is stating that whomever believes in Jesus, would have everlasting life.
A disobedient lover of the life of this world can believe in Jesus.
Yeah needing baptism and other stuff, all contradicts this notion. Over here, the verse is clear, all you need is to believe.
Therefore if there is other requirements for salvation, then there is a contradiction.
Yes, I hear what you are saying. That sounds extremely similar to the response an Evangelical would give the Catholic, except for the part about there being a contradiction. The Evangelical would say there is no contradiction, for any genuine Christian will do the good things mentioned in the verses you provided, but these good things are not cause of being saved from hell, they are only a consequence of such a salvation. Good deeds are not the reason for receiving eternal life; they are only the result of such a life. The Catholic, they'd say, confuses corellation with causation, and for this reason, there is no contradiction. For the first verse you mentioned is speaking of the cause of salvation, but the other verses are speaking of salvation's effects.
As I said, you can say hypothetically believers will not disobey God or desire the of this world, it's however unrealistic, reality shows they do disobey God and desire the life of this world.
In other words, these salvation effects are not there in the real world. Christians are not all saints.