John Martignoni's Twelve Questions To Ask A Protestant

1) If everything we need to know as Christians is in the Bible, where in the Bible does it give us the list of books that are supposed to be in the Bible?

There isn't a list in the Bible! So that means there is an authority outside of the Bible that decided it!

2) If we are saved by faith alone, then we don't need to love anyone do we...even God in order to be saved, right?

If we need to love in order to be saved, then we aren't saved by faith alone are we? We are saved by faith and love. Catholics call this "faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6).

So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). This verse tells us that love is greater than faith. So how can we be saved by faith alone?

3) If you have faith but not works, can faith save you?

If they answer "yes" then they contradict scripture:

What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead (James 2:14-17).

If they answer "no" then it's NOT faith alone that saves us.

4) If salvation by faith alone is the most central and important Christian doctrine, then why does the phrase "faith alone" or "faith only" appear just once in all of Scripture, and that is to say that we are NOT justified or saved by faith alone?

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone (James 2:24).

5) If God alone can forgive sins and we are to confess our sins to God alone and not to men, then why does Matthew say that God gave the authority on earth to men (plural), not just to a man (i.e. Jesus Christ)?

But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he then said to the paralytic -- "Rise, take up your bed and go home." And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men (Matthew 9:6-8).

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed (James 5:16).

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (John 20:23).

6) Is whether or not we have faith God's sole criteria for judging us worthy of salvation?

If they answer "no" then it is not salvation by faith alone, is it?

If they answer "yes" then why does every passage in the New Testament that speaks of judgment say that we will be judged by our works, our deeds, by what we have done?

See Matthew 24, John 15, Romans 2, and Revelation 20.

7) For a Christian what is the pillar and foundation of the truth...is it the Bible?

If they say "yes" then they disagree with the Bible which says it is the Church!

...if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15).

If they say "no" then how can you believe in the Bible alone?

8) Is God's revelation to men ongoing or did it end with the death of the last Apostle?

(Every Christian denomination believes it has!)

If they say "yes" ask them where in the Bible does it say that? It doesn't! Isn't that a non-biblical tradition!

9) Jesus tells us in John 6:27, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal." Doesn't sound like faith alone does it? In John 6:55 Jesus says, "For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." And in John 6:54 Jesus says, "he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." What does Jesus mean when he tells us to labor for the food that will lead to eternal life?

These are actions. You have to DO something. Not just "faithing."

Even if Jesus is speaking symbolically, he tells us that if we DO something we will have eternal life. Sounds like faith AND WORKS!

10) Christ redeemed all men with his death on the cross, he paid the price for all men's sins. Yet not all men are saved. What is the difference between those who are merely redeemed and those who are redeemed and saved? What's the difference between the redeemed and saved and the redeemed and unsaved? Is it something Jesus did or is it something each individual did?

If it's something Jesus did, why doesn't he do the same for all men? Scripture tells us that he desires that all men be saved.

...who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

If it's something an individual believer did, isn't that a work? The believer has to do something in order to be saved! Jesus died on the cross for the believer and the unbeliever. The difference is the believer DID something and the believer didn't do something. The believer believed by the grace of God, but he had to cooperate with that grace. He had to Do something or else he would not have been saved! Faith alone...?

11) Do we have to forgive others in order to have our sins forgiven by God?

If they answer "yes" then we are not saved by faith alone. We can't be saved if our sins are not forgiven by God. And if we cannot have our sins forgiven by God if we do not forgive others, then we cannot be saved. Therefore, we are saved by faith and at least one work...the act of forgiving others of their sins against us!

If they answer "no" then they are going directly against what Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

12) Where in Scripture does it say...

Scripture alone is the sole rule of faith for Christians?

We are saved or justified by faith alone?

Baptism is a symbolic gesture that the already saved makes to show his commitment to God?

Every individual has the right to interpret every single passage of Scripture on their own in order to determine by their own authority what is true doctrine and what is false doctrine?

You are to have altar calls?

You are to meet at your church every Wednesday night?

It is okay to disagree on the non-essential doctrines as long as you agree on the essential doctrines?

That there is such a thing as a non-essential doctrine, a non-essential part of the Word of God?

The answer is, it is NOT in the Bible!