The Ordinary Means of Extraordinary Mercy

Apologetics

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Hey folks,

I was recently scrolling through Reddit and came across a comment that sparked a little dose of what I like to call Righteous Outrage. Naturally, I had to respond—and I want to share my reply with you, along with a few others I offered in the same thread.

The topic? Faith and works—and what the Catholic Church actually teaches.

My request to you: Let me know what part of my response hit the mark… or totally missed it. Did I say something that resonated with you? Did I leave something out you wish I’d added? Your thoughts matter, and I’d love to hear them.

Here is the Original Post (See below)

Has anyone else here left the Catholic church?

If so, when did you leave, and why did you become Protestant?

For me, I left 10yrs ago and the biggest (not only) reason was I started reading the Bible and saw salvation is clearly "by grace through faith" and "not of ourselves, but a gift of God" (Eph 2:8-9) rather than it being by faith + works.

My response to the Original Post (O.P.):

I usually don't respond to posts that have lots and lots of responses because most of the time, those responses from Catholics are well said already. But this time, I've decided to share my heart on your comment anyway because I think it's tragic!

You say you left the Catholic Church because you discovered that salvation is “by grace through faith” and “not of ourselves, but a gift of God.” But here’s the tragedy: that’s exactly what the Catholic Church teaches.

You didn’t leave the Church because of what she teaches—you left for something she doesn’t teach. And that’s heartbreaking.

The Catholic Church has never taught that we earn salvation by works. In fact, she teaches that we are saved by grace alone. Grace is the starting point, the fuel, and the finish line. It’s grace that draws us in, grace that justifies us, and grace that transforms us. The Council of Trent, so often misrepresented, was crystal clear: we are not justified by our own efforts. Even our cooperation with grace is itself a result of grace!

And those Sacraments you may have left behind? They’re not just rituals we “go and do” to earn favor with God. They are the very channels of His grace—the acts of God Himself in our lives. Baptism isn’t a nice gesture. It’s the moment Scripture says we are “buried with Christ,” “raised to new life,” and made part of His Body. Eucharist isn’t symbolic—it’s Jesus giving Himself to us again and again, feeding us with the very life that saves us. That’s not man reaching up. That’s God coming down.

As for faith—yes, of course we are saved through faith! But what kind of faith? The Bible never says we are saved by a one-time pledge. James is clear: “faith without works is dead.” Not because works save us—but because living faith is visible in how we live. A static, lifeless declaration doesn’t transform a heart. Real faith moves us, changes us, obeys Him, and bears fruit.

I say this with deep sincerity: if you walked away from the Catholic Church thinking she teaches “faith + works = salvation,” then someone failed to explain her teachings. Or perhaps you heard them through the lens of someone already outside. I challenge you—go read the Catechism. Go look at what the Church actually says.

You walked away from a Church that does not teach what you wrongly concluded that it does teach. And yes, that is tragic!

Reddit Theologian #2 also commented on the original post. He said:

Yep. Left 2-3 years ago.

Catholics is very hung up on tradition I found. In my experience much of the church - not all of it - ignores the written word and a lot of how I history intersects with that found in the bible. Some Protestant podcasts really opened my eyes.

After leaving the Catholic Church I started reading the bible.

My response to Reddit Theologian #2:

You started reading the Bible after leaving the Catholic Church? That says more about your formation than about the Church herself.

I don’t say that to shame you—I say it because this is the tragedy: you walked away from the Church that gave you the Bible, thinking she ignores it. That’s like throwing away the roots and claiming the fruit came from nowhere.

Yes, the Catholic Church holds to Sacred Tradition. But do you understand what that means? It’s not “man-made customs” added onto the Bible. It’s the living transmission of the faith—the same faith handed on by the apostles before a single New Testament letter was ever written. St. Paul himself says, “Stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess 2:15). Scripture and Tradition. Not one at the expense of the other.

You say some Protestant podcasts opened your eyes. That’s fine—but did they open them to the whole truth or just to a carefully curated slice of it? Because here’s what you need to ask: Who gave you the Bible you’re reading? It was the Catholic Church—guided by the Holy Spirit—that preserved, discerned, and canonized the Scriptures. Without the Church, there is no Bible.

To accuse the Church of ignoring Scripture is like accusing the author of ignoring his own book. Go to a daily Mass reading. Go to the Liturgy of the Hours. Open the Catechism and count how many times Scripture is quoted and explained.

You didn’t leave the Church because she lacks biblical grounding. You left because someone gave you a version of the Bible that’s divorced from the authority that compiled it—and convinced you that the faith handed down from the apostles was somehow corrupted.

Brother, I say this with fire, but also with hope: Come back and look again. The Catholic Church isn’t afraid of the Bible—she lives and breathes it. And if you let her, she’ll show you that Scripture and Tradition aren’t enemies—they’re two hands of the same loving God, reaching out to save you.

As I continued to read what others said in response to the Original Post (O.P.), I came across another one that I felt compelled to reply to.

Reddit Theologian #3:

The Catholic Church would say “yes we affirm salvation by grace through faith, not of faith + works”. But do they really believe that? In practice, no. They do not. Claiming that you lose salvation every time you sin mortally and you have to talk to a priest and pray the rosary over and over to be forgiven is absolutely works based salvation. Yes works cooperate with faith in a sense that true faith will produce works, but the salvation being contingent on the works is works based salvation which Catholicism clearly teaches.

My response to Reddit Theologian #3:

You’ve misunderstood Catholicism at its core—and that misunderstanding has led you to reject something the Church doesn’t actually teach.

Let me be blunt: the Sacraments are not things we do for God. They are what God does for us. Every single one of them is an act of divine grace—not a human achievement.

Take Confession. You say, “Why talk to a priest?” The answer is simple: because Jesus said so.
John 20:21–23—Jesus breathed on His apostles and gave them the authority to forgive sins. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain them, they are retained.” That wasn’t symbolic. That wasn’t optional. That was Christ giving His authority to men so His mercy could touch us tangibly, audibly, personally.

The priest is not standing in place of Jesus. He is acting in the person of Christ, by Christ’s own commission. It is Christ who forgives sins—through the priest.

You mention praying the rosary “over and over” like it’s some kind of payment plan for grace. That’s not Catholic teaching either. The Rosary is a devotion, not a requirement for forgiveness. The only condition for absolution is repentance. You don’t earn grace. You receive it.

As for mortal sin—yes, serious sin damages our relationship with God. That’s biblical. (Read 1 John 5:16–17.) But coming back to Him, through the means He gave us, isn’t “works-based salvation.” It’s grace-based restoration.

You can’t just redefine grace as “whatever I want to believe about God” and call the rest works. Grace transforms. Grace heals. And grace meets us in the Sacraments—not because we deserve it, but because God loves us.

The tragedy is this: you’ve rejected the Sacraments as man-made works, when they are actually God’s divine embrace. And once you see that, you realize the Catholic Church isn’t denying grace—it’s drenched in it.

And finally, below is a comment from Reddit Theologian #4:

If someone sins mortally and does not go to a priest to confess and do penance (rosary for example) would they be forgiven? A Catholic would say no.

My reply to Reddit Theologian #4:

Actually, that’s not quite right—and it’s a common misunderstanding.

The Catholic Church absolutely teaches that we should confess our sins directly to God, and we do. But Christ Himself gave us more than that—He gave us the Sacrament of Confession as the ordinary means by which His forgiveness is assured.

“Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whose sins you retain, they are retained.” (John 20:23)

That wasn’t symbolic. He gave the apostles real authority.

So no—we don’t go to Confession because we think God can’t forgive us directly. We go because this is how Jesus set it up. The priest stands in the person of Christ—not because we like small dark rooms, but because we long to hear those words: “I absolve you.”

It’s not about earning forgiveness. It’s about receiving it the way Jesus intended.

Final Thoughts:

I didn’t find those who responded to the original post particularly rude or hostile—which is a welcome surprise in online discussions—but I did find them seriously misinformed about what the Catholic Church actually teaches.

When I see former Catholics misrepresenting the faith they left—often because of poor catechesis, misunderstanding, or misinformation—I feel compelled to speak up. It’s tragic when someone walks away from the Church not because they rejected her true teachings, but because they never really encountered them in the first place.

My hope is that those who read my responses (and those of other Catholics) will take them as seriously as they took their own decision to walk away. Maybe it’s time to take another look at the faith they left—and ask whether it was really the Catholic Church they walked away from… or just a mistaken version of it.

As always, I’d love your feedback. What parts of my responses stood out? What could have been stronger? Let me know in the comments—I’m always learning, and your input means a lot.

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