Do Roman Catholics Believe In The Mystery Of Cancelled Sin, Or Is That Just Baptists?

This term is rarely, if ever, used among Catholics and most Protestants. Roman Catholics believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of all people and that absolutely any sin can be forgiven, including those committed in the past and those that one may commit in the future. A key difference between Baptists and Catholics, however, is that Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that Christ administers this forgiveness through the Church. While a "born-again" Evangelical Christian may believe that once one makes a genuine commitment to "accept" Christ and his teachings, he/she is automatically saved and enjoys full forgiveness for all sins, Catholics believe that it is necessary to actually confess each sin in order to receive pardon and that failing this, it is possible to destroy one's relationship with God.

At its most basic level, the difference here is that Evangelical Protestants (including most Southern Baptists) believe that once you are saved, you are always saved and that God forgives sins in an omnibus fashion. Catholics, however, believe that in order to be pardoned, one must continue to confess all mortal (serious) sins to a priest, even after one has decided to make a conscious decision to accept Christian teachings. As such, salvation is seen as a process and not as a one-time event.