The need for mediation started at the begging when man ate the forbidden fruit (OHC pg.52 and 1 BC. 1085). Mediation ends at the close of probation because that is when sin is finished and Christ leaves his work in the sanctuary. After man sinned we started having sinful desires. These led us to become a channel of corruption meaning we became sinners in need of mediation so that we could be children of God.
The Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit working through them along with their works and that by their good works they are perfect and have no need of a mediator. Whereas the Protestants believe that the Holy Spirit works on them and they do their good works but that does not make them sinless so they still need Christ to mediate for them. The papacy in their doctrines takes away the need of mediation because they believe that you are born with sin and then when you are sprinkled as an infant you are cleansed from past sins and all you need to do is do good works and confess your sins to the priest. Adventists believe that you can’t be saved by only your own works but by both works and righteousness. This is a work of a lifetime because we are converted and then we start working on our character with Christ’s help. Then comes the judgment and marriage where we are justified. Basically spiritual teachings are what the Catholics believe which is that man does not need a mediator because once you are baptized at birth you are saved.
This post gets a rubrics 4, which is competent [out of a total of 6]. Remember that it’s not the best to say that Catholics believe that they have no need of a mediator. The facts are that the logical conclusion to their belief is that they don’t need a mediator, but I don’t know if they would actually say that they don’t need one. You also didn’t clarify how their teachings make it a spiritualistic teaching, or how Adventists could believe in a way to make it a spiritualistic teaching. We worked on this a long time ago, so it’s been quite a while since we discussed all of this in class.
Comment by Diane — January 13, 2009 @ 9:07 pm