M
mercygate
Guest
Absolutely. And most Catholics enjoy that confidence and walk their salvation road in joy and trust. There is a straw-man view out there among SOME promoters of the “perfect assurance” game that anything short of total, absolute, perfect personal assurance of our salvation means that we walk around in a dither, fretting about whether our good works are good enough and whether the hand of justice is going to smite us in the end and send us to hell despite our love and our best intentions.I agree with a lot you say here. There are actually a couple of issues involved in this question. One is how does God save us and the other is how do we experience it. I think its possible for a person to be saved and not know it and for person who thinks they are saved but are really not. Both involve some kind of self delusion.
Do you think Christ intended His followers to have confidence in Him for salvation and to be at peace about it?
Of course, this is absurd. Doubtless, there ARE people who feel like that (Luther was one of them, I believe) – but as you point out: they are deluded and lacking in the trust of faith.
I think a lot of the controversies between Catholics and Protestants – at least on the street level – arise from the personal neuroses of those engaging in the discussions.
:grouphug: :crutches: