Can't anyone answer?

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gelsbern

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I have asked at the ask the apologist, I have sent out emails to Hahn, Akin and other apologist. I just want a simple answer.

What is the basic things needed for a catholic to believe for salvation?

Is it the creeds?
Is it the sacraments?

Must one believe everything about Mary to obtain salvation? The saints? The pope? Do I have to believe EVERYTHING in roman catholicsim for salvation?

Surely there must be an answer.
 
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gelsbern:
I have asked at the ask the apologist, I have sent out emails to Hahn, Akin and other apologist. I just want a simple answer.

What is the basic things needed for a catholic to believe for salvation?

Is it the creeds?
Is it the sacraments?

Must one believe everything about Mary to obtain salvation? The saints? The pope? Do I have to believe EVERYTHING in roman catholicsim for salvation?

Surely there must be an answer.
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It a simple answer. You must believe in Christ, who is revealed by Divine Revelation (Scripture and Apostolic Tradition) through the teachings and Sacraments of the Catholic Church.
 
Dear gelsbern,

I’m not Catholic, but I assume you believe that St. Paul was, so I hope you’ll receive what he has to say, even if the post does come from a Protestant! 🙂

Here’s what St. Paul says about what you must believe for salvation. This comes from I Corinthians 15:1-4:

"Now I make know to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and the He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day accroding to the Scriptures…" I Corinthians 15:1-4
 
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gelsbern:
I have asked at the ask the apologist, I have sent out emails to Hahn, Akin and other apologist. I just want a simple answer.

What is the basic things needed for a catholic to believe for salvation?

Is it the creeds?
Is it the sacraments?

Must one believe everything about Mary to obtain salvation? The saints? The pope? Do I have to believe EVERYTHING in roman catholicsim for salvation?

Surely there must be an answer.
Click to expand...
An Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and HolySpirit; I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe, these and ALL the truths that the holy Catholic Church teaches, because YOU have revealed them who can neither deceive nor be deceived.​

Don’ try to be a simpleton! God has revealed many truths about Himself and about how we are to live. Everything that God has revealed must be believed. That means that the principles of God must be applied to today’s complex world and the decisions made must be in accord with God’s law. Most heresies are the result of oversimplifying, or of over emphasizing one revelation above the others. God intended for you to use your intellect to know Him and His law. That is the very reason He gave you an intellect so don’t cop out by trying to dumb things down. Instead, use your intellect to learn about God and His ways. That is the rewarding path to follow.
 
Well I am certainly getting some good answers, but still vague. See I agree with bajolyn and All4lifetoo but, if what they say is all that is required, then why would the Roman Catholic Church require anyone to believe in more than what is needed for salvation?

I have heard too many times, if you don’t believe in the Marian doctrines you will go to hell, if you don’t believe in the intercession of the saints, you will go to hell. Is it true?
 
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gelsbern:
Well I am certainly getting some good answers, but still vague. See I agree with bajolyn and All4lifetoo but, if what they say is all that is required, then why would the Roman Catholic Church require anyone to believe in more than what is needed for salvation?

I have heard too many times, if you don’t believe in the Marian doctrines you will go to hell, if you don’t believe in the intercession of the saints, you will go to hell. Is it true?
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It’s certainly possible.
If you know that the Church is the Bride of Christ and all that She teaches is true, then it’s a very grave possibility.
 
It’s not so much what we believe that leads to salvation. It’s Jesus who saves us through his death and resurrection. Jesus himself said, ‘not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter my kingdom, but rather he who does the will of my Father.’ (Quoting from memory here so it may not be exact.)

So it is through Jesus and the Church he established that we are saved–because that is our means of grace.

And grace–sanctifying grace–is the one thing necessary for salvation.

To remain in His grace, we must believe in Jesus and remain in His Church.

Are you looking for a way to believe in Jesus but reject the Church he founded and to whom he entrusted his gospel? The way you phrased it makes it sound like a kind of minimalism.
 
In Matthew 4:4 Jesus says, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

I believe that it is extremely dangerous to attempt to summarize what is required for salvation in just a nutshell form. This is exactly what the Fundamentalists tried to do and where they got their name.

If we truly know and love God, then we will do everything we can to grow to love and know God more everyday. Grace is God’s gift to us. Grace is God’s favor and it carries with it enormous power. God’s grace justifies us, washes us, sanctifies us, makes us adopted sons and daughters, sets us free from committing sin, and provides our salvation. God’s grace is His very life within us.

Everyone understands the need for human relationships. We are made for relationships, and we are made especially for the ultimate relationship. That relationship is the relationship we have with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The relationship we have with God is to know, love, and serve God with every fiber of our being. To know God is to accept and believe all that he has revealed to us. This knowledge of God enables us to properly love and obey Him as adopted sons and daughters within his household.

To know, love, and serve God with our whole mind, heart, soul, and strength cannot properly be defined by a minimum summarization of what is necessary to be saved. Jesus is our Lord and King, and not just our Savior. To be members of the household and to be heirs to the kingdom means that we live by grace through faith. We must live in the spirit by the grace of God. “To know the truth and to be set free” means to live in the grace of God as if there is no minimum for salvation. Total immersion in loving God has no bounds or limits.

We are pilgrims on the road that leads to heaven and we are to “work out our salvation in fear and trembling.”[Philippians 2:12]
Trust the teachings of the Church. They are biblical and apostolic. Live by these teachings and you will know the will of God. Love God and do His will and you will be saved.
 
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gelsbern:
Well I am certainly getting some good answers, but still vague. See I agree with bajolyn and All4lifetoo but, if what they say is all that is required, then why would the Roman Catholic Church require anyone to believe in more than what is needed for salvation?

I have heard too many times, if you don’t believe in the Marian doctrines you will go to hell, if you don’t believe in the intercession of the saints, you will go to hell. Is it true?
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For myself, I leave all the sweating about going to hell pretty much for others. I found that if I go around with that as a motivating factor, it causes anxiety.

Much more interesting and relevant, as far as I’m concerned, is to become transformed by internalizing the message of the Good News and experiencing true peace and freedom, and a heart that naturally seeks to please God. This is wonderful because the interior silence generated by “unthinking” predisposes us to better hear the whispered silence of the Holy Spirit within us.

I skipped around a lot, but I just wanted to throw that in. If I worry about going to hell, then that results in an unhealthy focus on the law which brings death; any static set of rules and regulations cannot hold a candle (or is that a tongue) to the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:2:
Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
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In my experience it is difficult, to the point of being maddening, to try intellectually to negotiate a gazillion rules, regulations, exceptions, etc, to be transformed into anything but a psychotic mess. Let the confessors worry about that stuff, follow the rules the best you can, and learn how to love one another, do not judge, read and reread the sermon on the mountain, seek the heart of Christ rather than the law, and enjoy the fruits of the Spirit.

My :twocents:

Alan
 
gels,

i think you’re looking at this the wrong way. everything the church teaches is to make salvation easier for us. the church is here to guide our way to salvation. if it says contraception is wrong, its not to make life harder on you, its to keep you from committing a sin that could keep you out of heaven!

so take full advantage of all the teachings of the church. you dont have to do anything that is a private revelation, such as saying the rosary or divine mercy chaplet, but why not?? you dont have to, but thats like saying “you dont have to take this free money if you dont want to” people have little extra devotionals because it does bring us closer to God. pray the rosary and see if youre not closer to God.

anyway, pray pray pray and ask for faith. God bless.
 
Well, to make it simple, all you need to be saved is grace, specifically sanctifying grace. Therefore you need to believe everything that the Church teaches infallibly (ie concerning faith and morals). To reject one of these things with full knowledge and consent would be heresy, which I believe is a mortal sin. If you die in a state of mortal sin, you will not be saved.
 
Here let me put it this way. You can be saved by being in union with the Catholic Church, as a member. You do not have to know everything that the Church teaches because she teaches a lot of things. A mind can only do so much. God will not held you accountable if you are just trying to be a good person living in union with the Church. Just try to avoid sin, and heaven will be at your doorstep…
God bless.😃
 
One also gets the impression you are looking for the least amount to believe as possible. I think that’s the wrong way to look at it. Wouldn’t you want to know and believe as much of the Truth as possible. Since becoming Catholic, I cannot wait to uncover another facet or dimension of the Truth. It’s all so beautiful and full. Sure, the central belief of Catholicism is the Trinity, but all the other truths the Church proposes are merely outgrowths of that truth. Truth isn’t a series of propositions to be memorized to avoid hell. It is a reality to enter into and to live. The more you have the better off you are.
 
Why do you want to be Catholic? Do you believe it’s the true Church that Jesus Christ established and through the power of the Holy Spirit directs what is essential for Christians today? If so, then accepting what the chruch teaches should be easy. When I converted, there was MUCH I didn’t understand - about the Saints, about Mary, about purgatory but I decided I would just accept it on faith because I did beleive this was the true Church. My attitude has become, Well if the Chuch says so, then it must be so. It’s a peace really - and a freedom. I don’t have to work it all out in my head - like a child I just accept it on faith. Now someday when I get to heaven, if I find out the church wasn’t quite right about this or that, so be it. What have I lost? I still loved Jesus with my whole heart and soul, was (hopefully) nice to my neighbor, and lived my faith to the best of my ability. At the end of the day, isn’t that what counts most?
 
My advice to you would be to talk to a priest about this and maybe the RCIA group at your parish church could help you out as well.

👋 Melanie
 
Gelsbern,

You are making the mistake of asking Catholics what the simple formula for salvation is.

For instance, in most Protestant denominations, one makes their altar call, sinner’s prayer, repents, asks the Lord to become their personal savior, and Tah-Dah… one is saved.

But Catholics understand that the Roman Catholic Church, under the sheparding of the Bishop of Rome, (the successor to the seat of St. Peter), is indeed the church that Jesus established through the apostles. Once one understands this, it is no longer a question of what do I need to believe to be saved because that infers that there are some truths taught by the church one can dispense with.

Paul refers to the church of Jesus as His mystical body, with Jesus as the head.** Reject any part of this church and one rejects a part of the Lord.** This applies scripturally, for example, with the priesthood… “He who accepts you, accepts me and he who rejects you rejects me. And he who rejects me, rejects the Father that sent me.” One cannot accept Christ while rejecting His church or ministers.

One cannot pick and choose what one wishes to believe in the RCC as one does in the Protestant churches. Either you accept Jesus and His church and those He sends forth, or you reject them all.

Thal59
 
Obedience to the Bride of Christ (Catholic Church) can be a difficult journey.

There are many difficult teachings in Scripture. In fact one saying was so hard to accept, that Jesus’ own disciples walked away from Him.

May God guide you and bless you!
 
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