I cannot accept a religion that would require it’s adherents to be scholars by any stretch of imagination. Child like acceptance seems to be good enough for Christ, so it ought to be good enough for all of us.
People like to make things complex for a lot of reasons, none of them good, all of them selfish. Simplifying things is usually better because many more people can participate. Salvation is not a spectator sport, we are all players with equal stakes in the outcome. It also is not a contest.
That’s one reason I admire Baptist services, and I am not and never will be a Baptist. They are all inclusive and non-liturgical. Anyone who wants to hear the message of salvation and participate fully in the worship service is welcome, no questions asked. Actually most non-Catholic services are like that. No one is excluded. No hoops to jump through to get to salvation other than acceptance of Him as Savior.
Simple includes more people and the mission was to save mankind. Sounds like a plan to me.
Our ‘problem’ is human intellect. Wisdom and Sirach tell us that knowledge / reason / intellect are Divine gifts. However, when compounded with ‘freewill’ we find intellect can posit and espouse that ‘there is no God!’ and everything appeared out of ‘nothingness’ without Divine intervention or necessity. They even use the same evidence we laud as God made, to support the position that God does not exist.
Faith in God is not BLIND FAITH! It can be explained in details as intricate as those posed by the non-believing intellect. The ‘final’ revelation of God’s existence, to accompany the incidences in the Old Testament is He, Himself, walking among men. Yet we find that ‘faith’ is still required for humans to bridge the gap between the evidence and God. This means the ‘freewill’ still needs to be exercised to choose God over all else.
The ‘test’ of a KNOWLEDGE is not the amount of hoops it can jump through or stand up to scholastic examination, but that it CAN OVERCOME them all.
In matters of Divine knowledge (revelation) ONLY The Catholic Church, as a faith, can withstand and answer all enquiries from human intellect, for IT, ALONE, was given Divine commencement and protection.
For Christians, as Our Lord states,
“… if they are not against us, they are with us” suggest that anyone who believes He is The Son of God, salvation is in His Holy Hands, BUT DOES NOT MEAN, ASSURANCE! This is exclusive to ‘Christians’ since the “strangers” were casting out demons in His Name!
One can believe in Christ / God and be
ignorant of The Catholic Church. The Church understands this and professes that matters are in God’s Hands. But for all who are aware of The Catholic Church and choose to remain outside Her because they disagree, require examinations and study to understand why She professes that “those outside The Catholic Church (not community) cannot be saved.”
It is perfect sense because Our Lord was not ‘willy nilly’ about His assertions when He walked this Earth. He was quite succinct regarding certain things even though it made enemies amongst other ‘beliefs’ and authoritive bodies.
