How would you answer this?

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Elzee

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I received an email from a non-denominationalist friend of mine. She asked me to help her pray for a mutual friend of ours who is an atheist. She also added this comment: *We can just point her to the truth. We can’t save her because salvation only comes from God . It doesn’t come from us, and not from a denomination.

*Now, we all know salvation comes from God and Catholics don’t - or shouldn’t - think we’re ‘saved’ just because we belong to the Catholic Church. I thought about ignoring her remark, but I know, in essence, she is directing it toward me because she knows I’m an orthodox Catholic.

If I respond, I’d like to keep the focus on helping our friend …any thoughts on a response? Or, perhaps this is one I just let it go…?
 
Agree to pray for your mutual friend. of course, you may ask her just hwat you are praying for. She will probably say… “We should pray to God that He might come into our friend’s life and save her.”

You might then want to point out… “But if God saves her because of our prayer for her, haven’t we in fact saved her?”

Thal59
 
I would say she was a bit rude in taking a shot at your faith at the same time she was asking you to pray for a friend. That was simply unnecessary. It served no purpose whatsoever. You might just point that out to her.
 
Every Christian (should) believe that salvation begins with grace recieved from God. There are things within the Catholic Church where the grace of the Holy Spirit can come to the individual, such as Baptism.

I would read a lot on our view of salvation before attempting to deal with a claim that big.
 
Hi,
I would let it go. There is no point and nothing will be gained by pursuing it. If anything, it may cause a wedge between you. Pray for her to be less judgemental towards you or not to take jabs at you. Love covers a multitude of sin.😃
 
Elzee,

My answer would depend strongly on whether this was simply a slip or whether it was a deliberate cheap shot. If the former, I would ignore it; if the latter (if, for example, the friend had made similar comments in the past) I would point it out for what it is and agree to pray for the atheist friend.
  • Liberian
 
Agree to pray for her and tell her that you’ll be praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet Novena for the lady and invite her to join you in it. If she doesn’t have a Rosary, get one from your parish Rosary guild and send it to her along with this link to the chaplet prayers, which tells of the promises that Our Lord made to St. Faustina.

Tell her you know a guy, (moi) who says he’s seen some powerful conversions because of it.
Pax tecum,
 
Elzee said:
I received an email from a non-denominationalist friend of mine. She asked me to help her pray for a mutual friend of ours who is an atheist. She also added this comment: *We can just point her to the truth. We can’t save her because salvation only comes from God . It doesn’t come from us, and not from a denomination.

*Now, we all know salvation comes from God and Catholics don’t - or shouldn’t - think we’re ‘saved’ just because we belong to the Catholic Church. I thought about ignoring her remark, but I know, in essence, she is directing it toward me because she knows I’m an orthodox Catholic.
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I am certainly impressed by your claim to “know” your friend’s motivation. The rest of us mere mortals have to spend all of our time just guessing why other people do what they do. 😛

Obviously, I am teasing you, but I am doing so for a purpose: I think that it is possible that you may be misunderstanding your friend’s motivation. As a nondenom, the idea that salvation does not come from a denomination is an idea which is likely to be very significant to her, and possibly one which she would very much like you to embrace. It could be subconscious, or semi-conscious, evangelism.

More significantly, perhaps, Catholics on these fora are in the habit of trumpeting very loudly that the Roman Catholic Church is the one source of the ‘fullness of the truth’, a statement which necessarily implies that everyone else is wrong. Catholics elsewhere do the same. If your friend happens to encounter such claims, she will have good reason to believe that you will think the same, i.e., that you will think that the atheist will only be saved by becoming Catholic, and that she will only be saved by becoming Catholic. As this is tantamount to a claim that she is now unsaved, i.e., that she does not truly know Jesus and is currently on her way to Hell, her words could well be born out of defensiveness.

Whatever the case, this is not one you could just let go. Relationships stand on fall on the relating, i.e., the interactions between the people. Words are particularly significant because they last in the memory.

You have a good chance to talk with your Christian friend about the differences in what the two of you believe. Assuming that you are both mature enough to discuss such a thing without fighting, such a discussion can only make your understanding of each other, and therefore your relationship, stronger. As you love your friend, talk with her.
 
Mystophilus said:
I am certainly impressed by your claim to “know” your friend’s motivation. The rest of us mere mortals have to spend all of our time just guessing why other people do what they do. 😛

Obviously, I am teasing you, but I am doing so for a purpose: I think that it is possible that you may be misunderstanding your friend’s motivation. As a nondenom, the idea that salvation does not come from a denomination is an idea which is likely to be very significant to her, and possibly one which she would very much like you to embrace. It could be subconscious, or semi-conscious, evangelism.

More significantly, perhaps, Catholics on these fora are in the habit of trumpeting very loudly that the Roman Catholic Church is the one source of the ‘fullness of the truth’, a statement which necessarily implies that everyone else is wrong. Catholics elsewhere do the same. If your friend happens to encounter such claims, she will have good reason to believe that you will think the same, i.e., that you will think that the atheist will only be saved by becoming Catholic, and that she will only be saved by becoming Catholic. As this is tantamount to a claim that she is now unsaved, i.e., that she does not truly know Jesus and is currently on her way to Hell, her words could well be born out of defensiveness.

Whatever the case, this is not one you could just let go. Relationships stand on fall on the relating, i.e., the interactions between the people. Words are particularly significant because they last in the memory.

You have a good chance to talk with your Christian friend about the differences in what the two of you believe. Assuming that you are both mature enough to discuss such a thing without fighting, such a discussion can only make your understanding of each other, and therefore your relationship, stronger. As you love your friend, talk with her.
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You’re right - I could be reading more into her comment than she intended. I know her fairly well and don’t think I am, but you raise some good points. Thanks!
 
Tell her she shouldn’t exploit your friend’s atheism in order to take a shot at your faith. Tell her that your atheist friend needs sincere prayers, not ones that were called for with ulterior motives.

Then tell her you’ll pray both for both of them.
 
She is right though. Salvation dosen’t come from any one denomination. The Catholic church isn’t a denomination.
 
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