Is it sinful to assume that your salvation is “guaranteed”?

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Jimmy_B

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  • Is it sinful to assume that your salvation is “guaranteed”?
  • Does it show a lack of humility or respect for our Lord?
  • **Does it amount to assuming God’s role in final judgment? **
  • Isn’t it better to approach our salvation with humility, fear and trembling in the “hope” of our salvation and put our final judgment in God’s hands?
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Matthew****
Chapter 26
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you,
28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.

John****
Chapter 6
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

**
 
John**
Chapter 3**
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
19 And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.
21 But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Matthew**
Chapter 24**
13 But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved

Matthew**
Chapter 25**
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne,
32 and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

1 Timothy**
Chapter 4**
10 For this we toil and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the savior of all, especially of those who believe
 
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1 John****
Chapter 2
2 He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
3 The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
6 whoever claims to abide in him ought to live (just) as he lived.
Romans****
Chapter 11
22 See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God’s kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.

2 Peter****
Chapter 2
20 For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of (our) Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first.
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them.

Matthew****
Chapter 7
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 So by their fruits you will know them.
21 "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
23 Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers

1 John****
Chapter 4
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
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1 John****
Chapter 5
3 For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,

Philippians****
Chapter 1
6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus

1 Corinthians****
Chapter 1
8 He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus (Christ).

Philippians****
Chapter 2
12 So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

1 Corinthians****
Chapter 3
12 If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,
13 the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire (itself) will test the quality of each one’s work.
14 If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.
15 But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.
**
 
Such an assumption both results in and results from extreme arrogance (and ignorance) and leads to hypocritical behavior and self-righteous over-confidence. I have no doubt that people who follow such an assumption of “guaranteed salvation” are the single greatest threat to the spread of the Gospel because their arrogance and hypocrisy bring about scandal and breed cynicism among non-Christians who might otherwise be receptive to Christ and His Church. It is sordid, tragic, and most regrettable in the extreme.
 
I think it’s sinful and arrogant to presume to know the mind of God as regards anything.
 
I’d have to say yes and no to the question.

Yes, it is presumptuous if the person believing in assurance of salvation thinks that he can go on sinning with impunity (because all the sins he would commit in the future are already forgiven, according to this faulty theological construct). Or, that he believes he cannot lose his salvation and so grows arrogant and unloving.

No, if one is thinking of assurance of salvation as a moral certainty due to the promises of God to save all those who will persevere until the end.
 
JMJ
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James
Chapter 4

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”–
14 you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.
15 Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.”
16 But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin

Why is it that people he say that they “know for a fact” that they will go to heaven because they “believe” (OSAS), or that their salvation is guaranteed, use the term “God willing” when it applies to everything else, except their Final Judgment or their Salvation?

**Why is it that the same people who recognize that it is right and it is written in the bible that everything is by God’s will, refuse to recognize that “everything” includes God’s will in their final judgment? Why aren’t they willing to acknowledge “I hope to go to heaven, God willing”, the most important will of God and like everything thing else that is God’s will, put their salvation in the Lord’s hands and let it be His will?
 
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norcensou:
Such an assumption both results in and results from extreme arrogance (and ignorance) and leads to hypocritical behavior and self-righteous over-confidence. I have no doubt that people who follow such an assumption of “guaranteed salvation” are the single greatest threat to the spread of the Gospel because their arrogance and hypocrisy bring about scandal and breed cynicism among non-Christians who might otherwise be receptive to Christ and His Church. It is sordid, tragic, and most regrettable in the extreme.
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What norcensou said. 🙂
 
I don’t know if it’s sinful to assume that your salvation is guaranteed. I certainly think it’s an error to assume that. And the error leads to people thinking they can sin with impunity. Anyone who thinks that isn’t going to take sin seriously. What a dangerous belief. But I’m sure the devil approves.
 
I don’t know about sinful, but if Paul felt that he was owrking on his slavation with fear and trembling, it seems that it would be wrong for any of us to think that we are better than Paul and that we can be neglectful of appealing to God for his grace through our faith and actions until we die.
 
Great question, but I’m not going to hurt myself to try to get an answer. Some things are better unknown. Just don’t think it is guaranteed.
 
I thought the church teaches that this is the sin of “presumption”.
 
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sconea:
I thought the church teaches that this is the sin of “presumption”.
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Yes! Presumption and despair are sins against hope. So while we may (and should) confidently live in hope, we may not abandon fear of offending God, for in so doing we give way to overconfident presumption:

From the CC:
"When God reveals Himself and calls him, man cannot fully respond to the divine love by his own powers. He must hope that God will give him the capacity to love Him in return and to act in conformity with the commandments of charity. Hope is the confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of God; it is also the fear of offending God’s love and of incurring punishment.

“There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God’s almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).”
 
This is a presumption that many non-Catholics make but very few Catholics make.

They also happen to use this as some sort of recruitment thing to convince Catholics that IF they come over to their way of thinking their salvation will be guaranteed… BUT if they stay Catholic, their salvation is somehow in doubt.

Heaven is guaranteed to no one, and to assume that it is, seems to me, to be a sin of pride. Jesus always tells us to be meek and humble. To gloat over your salvation, which is a free gift from God, goes far afield from proper Christ-like humility.

I guess that is why a lot of non-Catholics come across as arrogant snobs.
 
To assume makes an “arse” out of you and me. I don’t assume anything, that’s why I go to confession.
 
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wcknight:
I guess that is why a lot of non-Catholics come across as arrogant snobs.
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Hmmm. Let’s be humble and not take a head-count on how any of us “come across” to people on the outside.
 
I read everything in this thread but still do not understand. If one leads their life to-the-letter exactly as commanded by God, are they not guaranteed? If the assumption that salvation is guaranteed is a sin, is it just as sinful to assume that non-believers go to Hell? Wouldn’t it be a fault in your faith not to assume that someone who lives just as God commands goes to heaven? Please explain this to me!
 
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Mila:
I read everything in this thread but still do not understand. If one leads their life to-the-letter exactly as commanded by God, are they not guaranteed? If the assumption that salvation is guaranteed is a sin, is it just as sinful to assume that non-believers go to Hell? Wouldn’t it be a fault in your faith not to assume that someone who lives just as God commands goes to heaven? Please explain this to me!
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It’s the premise that God knows the state of your soul better than you do.
 
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