I don’t think that warning every non-C that they are at risk of eternal damnation is a good way to go about ministering to them. Jesus always approached people OUTSIDE the church with love and patience - he saved the criticism and sharp words for the hypocrites inside the church.
Thank you for your opinions - but what I have said is very mild (esp. compared to being more strong in my words in prior posting histories). And I must say I don’t agree with your opinion either.
As an Anglican, you should know very well that the Catholic Church has gone on record for 2,000 years preaching this same consistent message : Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (EENS: Outside the Church there is no salvation). Your Anglican forefathers, before King Henry forced hijacked all Catholics to be in HIS new church, were all once Catholic who had real ordained apostolic Bishops and Priests. If you know the Anglican legacy and history then you must know your forefathers were all Catholic for over 1,000 years before the King “took the church”. All these rigorously believed and taught EENS too. If they were here today they would be passionately urging you to come into the Catholic Church - daily. The members of the ecclesia Anglicana branch of the Catholic Church, when it was Catholic, were more disciplined and focused than today’s generation of “patriotic-Anglicans”. They would know that a person who loves another person does not permit one to walk perilously close to the edge of the cliff to risk falling and perishing without giving them a warning. They would see that as irresponsible and know that it would put the guilt of loss on them for not speaking out at least a warning.
The very same sense of responsibility was present in the apostolic times. All apostles and disciples would warn you to your face if you were in danger of falling away. Frankly, I think you have a very anachronistic view of what the personalities of the apostles really were. Let me give you some insights:
*Galatians 1-9:
As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
2 Peter 2:12
But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,
2 Peter 3:15-16
…our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand,
which the ignorant and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Philippians 3:2-4
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, 4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh
Matthew 7:6
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Rev 22:114-15
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside [ed: the Church] are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
Mark 7:27
And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”*
Sorry, I just don’t see a lot of love-n-lollipops false Christian pandering about being complacent in a false faith in the above verses. There is a sense of urgeny to get right with God and enter into the apostolic Church and the original gospel.
I also want to mention that a contrite heart is also believed by the Roman Church to remit sins, even without formal confession, and this would particularly apply to protestants. Sorry it’s taken so long to respond to your post!
This is strawman - I never said anything contrary to this. But let me correct you on what the Catholic Church really teaches. The Church teaches that those who are outside of the church through invincible ignorance who find themselves in post-baptismal mortal/grave sin may be forgiven if they form a PERFECT CONTRITION. But we also know that a perfect contrition is only formed when one is sorry for offending God out of love and without any regard to being fearful of His just punishments (hell). We also know that this is impossible for natural man to do on his own and it requires supernatural grace to attain to perfect contrition - where one must rather desire to die than offend God again and have real tears, spiritual pain and bitter sorrow over sinning against God. Few saints can attain this level of contrition. So to rely on this and to preach this as an alternative to sacramental confession is creating and abetting a false compassion that will likely lead many to hell. Further, if any Catholic is counseling a person that this perfect contrition is possible then they are also obligate to tell a person that they are obligated to become Catholic so that they may more easily gain forgivness through sacramental confession. That removes a barrier to the excuse of invincible ignorance (which one should rightfully also inform the person).
So why are you not Catholic when you should know better? Do you know the history of your Church?
James
We all worship and love the same Savior .
