What must I do to be saved?

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. . . “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”

Muslims may not have the full perscription, but they are acknowledged as having a portion of the cure.
From scripture we find that we are judged in accordance with what it is that God reveals to and demands of us.
So, not knowing Jesus in particular, they would not be rejecting Him. Loving God fully and each other, repenting their sins within themselves they presumably, would be open to salvation.
 
I don’t know how you got all that out of, " But your faith must be sincere or all is naught. "

Surely you see that we must be honest about our faith? Is it O.K. to try to pull the wool over God’s eyes? Surely not.

Linus2nd
Obviously, but please don’t be offended. I took it to mean there is no hope for those who cannot believe, cannot sincerely believe in God, in Jesus for whom He is…but this isn’t about hurt feelings of any of the posters, it’s about a discussion that has at least some possibility of giving a helpful direction to the OP.

What may not have been clear was that I was intending the remainder of the post to the OP. It seemed important to explain those things to him/her. Your comment provided a springboard to speak to him her, not a criticism of your thought, nor even perhaps an accurate reflection of your intent in saying it. My observation is that you are very sound. Sometimes I think we, even sometimes mistakenly, take a particular aspect of what someone has said and it allows the Spirit to say something that the person may need from the Spirit’s perspective.

A couple of posters have felt offense at what others may have said, but that’s not what’s important. What matters is if we say to the person what God wishes us to say. We hope He will, and even trust He will, even though personalities sometimes get in the way, this is what most of us serious posters do try to do. Many of us who remain as members remain to serve as we hope God wishes. It has always been clear that you are one of these. Apologies if I disturbed you. 🙂

Warm regards, Trishie
 
Start finding the answer to this question: where, most likely, has God manifested Himself? And when you find God - or perhaps find out He’s already found you - you follow Him.

Now, in a subsequent post, you said you’d become a Moslem. Bully for you. Can you tell me why? What evidence did you find that God has manifested Himself to Mohammed?
I have addressed that in another thread entitled “The Dilemma: the Christian Conception of Jesus vs. the Muslim Conception of Jesus.”
 
Obviously, but please don’t be offended. I took it to mean there is no hope for those who cannot believe, cannot sincerely believe in God, in Jesus for whom He is…but this isn’t about hurt feelings of any of the posters, it’s about a discussion that has at least some possibility of giving a helpful direction to the OP.

What may not have been clear was that I was intending the remainder of the post to the OP. It seemed important to explain those things to him/her. Your comment provided a springboard to speak to him her, not a criticism of your thought, nor even perhaps an accurate reflection of your intent in saying it. My observation is that you are very sound. Sometimes I think we, even sometimes mistakenly, take a particular aspect of what someone has said and it allows the Spirit to say something that the person may need from the Spirit’s perspective.

A couple of posters have felt offense at what others may have said, but that’s not what’s important. What matters is if we say to the person what God wishes us to say. We hope He will, and even trust He will, even though personalities sometimes get in the way, this is what most of us serious posters do try to do. Many of us who remain as members remain to serve as we hope God wishes. It has always been clear that you are one of these. Apologies if I disturbed you. 🙂

Warm regards, Trishie
Was not offened, just puzzled. The point is that God expects even the invincibly ignorant to be honest.

Linus2nd
 
Was not offened, just puzzled. The point is that God expects even the invincibly ignorant to be honest.

Linus2nd
I’m sorry if I didn’t make that clear in my post. I thought I had in that post you referred to! Thanks for pointing out that if I failed to sufficiently address that.

God bless! 🙂
 
Those who live without love and goodness except for their own misguided purposes, these have chosen an eternity without goodness and love, and for human souls to be without love, without good, is hell.
So, let’s see if I have this right. To be saved I must love. What I believe in regards to Jesus is irrelevant. Right?
 
No, that would be a cynical and superficial approach.
If God considered it important to send His divine Son upon earth to redeem us, than that matters.
If Jesus who is God Incarnate considered it important to spend three years teaching disciples, and then promised to send His Holy Spirit to lead us into truth, to put Him and His purpose aside is highly insulting to our Creator and Redeemer.

You and I are creatures created by God, and unless we want to put ourselves alongside those Angels who put their wishes and their will above God, and thereby became devils, then we ought to study and take into our hearts all He taught, and all He teaches us through the Church through which He gave His authority, then we are mocking Him and fooling ourselves.

As you have rejected Him except as a Muslim idea, I wonder why are you asking these questions, because if you have a closed mind having decided only to accept Him as a Muslin prophet, are you just finding a way around the little flicker of suspicion that you are rejecting the greatest of all treasures, our Eucharistic Lord and Savior and the true will of God?

How arrogant of any of us, like that third of Angels who put themselves above God, who became totally self-absorbed, if we follow their lead! We exist through His creation, but we decide that all He intends is irrelevant, that His coming, His years of teaching, His sending the Holy Spirit to lead us, does not matter? We make up our own minds about what is relevant, that what God holds as important is unimportant. Yes we are to love, but He requires much around that basic requirement. If not, God could simply have written across the heaven, the simple words “you must love”. Through Jesus and the Church God has said a great deal more. Shall we ignore Him? We can try ignoring His purposes to the grave, but beyond that we reap the consequences of willfully or carelessly ignoring God, and have no one but ourselves to blame.

May God guide you.
 
Counterpoint may be " pulling our chain " but it gives us a chance to witness to the truth, which readers cannot help but notice.

Linus2nd
 
Not what your faith teaches, I refer you to the Catechism of the Catholic Church

841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”

Muslims may not have the full perscription, but they are acknowledged as having a portion of the cure.
What Muslims fail to acknowledge is that Jesus identified Himself as the “I AM” The Jews said :"He blasphemes, The Jews knew that God was the “I Am” This was their great excuse, not the fact that they were envious, and humiliated by Him when he called the “hypocrites” the spiritual leaders of the people. When Jesus said that He was the "I Am, through their own words, He was saying “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”
the Bible was used in the “Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed” but so much human error in judgement was introduced in it’s interpretation. Because Jesus was born of a woman, now Jesus is not the Son of God, in the Blessed Trinity, but merely human, with a special message, as a prophet. relegated to a second position behind Mohammed.
Yes we agree there is truth among the Muslims, but there is also human error We agree where we can, and disagree where we must. We can’t convert anyone, but we can point the way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the Light, and we stand by that. All knees will bend by the will of Our Father before His Son, who alone is the worlds Savior. He earned it by His humility, love and obedience to the Father, and the world is unsaved until it acknowledges Him, Lord and King. HISTORY testifies to this fact. there will be wars and rumors of war , man’s inhumanity to man. All mankind is included in the plan of salvation, but mankind has the free will to exclude itself.by it’s pride and selfishness, and hatred versus Christ’s humility and love.
 
Yes we are to love, but He requires much around that basic requirement. If not, God could simply have written across the heaven, the simple words “you must love”.
I’m asking you a simple question, but it doesn’t appear that you’re capable of giving me a simple and straight forward answer.
 
As for me, I continue to assert that, the truth, whether anyone likes it or not, is that God and His Word “subsist in the Catholic Church”. And anyone who seeks the truth will not be far from this fact.
That’s all it is…an assertion. Making assertions is easy. It doesn’t mean anything.
 
So, let’s see if I have this right. To be saved I must love. What I believe in regards to Jesus is irrelevant. Right?
Seeing as no-one else is grabbing the bull by the horns here…

You must love yes, because showing love is a commandment of God.

It is possible than one might obtain salvation due to ignorance outside the Catholic Church by Gods mercy, but the only way to ensure salvation is by adherance to the full revealed truth resident within the Catholic Church.

It is possible Muslims might be saved, but it’s a guarantee devout Catholics who do not err, attend regular confession, adhere to Church teaching and do not die in the state of mortal sin will be after a period of purgatory (Few souls are worthy of the beatific vision immediately after death).
 
Start finding the answer to this question: where, most likely, has God manifested Himself? And when you find God - or perhaps find out He’s already found you - you follow Him.
Why are you evading the question? This particular forum is entitled “Catholic Answers.” So, I expect a Catholic answer to the question I posed in the original post of this thread: What must I do to be saved?
 
It is possible Muslims might be saved, but it’s a guarantee devout Catholics who do not err, attend regular confession, adhere to Church teaching and do not die in the state of mortal sin will be after a period of purgatory (Few souls are worthy of the beatific vision immediately after death).
Okay. So, there is salvation outside the Catholic Church. We do not have to believe that Jesus was God incarnated to be saved. We do not have to believe that Jesus died for our sins to be saved. We do not have to believe that Jesus rose from the dead to be saved. In fact, we can reject all these teachings and be saved. Because clearly both Muslims and Jews reject all these things. And according to your understanding of the Church’s teaching, it is possible that they might be saved.

Of course, this teaching contradicts the New Testament.

“Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Act 16:29-31
 
Okay. So, there is salvation outside the Catholic Church.
Let me just amend this a little bit; there may be salvation outside the Catholic Church. We really don’t know and it’s not a matter Catholics can really comment upon. We only go as far to presume God is not so petty and vindictive to send souls like unbaptized children or Hindus up in the Himalayas who never got to even hear about Jesus to hell. But in all truth, we don’t know for sure hence why it is a doctrine, and not a Dogma.

I know you might be thinking about Boniface’s statement that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, but that has been defined by the Catholic Church as having been addressed to Catholics who leave the Church.

The Church is willing to forgive ignorance, apostasy it is not.
We do not have to believe that Jesus was God incarnated to be saved.
Again, we do not know this. We are taught however to embrace the faith, so even if it were not a requirement and the doctrine of Invincible Ignorance turns out to be correct God clearly intends and desires for souls to acknowledge the sacrifice he made for their sake.
We do not have to believe that Jesus died for our sins to be saved. We do not have to believe that Jesus rose from the dead to be saved. In fact, we can reject all these teachings and be saved. Because clearly both Muslims and Jews reject all these things.
Again, Catholics do not know this for sure, it’s safer and more fufilling to know the full truth of the Gospel than take a chance
Of course, this teaching contradicts the New Testament.
To Protestants of course it does, but we must remember that the Catholic Church reserves all right to interpret the Bible and does not belive in a literal interpretation or sola scruiptura.

We must also bear in mind that the Catholic Church is in fact older than the bible, and prior to it’s formulation the pre-schism church drew upon the deposit of sacred tradition. The same tradition in which the bible is interpreted by and in light of.
 
Okay. So, there is salvation outside the Catholic Church. We do not have to believe that Jesus was God incarnated to be saved. We do not have to believe that Jesus died for our sins to be saved. We do not have to believe that Jesus rose from the dead to be saved. In fact, we can reject all these teachings and be saved. Because clearly both Muslims and Jews reject all these things. And according to your understanding of the Church’s teaching, it is possible that they might be saved.

Of course, this teaching contradicts the New Testament.

“Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Act 16:29-31
To the extent that the Muslims, and Jews have the truth, to that extent they are in the Church, separated brothers, sharing a common humanity, but individually different, that why Catholic means universal, for all men. But first and foremost, Christian. Its to the extent they have truths concerning God that we agree, but disagree where we must. We are not here to change your opinions, or convictions, or to convert we can’t do that. But we are here to witness to the truths of our Faith. It’s amazing how we can give so much and receive so little from those who ask so many questions. I really like to hear their defense of their own convictions, and show me how logical they are, prove to me your beliefs. Try being on the defense, instead of the offence. Sometimes it seems like a one sided conversation. And don’t use the excuse that this is the Catholic Answers forum and therefore we are expected to answer all questions, we do a pretty good job, but the responses are not too enlightening. Are we looking for the truth, or just to win an argument? Are motives sincere? If not then we are wasting our time and effort. We are witnessing to what we believe. And we consider it a supernatural gift, not one gotten from human reason, but not in conflict with human reason, our faith is reasonable, not its product. Even a child can have it Thank God!! Children are entering the Kingdom before so called intellectuals who are so complicated, they need the simplicity of a child, not childishness.
 
I’m asking you a simple question, but it doesn’t appear that you’re capable of giving me a simple and straight forward answer.
No, I didn’t give you the answer you wanted.

You do not want the truth, I think, but a confirmation of your own position.

I told you the truth, which takes more than one word or one sentence.

You wanted a single word from Jesus? You won’t get it.
Jesus spent around three years answering your question, but you wish to reject His teaching because it is not to your taste.

Why would God bother to allow much time in teaching if Jesus could have come down as a fully adult Personage on one momentary visit to give you one word or one sentence?

I wonder if you really want the answer or you are hoping to prove Jesus wrong, and the Church wrong.
I wonder what your purpose here really is? To prove your point or to find the truth?
God is God. Truth is truth, whether we recognize or desire it…or not!
 
John 11:25, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Acts 26:18, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins,and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 1st Corinthians 3:11, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
 
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