Why be a Catholic?

[JOE_OBERR]

If even the Pope has stated that being a Catholic isn’t necessary for salvation, or even Christian for that matter?, etc… (from the Methodists perspective of course).

2 of 3

The Gospel’s primary purpose is to teach us how to be saved, that is, how to be set free from all that oppresses us, especially that of sin. So Jesus came, primarily, to
save us in our daily lives by freeing us from our sins, especially serious, deadly or mortal sins, “All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal”. (1 Jn 5:17)

By hearing the Gospel “… you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”. (Jn.8:32) So if you repent, accept the Gospel, are baptized, you will be freed (saved)
from sin. You must continue repenting your whole life, however, as you can lose your salvation by becoming enslaved to sin again, “I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things (drunkenness, murder, blasphemy, fornication etc) shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:21) Then, when you die in the state of
being saved from your sins, you will be rewarded with eternal salvation in heaven.

Only the Catholic Church offers this Gospel in its FULLNESS, which includes the spiritual aids that Jesus established in order to assist us in our DAILY quest for
salvation, namely, the Eucharist, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you”. Jn 6:53 Jesus
established the Eucharist, and the sacrament of reconciliation, “… If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (Jn
20:23) so he could channel his grace to us, via his Church, to assist us in our daily effort to achieve and keep our salvation.

This is the normal means stablished by Jesus
himself to save us from our sins every day, “… give us this day our daily bread…”. The Word of God teaches us that “bread” in the Our Father refers not only to physical
nourishment but spiritual as well, namely, the Eucharist.

cont’d

 

[JOE_OBERR]

If even the Pope has stated that being a Catholic isn’t necessary for salvation, or even Christian for that matter?meat on a day of abstinance, etc… (from the Methodists perspective of course).

3 of 3

Without the Eucharist which increases our love for God and decreases our tendency to sin, and the forgiveness we receive in Reconciliation, it is almost impossible to
remain free, on a daily basis, from sin which then leaves us dysfunctional, anxiety ridden, miserable, even suicidal, even though we may have a million dollars in the bank.
Just look at the Hollywood stars who fit this category.

As a Methodist, you do not have access to these sacraments, or spiritual aids which Jesus himself established to
assist you in obtaining your temporal, or daily, salvation. And if you are not in the state of being saved from your sins when you die, your eternal salvation will be lost as
well.

You can achieve earthly (temporal) and final (eternal) salvation as a non-Catholic Christian, the Word of God affirms this. However, it won’t be because you are a Methodist, but rather it will be in spite of being a Methodist, as no other Christian body, except the Catholic Church, has the fullness of truth as proclaimed in the Gospel and the spiritual aids (Eucharist - Reconciliation) Jesus established for our earthly salvation 2,000 years ago.

If you achieve earthly and final salvation it will not be
through the normal means Jesus established through his Church. Therefore it will be much more difficult for you as you will not know how to live your life according to the fullnes of truth in the Gospel message. You will have a much greater chance of becoming enslaved to serious sin which leads to sickness in body and soul, being dysfunctional, anxiety ridden and miserable, regardless of your natural talents and earthly goods.

The choice is yours. Will you put your faith in Jesus & the Church he founded? Or will you put your faith in your own will and in churchs founded by mere men?

Joe

 

[floatingopera]

How can a person be truly seeking God’s will and not find Christ? Jesus said seek and you will find. If a person who had never heard the gospel through no fault of his own were truly seeking God, he would be answered by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would not then lead that person to Islam or Buddhism or Native American Spirituality. He would lead him to Christ. No matter where the person lived or what the conditions might be that would make it difficult to learn the gospel, God could make a way for him to hear the truth.

Why would we rather believe that God makes some other way for that person than the way He revealed to us, the way that would allow him to have the fullness of faith in Christ?

The odds against anyone meeting all these criteria (that is, being completely ignorant of Christ, through no fault of his own, yet truly seeking God’s will) would seem to be so high that there’s little point in even mentioning it in the catechism. It just confuses people into believing that “all paths lead to the same place,” which is what most of the Catholics I’ve talked to believe, including the nun who taught my RCIA last year.