Yet, after a few moments of cooling down, I came to accept the fact that I probably deserved it- at least partly.
No one wants to look at the ugliness inside them, least of all me. Depending on who I am talking to, there are times when I find myself explaining what things mean and there are times that I find myself just being mean. There are times that I strive to be insightful and times that I strive to only be inciteful. There are times when I contend for the faith and other times when I am just being contentious.
This ugly streak all boils down to the deadliest of the deadly sins- pride. Pride is one of those sins that will always blow up in your face, sooner or later and that is exactly what happened to me tonight, as my own provocative words came back to haunt me.
Me and this friend go back about a decade and he has witnessed some of my most unfortunate outbursts firsthand, so I was a little taken aback that he didn't automatically know what my little game was but I digress.
I grew up a White, Catholic, Conservative which means that I am hated by about 1/4 of the Country for my race, 1/4 for my faith and 1/4 for my politics. Instead of running from it, I learned to embrace it. I learned how to take my enemies venom and use it against them.
In a left-wing chat room,I used to go on and on about how George W Bush was the greatest President in the history of the world. I even used to call him King George the 43rd. Did I truly believe this? Of course not! However, I did get hours of intense pleasure watching the reaction. In minutes, I was able to drive a dozen or so hippie left-wingers into a frothing frenzy. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I actually went much further in my provocations and said things that I would not care to repeat here.
Again, my friend witnessed these things as well.
How does that bring us to where we are today?
Well, there are those things I say that are part of the large library of public material that is Deeper Truth Blog- that is, articles, videos, shows debates..... and then there are the occasional tussle with an online idiot. I am, unfortunately, not unlike anyone else in that I can reach my breaking point. Sometimes, the latter can spill over into the former and that is exactly what happened here.
It all started with a blog post and corresponding show stating 25 reasons why you can stake your eternal salvation on Catholicism. My friend took issue with this statement, I stand by it, without reservation. In a 2 hour show, we covered the 25 topics;
- The Church is ONE (unified).
- The Church is HOLY (set apart)
- The Church is CATHOLIC (universal)
- The Church is APOSTOLIC (descended from the apostles)
- The Church is EUCHARISTIC (understands the truth of Jesus' body, blood, soul & divinity)
- The Church is SACRAMENTAL (following the Scriptural model)
- The Church is COMMUNAL (countering the 'me alone' nonsense)
- The Church understands DENIAL OF SELF (as a cost of discipleship)
- The Church is the only one that makes sense of SUFFERING (again, as a cost of discipleship)
- The Church is HISTORICAL (it is impossible to support any other church historically).
- The Church has a long history of MIRACLES (a proof of it's veracity that scripture requires)
- Detractors lie about it's TEACHINGS (a proof of it's veracity that scripture requires)
- Detractors lie about it's HISTORY (a proof of it's veracity that scripture requires)
- Opponents of it's INFALLIBILITY have searched in vain to find a contradiction in teaching.
- The Church passes the GAMALIEL test like no other in history.
- Only the Catholic church fulfills the PERPETUAL PRIESTHOOD.
- Only the Catholic church gave us THE BIBLE.
- Only the Catholic church is HATED BY THE WHOLE WORLD.
- Only the Catholic church understands MARY.
- Only the Catholic church gets the COMMUNION OF SAINTS.
- Only the Church can claim people like ST LAWRENCE, ST FRANCIS and JOHN PAUL II
- Only Peter was given the KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
- Only Catholicism can fulfill JOHN 20:23
- Only a Catholic Priest can perform an EXORCISM
- Jesus meant what He said in LUKE 10:16 and MATTHEW 18:18
Fullness of truth is the key. The Catholic Church is the only church on earth that is 100% right in doctrines of faith and morals. 100% right, 100% of the time. I am saying it boldly lest I be accused of talking out of both sides of my mouth. All other Christian churches are inferior to Catholicism. All have an inferior worship, all have an inferior deposit of truth and faith. None are the perfection of truth Jesus Christ gave us. All of them are man-made and contain false doctrines. That is a fact and I won't apologize for saying so. In fact, I put churches in italics because I am in agreement with Pope Benedict XVI that only Catholic Churches are truly Churches because a Church is a place of worship and only in a Catholic Church does genuine Christian worship take place. Non-Catholic Christian churches are not really churches at all, but faith communities. We can deal with that in another article.
The leaders of the church- the ministers-are dispensers of Grace (Ephesians 3:2). Therefore the idea of Sola Fide, Sola Christus, Sola Scriptura is Sola Bologna.
Does God want you to become a Catholic? Absolutely. Is it possible to be saved without being a Catholic?
Yes, I can say with certainty that it is possible for some non-catholics to be saved. How many? Which ones? That is impossible for me to answer because I have to know the condition of the soul. There are some who obviously cannot- murderers, adulterers, homosexuals and those who revile the Catholic church, cutting off the possibility of grace. These are just a few examples.
Let's deal with the last group, because that is the entire point of this piece.
As I said before, there is only one Church. That is the Catholic (or Universal ) Church. If you have a valid baptism (in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit), you are a member of the Catholic church, whether you like it or not. Even if you are a non-Christian who, given the opportunity would have chosen to join the Universal church, you are inside that Church by a Baptism of desire. Those who, through their own reasonable efforts, can come to know the truth of Catholicism and stubbornly refuse to do so, will be lost. Those who persist towards the truth humbly, all their lives, will be saved according to the amount of light within them and the level of effort they put forth.
Thus, the path of salvation is more difficult for the one with more knowledge because more is expected of Him. Nevertheless, there are certain truths taught in the Scriptures about Salvation. According to the ordinary means, the Eucharist is necessary for Salvation (John 6, 1 Corinthians 10, 1 Corinthians 11), confession of sins to a Priest is as well (John 20:23) as is Baptism (John 3:5, 1 Peter 3:21).Matthew 2514 For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey.
16 Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents.
17 In like manner he also that received the two gained other two.
18 But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
19 Now after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning with them.
20 And he that received the five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo, I have gained other five talents.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 And he also that received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: lo, I have gained other two talents.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter;
25 and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own.
26 But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter;
27 thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest.
28 Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away.
30 And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
Since these are ministered by the Church, it can be said (and has been) Extra Ecclesium Nulla Salus (There is no salvation outside the church). However, there is a caveat and that is where I, frankly, have been a little less than forthcoming to some of our more rabid detractors.
You see, I am well aware that the catholic haters have heard this term and decided that it means that all catholics believe all non-catholics are automatically going to hell. Since some of these people are so hate-filled as to defy reason, I am sometimes provoked into using this phrase as a club to bludgeon them.
In other words, I toss out the phrase and watch them twist and spin. I know what it means..... I just don't tell them. Is this a nice thing to do? No, it isn't. I'm really working on avoiding this tactic.
Nevertheless, what does Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus really mean?
The Church's understanding of the significance of the phrase: "Outside the Church there is no salvation" is expressed in its Catechism of the Catholic Church, 846-848, 851 as follows:
- "Outside the Church there is no salvation" - How are we to
understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?
Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ
the Head through the Church which is his Body:
- "Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it" (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 14).
- This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and His Church:
- "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience — those too may achieve eternal salvation" (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 16).
- "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him (Hebrews 11:6), the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men" (Second Vatican Council, Ad Gentes, 1).
- Missionary Motivation. It is from God's love for all men that the Church in every age receives both the obligation and the vigor of her missionary dynamism, "for the love of Christ urges us on," (2 Corinthians 5:14; cf. Apostolicam actuositatem 6, Roman Missal 11). Indeed, God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4); that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God's universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary.
This conjunction of statements in the Catechism makes it clear that
the Catholic Church sees the dogma "outside of the Church there is no
salvation" as the basis for the missionary activity of the Church,
because those who are innocently outside the Church but are also seeking
to follow the will of God are thus the proper object of the Church's
missionary activity - so as to bring them explicitly the saving truths
of the Christian Faith which they are seeking, and by which God desires
to effect their salvation through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. "And
this is life everlasting that they know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent." (John 17.3), "And there is not
salvation in any other. For neither is there any other name under heaven
given to men, wherein we must be saved." (Acts 4.12)
The Catechism explicitly affirms this interpretation in paragraph 161
by insisting upon the necessity of actual faith in Jesus Christ for
salvation.
Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One Who sent Him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation (cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:36; 6:40; et al.). "Since 'without faith it is impossible to please [God]' and to attain to the fellowship of His sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life `but he who endures to the end,'" (Vatican I, Dei Fillius 3; cf. Matthew 10:22; 24:13 and Hebrews 11:6; Council of Trent Decree on Justification, 8)
The Popes quoted above as stating that outside of the Church there is
no salvation did not see this statement as contradicting their other
statements that salvation is possible for those who, while not knowing
the Church as necessary for salvation and thus not explicitly entering
the Church, nevertheless accept whatever grace Christ gives them and
thus receive what the Council of Trent called Baptism of Desire.
Pope Pius IX wrote in Quanto conficiamur moerore, 7:
There are, of course, those who are struggling with invincible ignorance about our most holy religion. Sincerely observing the natural law and its precepts inscribed by God on all hearts and ready to obey God, they live honest lives and are able to attain eternal life by the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace since God who clearly beholds, searches, and knows the minds, souls, thoughts, and habits of all men, because of His great goodness and mercy, will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin.
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