Are Catholics Saved, part II
This entry was posted on 4/26/2007 8:10 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
I came across this analogy in a recent issue of "Our Sunday Visitor" that seems to illustrate well the Protestant reformers' position on salvation, ie, "being saved."
The world is a vast ocean of sin. Humans are shipwrecked, helplessly adrift. Only by God extending to us a plank can we be rescued. God alone pulls us from the waters of chaos and saves us [through Christ Jesus]. Since we have been rescued by God, there is nothing more to fear. We are saved from sin.
Interestingly the Catholic belief about salvation works well with this illustration, but differently. We are less hopeless than one adrift and calling for help. God is searching for us, calling to us, desiring us to spot Him in the midst of chaos. God throws us His lifeline (Jesus), we are pulled aboard the ship. We are "saved" now but have not yet reached shore. We're finally saved when we reach safe harbor, our final destination. As unthinkinkable as it might appear, on that voyage one "saved" can still jump ship and enter again the ocean of sin--deadly/mortal sin (see 1John 5.16 and 17) and be in need of rescue once again. The ship is the Church through which God gives every means of salvation. Heaven is our last port of call. Only there are we fully, irrevocably safe. We don't earn salvation, we safegaurd it.
Let me know if this has been useful for your understanding, explaining and defending the Catholic faith.
