That if you were honest to Gamecock, you would admit that he is right. The Catholic Church does not teach that Protestants are saved, or that Protestantism is the way of salvation. Quite the opposite, and very vocally.
Wow. So, in your estimation, either I agree with Gamecock or I'm lying?
The Catholic Church does not teach that Protestants are saved, or that Protestantism is the way of salvation. Quite the opposite, and very vocally.
FALSE, shill.
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
This is quite false. Why don't you let real Catholics explain Catholic teaching? I find it rather patronizing when people tell me I believe something I don't, although I have probably read more Catholic theology than 99% of Protestant ministers, to say nothing of Protestant laymen.
The bottom line is, you are judged on the response to the graces and helps to salvation you are given, and your response to those graces and helps. The Gospels state that clearly in a couple of places.
If you are given the grace to understand that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ as the instrument of man's salvation, and that unity with her is directly willed by God ... but you choose to go to First Baptist because you like the choir there more, and besides, you can chat with Aunt Betsy after the service on Sundays, that is a grave sin which can send you to hell. (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, if you want to look it up. The teaching has a pedigree back to Augustine and even farther.)
If you aren't given that grace, or if factors beyond your control make it impossible for you to respond to it, your subjective culpability is lessened. It may be lessened to zero.
The Catholic Church dogmatically, infallibly says that canonized saints are in heaven. It has never dogmatically, or even authoritatively taught than any human being is in hell. Not Luther, not Calvin, not Thomas Jefferson, not Ted Bundy ... there is, I admit, some debate about Judas Iscariot.
Since we don't know that they're in hell, they could be in purgatory on their way to heaven, or already there. So it's absolutely the case that some Protestants could be saved, or many, or all.
You better go back and do another Google search about Catholic dogma. The Church holds that sin is a willful act. It presumes a knowledge of the difference between right and wrong and a rejection of right. The Church does not presume to know what is in the hearts and heads of any individual. It even holds that those who have never heard the Word of God or never known of Jesus Christ (i.e.; pagan babies) are not denied the Kingdom of Heaven if they have not rejected what is Good.
I would also add that your false Catholicism is bleeding through in your presumption that the TULIP (5 points of Calvinism - Total hereditary depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints) apply to Catholic teachings.
You post sooooo much robust clarifying historical, Biblical and theological TRUTH.
Thanks.