Hi Cephas,
you may not care what this Catholic thinks or what a Catholic Saint wrote about the very subject you brought up.
My wife and I try hard to be faithful Catholics and work hard at it and have a good understanding of the consequences.
We sometimes chuckle when we hear protestants and other Catholics complain about how tough their faith is when they have only one or two children (”be fruitful and multiply”) believe in a “prosperity theology” (”passing through the eye of a needle”) and on the Lord’s Day go somewhere “to fellowship” (don’t you love it when they make a verb out of a noun?)
Why have tried very hard for years and have grown much closer to the Lord and then we read this: “The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved” by St. Leonard of Port Maurice the full text is here: http://www.olrl.org/snt_docs/fewness.shtml
It was like having a bucket of ice water thrown in our faces. The following few quotes from the beginning of the sermon are just a warmup:
“Did all those who followed Christ follow Him even unto glory?....The point of this instruction is to decide whether the number of Christians who are saved is greater or less than the number of Christians who are damned; it will, I hope, produce in you a salutary fear of the judgments of God.”
“Brothers, because of the love I have for you, I wish I were able to reassure you with the prospect of eternal happiness by saying to each of you: You are certain to go to paradise; the greater number of Christians is saved, so you also will be saved. But how can I give you this sweet assurance if you revolt against God’s decrees as though you were your own worst enemies? I observe in God a sincere desire to save you, but I find in you a decided inclination to be damned. So what will I be doing today if I speak clearly? I will be displeasing to you. But if I do not speak, I will be displeasing to God.”
“....You will hear Saint Gregory saying clearly, “Many attain to faith, but few to the heavenly kingdom.” Saint Anselm declares, “There are few who are saved.” Saint Augustine states even more clearly, “Therefore, few are saved in comparison to those who are damned.” The most terrifying, however, is Saint Jerome. At the end of his life, in the presence of his disciples, he spoke these dreadful words: “Out of one hundred thousand people whose lives have always been bad, you will find barely one who is worthy of indulgence.”
“....Look in to the Old and New Testaments, and you will find a multitude of figures, symbols and words that clearly point out this truth: very few are saved. In the time of Noah, the entire human race was submerged by the Deluge, and only eight people were saved in the Ark. Saint Peter says, “This ark was the figure of the Church,” while Saint Augustine adds, “And these eight people who were saved signify that very few Christians are saved, because there are very few who sincerely renounce the world, and those who renounce it only in words do not belong to the mystery represented by that ark.” The Bible also tells us that only two Hebrews out of two million entered the Promised Land after going out of Egypt, and that only four escaped the fire of Sodom and the other burning cities that perished with it. All of this means that the number of the damned who will be cast into fire like straw is far greater than that of the saved, whom the heavenly Father will one day gather into His barns like precious wheat.”
I leave the rest to those interested, however a cautionary note, upon reading it you will have a very good idea where you will end up if you do not change RIGHT NOW.
So likely Peter maybe 1 in 100 will take your admonishment seriously - for just who does PeterPrinciple think he is?
Even better maybe a few more will be inspired to read St Leonard’s sermon - and then again maybe not. For what could any protestant learn from a some very old very dead saint?
Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam
I 'hear' the Bible saying...
1 John 5:9-13
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
I hope your own strength never fails you...
I imagine there may very well be some Roman Catholics in heaven and perhaps a few will be quite surprised at all the non-Catholic Christians that are also there. Being that we will be in heaven with the Lord of Glory and be given the mind of Christ wherewith to understand the great mysteries previously unfathomable to our finite minds, we will at last be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. We will finally realize that we are there NOT because of the righteous deeds we have done, or because we deserved or merited or earned the redemption and salvation we have been given, but:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:3-14)
We will have all eternity to sing His praises. Glory to God!
it will, I hope, produce in you a salutary fear of the judgments of God.”
My response is fear is fear, you can’t make it comfortable, you can’t redefine it. I think the essence of fear is two things, 1) your life is in the balance, and 2) you are out of control in the situation. The plane drops 3,000 feet. Someone pulls out in front of you while you are traveling 70mph.
Now, we don’t want to live in fear of the Lord, but it doesn’t hurt to visit once in a while. Thinking about it should lead one to thinking about grace, on the other hand, thinking about grace should take us to visiting fear.
RC Sproul in one of his commentaries raised the question of “what are we saved from?” Most will say from hell, but it would appear the answer is from Gods wrath.
So we are saved from God by God, now there is something to think about and back to the cocoon I go..........................
Psa 147:11 No, the LORD’s delight is in those who FEAR Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love.
Christians aren't damned. If someone is damned, they aren't a Christian.
To say that Christians are damned means that their salvation is not based on faith but on works. It's a legalistic trap the enemy has set up to snag Christians into legalism and believing in a works based salvation.