Catholicism distinguishes between "ordinary" and "extraordinary" means of salvation. The ordinary means of salvation are the sacraments of the Church: baptism, confirmation, confession and the Eucharist. One who properly received these sacraments is assured of salvation till such time that he sins again, at which point another confession becomes necessary. We derive the necessity of these from several statements of Christ or the apostles that tell us that we cannot be saved unless we have been baptised and unless we eat the flesh of Christ; stay away from sin, confess our sins, and for the priests to forgive our sins.
But at the same time we read of salvation of those who came in contact with Christ directly, like the Good Thief, and did not undergo a formal baptism. We also speculate that the righteous of the pre-Christian era were saved by Christ in His healing work on the Holy Saturday. So we say that these were extraordinary means of salvation, that Christ himself grants in his infinite mercy, bypassing His own sacraments.
The rest is really a mystery, and we are even asked not to speculate too much, because it is sinful and against scripture to judge the state of one's soul, or doubt Christ's justice and mercy. We believe that Christ judges all the baptised, Catholic and non-Catholic, based on the holiness of their lives. While there is no assurance of salvation outside of the Apostolic Catholic/Orthodox Church, a Christian life well lived in the love an in imitation of Christ leads to salvation. Non-Catholics should worry if they let their anti-Catholic sentiment get in the way of their own sanctification. If a Protestant spends his time hurting Christ's Church, he is thereby hurting his prospect of salvation. If however, he is culturally unable to come home to the Catholic or Orthodox Church due to the upbringing, yet his specific Protestant spirituality, such as meditation over the scripture and the works of Christ and the Apostles, leads him to a holy life, then he, we think, has "run the race" well.
A non-baptized person, the Church teaches, can reach salvation also, as long as he leads holy life based on what he knows. As St. Paul says, there is a basic moral law written in everyone's heart. One does not need to know Christ in order not to steal or not to murder or not to commit adultery. So if a pagan does not know Christ, never rejects Him, but holds on to what his religious instinct tells him about right and wrong, Christ will save him, or so we hope.
The problem is, of course, that when one is away from the sacraments of the Church, he is away of the protections of the Church that would have lead him in the right direction. So as a practical matter, many Protestants use their doctrines, especially the doctrine of assurance of salvation based on one-time declaration of faith, as an excuse from the daily yoke of Christ. Many Jews or Muslims expressly reject Christ. In other words, the more distant one is to the daily life of the Church, the more occasions are there for him to sin and be lost.
Does this mean that some do not [commit actual sin following baptism]?
Yes, -- for example those who die before age of reason, or unable to use reason due to a mental illness.
Given these terms, and given that Jesus specifically taught that we sin even in thought, are not all Catholics (and everyone) in a virtually perpetual state of sin? Do Catholics believe that pre-physical-death salvation is only complete from the time of the last confession to the next committed sin? (a very short time for even a good person)
On another thread I asked a Catholic what happens to a person who dies having sinned, but before the next confession. The answer amounted to if the person intended to confess, he would still be saved. I wondered if this was the official Catholic response because it can happen to anyone that he simply loses his way in faith for a short time. But if he dies during that time, then what?
But at the same time we read of salvation of those who came in contact with Christ directly, like the Good Thief, and did not undergo a formal baptism. We also speculate that the righteous of the pre-Christian era were saved by Christ in His healing work on the Holy Saturday. So we say that these were extraordinary means of salvation, ...
Since I am none of these things, and since I am not Catholic, I must be doomed. :) I'm not offended and I appreciate your honesty about your beliefs.
We believe that Christ judges all the baptized, Catholic and non-Catholic, based on the holiness of their lives. While there is no assurance of salvation outside of the Apostolic Catholic/Orthodox Church, a Christian life well lived in the love an in imitation of Christ leads to salvation.
The key here is what kind of judging we are talking about. Protestants believe that there is a "judgment" made as to salvation (is the person's name written in the Book of Life?). We also believe there is a judgment on the deeds of one's life, which determines reward in Heaven.
Non-Catholics should worry if they let their anti-Catholic sentiment get in the way of their own sanctification.
There is a creature sitting on each of my shoulders. One of them is an angel. :)
As St. Paul says, there is a basic moral law written in everyone's heart.
Given what I am arguing, this is something I need to know about. :) Would you happen to have a verse?
So if a pagan does not know Christ, never rejects Him, but holds on to what his religious instinct tells him about right and wrong, Christ will save him, or so we hope.
With all due respect, religious instinct????? What if this person's religious instinct about right and wrong, is ALL WRONG?! How do Hitler and his ilk not pass this test?What is your reaction to this? :
"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922 (Norman H. Baynes, ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942)
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Me: Does this mean that some do not [commit actual sin following baptism]?
Yes, -- for example those who die before age of reason, or unable to use reason due to a mental illness.
I can only infer from this that Catholics do not believe that a believer's baptism is necessary, that an infant sprinkling is sufficient. (You're saying that the baptism took place before the age of reason.) Is this right? If so, then how does one get credit for completing a sacrament "against" one's will, since a baby makes no choice and does not participate out of love? The same line of reasoning applies for the mentally disabled. The baptism could not have been chosen by the person.