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On Salvation Outside the Catholic Church
The Great Heresies [Open]
Sounds like some good refresher reading.
As an Orthodox Christian, I believe I have been saved, am being saved and will be saved. That's the usual way I respond to evangelical "Have you been saved?" questions.
The Catholic and Orthodox positions seem identical.
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent me 'has' everlasting life, and shall 'not' come into judgement, but 'has' passed from death to life.
John 5:24
The author of this seems to simply have a reading comprehension problem.
Every passage that he quotes accepts salvation as a done deal, leaving our joy at avoiding condemnation as the only future effect. Indeed, the Lord himself declared it a done deal, in stating that he lost not one of us. Salvation is his work, not ours.
Well, that was pretty interesting. I always thought salvation was something we pretty much did every day since St. Paul talked about running the race and fighting the good fight. If it were a one time thing, I don’t think race or fight would have been the right symbol to use.
Also, I have never been cocky about my salvation. I have many friends that believe in the “once saved, always saved” concept and while I know that once saved, nothing can pluck you from God’s hand, I’ve never been presumptuous to assume that it’s a done deal so I take up my cross daily and each day just trust Him that I’ll continue on with Him.
I’m not saying this very well, but I think many Christians would believe in these statements wholeheartedly (not just Catholics).