Yeah, Catholics are so fortunate to affiliate with an organization that is consistent and firm. Like you MUST belong to the RCC to be saved.
Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam: “We declare, say, define, and pronounce [ex cathedra] that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” "If, therefore, the Greeks or others say that they are not committed to Peter and to his successors, they necessarily say that they are not of the sheep of Christ, since the Lord says that there is only one fold and one shepherd (Jn.10:16). Whoever, therefore, resists this authority, resists the command of God Himself. " — Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam (Promulgated November 18, 1302) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/b8-unam.html
Or maybe just be baptized like the Catholics is good enough.
818 "However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers. . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."
Or maybe you don’t need to know about the Catholic Church or even need to know Jesus to be saved.
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation.
Or maybe if you are a Muslim you can be saved.
CCC841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day.
Oh shoot, whatever you are is fine with us.
"If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are. ... What God is in your mind you must accept" (from Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work , by Desmond Doig, p. 156, as quoted by Dave Hunt, Global Peace and the Rise of Antichrist , p. 149).
Yep! Firm in their doctrines they are! No duplicity there for sure.
Let me show you how that works.
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I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34- - - - - - -Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you John 14:27
Did Jesus just get all wishy-washy, or contradict Himself (in reality), or are these two statements taken completely out of context (the same way you took all your quotes out of context, changing their real meanings completely)?
Here's another example:
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When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. John 11:20- - - - - - -Then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones. Deuteronomy 22:24
Does this mean Martha and Jesus should be taken out to the gate of the city, and stoned to death? Do you see how false and crazy various statements placed together sound, when they're shamelessly taken out of context, and deceitfully and dishonestly put together in a new way that totally and deviously changes and distorts their entire meaning? (That's the way Satan quotes scripture, and other things, completely distorting their meanings.)
Let me show you an example now directly from your post.
Part of your own false chain of statements from various sources includes Paragraph 841 of the "Catechism of the Catholic Church", which you falsely claim means that Muslims can be saved, without any other kinds of qualifying activities or statements. The truth is, the paragraphs before and after 841 in the Catechism provide numerous qualifiers which plainly show what that statement in Paragraph 841 really means. (And, yes, Muslims can be saved, as can atheists, and anyone else. Our Savior came to seek and to save that which was lost, and God can save anybody.) These paragraphs from the Catechism show various starting points for evangelizing folks from these various groups, but insists that though they have not yet received the Gospel, we should continue to work to evangelize them in order to help them get to the point where they can receive the Gospel. God will decide who is to be saved, and who is not to be saved.
Here is that paragraph in context. Please read it honestly this time.
The Church and non-Christians 839 “Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways.”325 (856, 63, 147) The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People,326 “the first to hear the Word of God.”327 The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews “belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ”;328 “for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”329 840 And when one considers the future, God’s People of the Old Covenant and the new People of God tend towards similar goals: expectation of the coming (or the return) of the Messiah. But one awaits the return of the Messiah who died and rose from the dead and is recognized as Lord and Son of God; the other awaits the coming of a Messiah, whose features remain hidden till the end of time; and the latter waiting is accompanied by the drama of not knowing or of misunderstanding Christ Jesus. (674, 597) 841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”330 842 The Church’s bond with non-Christian religions is in the first place the common origin and end of the human race: (360) All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city.... 331 843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as “a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.”332 (28, 856) 844 In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them: (29) Very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator. Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair.333 845 To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son’s Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is “the world reconciled.” She is that bark which “in the full sail of the Lord’s cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.” According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah’s ark, which alone saves from the flood.334 (30, 953, 1219) 846 “Outside the Church there is no salvation” How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: (161, 1257) Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336 847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience—those too may achieve eternal salvation.337 848 “Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”338 (1260)
SOURCE: "Catechism of the Catholic Church"
By the way, CynicalBear, do you know what King David did to bears when he was a shepherd, and a bear tried to steal sheep out of his flock?
Here's that Bible story:
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But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him and killed him. Your servant has killed both lions and bears. 1 Samuel 17:34-36- - - - - - -
While I'm pretty certain that the "Good Shepherd" won't take that kind of drastic action, I still don't think He appreciates attempts by anyone to steal His sheep from His true flock very much either. :-)
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