Replies

“What an ugly and venomous misrepresentation.”

Don’t make me pull out a photo of Pope John Paul II tongue-kissing the Koran! It’s downright pornographic.

“Certainly the Bible is clear that water baptism is not an absolute requirement for salvation (although it is a normative one); consider the penitent thief for example.”

Only if we abolish the way you read your text, otherwise, you are hanged by it:

Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, HE CANNOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

“LG doesn’t say that Muslims are saved by “working for it”. Neither is anyone else.”

Meanwhile in the real world:

“Sharing our experience in carrying that cross, to expel the illness within our hearts, which embitters our life: it is important that you do this in your meetings. Those that are Christian, with the Bible, and those that are Muslim, with the Quran. The faith that your parents instilled in you will always help you move on.” (Pope Francis)

“The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can… “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!”.. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.” (Pope Francis)

“”Part of God’s plan of salvation” does not equate to “perfectly saved,” sorry.”

Whose twisting words? I said perfectly saved “so long as they are willing to work with it.” And that is the true and accurate teaching of your church, which you then defend with a mention of this dribble:

“Then all that remains is whether there is such a thing as inculpable ignorance as an explanation for non-belief, and whether God chooses to overlook such ignorance at least sometimes. He’s sovereign, remember, and gets to break his own rules.”

One of the problems with such claims of “inculpable” ignorance is that it is so broad that your Pope applies it to Atheists who he is sitting in an interview with. How ignorant can the Atheist be of Christianity when he is sitting right next to the Pope? Thus, in effect, the Papists teach salvation to the church only to Protestant conservatives, but universalism to Atheists who “do good”, under the logic that, if they truly were “informed” of Papism, they would convert.

The second but, actually, more serious problem is that there is no such thing as invincible ignorance, and all are damned who do not confess Christ as Lord and savior:

As the scripture says, all men are guilty before God, regardless of how much “light” they have received (Rom 3:19). As all men have received, to a certain extent, the law of God imprinted on their hearts, as well as the light of nature revealing the existence of God, therefore they are summarily rendered “without excuse,” (Rom 1:20, 2:14) and “as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law” (Rom 2:12). And again, “for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God”(Rom 3:9-11). And again, all those who do not know God have no hope, and lack God in the world (Eph 2:12).

And finally, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me,” and, to “come” is to believe: “But there are some of you who do not believe... This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (Joh 6:37, 64-65), thus it cannot be claimed that there are those who are saved who exist amongst horrid cults or false religions who deny the Father and the Son, since all those whom the Father gives to the Son do not stand idle, but come rushing into the arms of the savior according to His plan and promise.

1Jn_4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

If any man is in the world who never heard the Gospel, it was by the infallible power of God, and not by random chance, that he was left so abandoned. And, therefore, it was one of those whom God chose not to have mercy on, in accordance with His almighty sovereignty (Rom 9:18-21).

This is the true meaning of sovereignty. Not that God saves Muslims who deny Christ.

“Only viewed against all of the OTHER remaining religious classifications are Muslims “in the first place”.”

Actually, your religion equalizes them with Jews on the basis of “worshipping the same God,” albeit in a different mode. They do not consider Muslims to be on the same level as Hindus or Buddhists.