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And... so it comes out, in effect, that you actually don't know whether you're saved or just presumptuous and self-deceiving, until you draw your last breath. Which is why I like Joan of Arc's answer when she was asked, "Joan, are you in a state of grace?" --- "If I am not, then may God put me there; if I am, then may God keep me there."

And again:

"Christ has saved me; Christ is saving me; I pray by Christ's mercy He will save me."

Presumption is a sin coined by Catholicism to condemn those who take God's word at face value and have the confidence that Jesus promised them that they can KNOW that they are saved.

When a person trusts in the finished work of Christ on the cross, there is no presumption about being saved. That person IS saved.

It's those who trust in themselves.

God gives us the means by which we can know both through the word and through the Holy Spirit.

"Christ has saved me; Christ is saving me; I pray by Christ's mercy He will save me."

If you have been saved, then you don't need to pray that you will be saved. You are once He has done it.

If you claim that you have been saved and then you pray that Christ will save you, all that does is reveal that you don't believe that He saved you in the first place. It's a lack of trust and belief in God. How can you trust Him to save you in the future when you can't trust that what you say He did in the past He really did?