That is why I said if we ask 30,000 Catholics, we get 30,000 different opinions.
Even though I am an ex Catholic, I will offer my opinion as well. When I was a Catholic, I did not think I was a Christian, because I was a really bad sinning dude, even though some of my Catholic school class mates were worse sinners than me.
Because I was such a horrible sinning Catholic, I was not willing to commit the sin of presumption, and consider myself a Christian with assurance of salvation.
Now that I am an ex Catholic, now true, born again Christian, I have assurance of salvation. Now I am free, not to live like I please, the way you have said in the past, but free to live as I should.
If you have no assurance of salvation, I can't help that. I will not let you be a wet blanket, and spoil my assurance.
Besides that, Mr Gamecock has been waiting around for many months. If he suspects I might be considering swimming the Tiber, he has his marching orders. He will give me a thrashing I will not soon forget.
It's great enough being an ex Catholic. What's even better, is having assurance of salvation. You can have it too. Remember, only true Christians will go to Heaven. I will leave it to your imagination, to figure out where the rest go.
I love your testimony
Thank God for Jesus and His mighty saving power!
I'm soon to be 68, and the only time I can remember hearing the word Christian was in school studying history
Christian didn't become a more common word until around the mid to late 60's with the Jesus freak movement
I got saved in '81 and only THEN did I do a conscious study of the word and practice of being a Christian .... and in ALL my study ... it is never associated with Catholicism ...
except by Catholics that try to incorporate themselves into a broader base