Based on some info I got from net..Let's start discussing. Enjoy, Varghese ------------------------------ The Catholic Church, following historic Christian theology since the time of the early Church Fathers, refers to the Catholic Church as "the universal sacrament of salvation" It Says, "The Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men". Many people misunderstand the nature of this teaching. Some goes to one extreme, claim that it makes no difference what church one belongs to and that salvation can be attained through any of them and some other goes to the other extreme, claim that unless one is a full-fledged, baptized member of the Catholic Church, one will be damned. The following are some of the quotations from the Fathers of the Church. They show that the early Church had the same position on this as the contemporary Church does that is, while it is normatively necessary to be a Catholic to be saved, there are exceptions, and it is possible in some circumstances for people to be saved who have not been fully initiated into the Catholic Church. The same Fathers who declare the normative necessity of being Catholic also declare the possibility of salvation for some who are not Catholics. These can be saved by what later came to be known as "baptism of blood" or " baptism of desire" (It would be better if somebody can throw more light on baptism of blood and baptism of desire). The Fathers likewise affirm the possibility of salvation for those who lived before Christ and who were not part of Israel, the Old Testament Church. However, for those who knowingly and deliberately reject the divinely revealed doctrine or separate from the Catholic Church, no salvation would be possible until they repented and returned to live in Catholic unity. -----Original Message----- From: Alex Edezhath [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 12:31 AM To: JY List Mail Subject: [JOYnet] A post from the Message board. Here's a post from the JY Message Board. Do we like to start a discussion on this thread on the board? Thought I would let everyone who doesn't have time to go to the Message board often know. Thanx Al/Seattle/US Posted by Guinevere on May 26, 192001 at 13:24:24: Hey Guys! I have a question/concern. Recently one of my friends was telling me that she had recently been saved and that she was going to heaven. Now, I am Catholic and my friend is not, so this whole idea sounded a little strange to me. I guess since I was baptized at birth and have grown through Christ my entire life, I never really have had one particular shining moment where I look around and realize that I have been "saved." It was like my friend had just discovered Christ in that one moment. What do you all think of the "one-moment" salvation system? I suppose that, in the end, it might not be a very big issue because both me and friend love Christ and strive to be better people because of Him. I was just thinking that it was a very different way of finding God in your life. Does anyone else feel this way? [demime 0.97b removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name of Alex Vitus Edezhath.vcf] ********************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] To know more about Jesus Youth, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] To know more about Jesus Youth, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org **********************************************************************
