Gaining Heaven

As far as I know, all people who practice religion has an ulterior motive - they wanted to attain salvation - be it here on earth or in the after life.
They do what they do (religious works) because deep inside they wanted to be with the Divine.

As a Born Again Christian, I have come across with the term "Assurance of Salvation"  many times in my life. Be it in school, and especially at church. This assurance is the anchor of our blessed hope that one day when we die, we go directly to heaven. What a nice idea. If you lose your assurance, you lose your peace, you lose hope, and eventually, you will consider everything as hopeless.

Going back to my last article, I lost hope because I thought I committed the unpardonable sin. After a few weeks that I regained my hope, I know that everything's not the same anymore.

I was looking for an "absolute" assurance of my salvation.  They say it's the Spirit who testifies to our spirit that we are the sons of God (Rom 8:16). I asked my mom about the verse - how does the Spirit do that? She answered - by the Word of God. But how? I read another interpretation and said that the externals will show - the fruits of the Holy Spirit. But seriously, how do you know for sure that it's not just you forcing the fruits to be there or it's Gods doing? Why measure the internal (salvation) by using the externals? It doesn't add up.
Finally, I gave up the search. The issue slowly died inside me.

When I was in the process of conversion in 2011, part of the things I did was to examine the Catholic position on assurance of salvation.

Bad news is that there is no such thing as an ABSOLUTE assurance. Good news is that there is such a thing as a REASONABLE assurance. This is why my view on Catholic doctriness changed from bad to good.


I find more humility in the Catholic position regarding such assurance - there is no absolute assurance of salvation in the Catholic church because only God can choose whom He wants to save or not. In effect, this is a more faith-based belief. Why? Here's the logic - the less you are sure of your salvation, the more you have to utilize your faith that God will save you in the end. This requires more faith on the believer as against having an absolute assurance. Having absolute assurance means that you know 100% sure that you're going to heaven, that this life is just a formality to get over and done with. This requires 0% faith because you are now very sure of it. This is too assuming of a position for me, that's why I appreciate the wisdom and humility behind being reasonably assured as against being absolutely assured.

FYI - not all Protestants believe in the Once Saved, Always Saved (OSAS), which is a Calvinist take on things. There are Wesleyans/Arminian Protestants who do believe that salvation can be lost.

Now where do I choose my side?

I have to choose where the Early Christians believed.

History says that OSAS was never an early Christian belief. No evidence that OSAS was used by any church father, or apostles. Nor was it fostered during the first one and a half millenia of Christendom's existence. 

This makes a weightier case for those who believe the Catholic position.

How about verses as proofs?
1.) Matthew 24:13 - But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.
2.) 1 Cor 15:1-2 - Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3.) 1 John 5:16-17 - ¹⁶ If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. ¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
4.) Philippians 2:12 - ¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

And many more.

Now, on to the next article. I hope I still have the same intensity to write tomorrow. I am planning on writing about my understanding of Catholic soteriology, compared to the Protestant's. This is not something for us to prove that we are right while all the others are wrong. I will merely explain how the Catholic position is different and eventually lead to explaining why it is often misunderstood as a "works" religion.