Originally posted by RayK:
but I would advise anyone - to listen to you and consider your meaning well.
-ray
Dear Stephanos I...
It seemed to me this morning that you might take this wrong (as to mean someone should be careful of you). That is not what I mean. So let me say it better.
Your post which begins like this...
Saying that there is no salvation outside of the Church is not the same thing as saying some of those outside the ... etc...
� was excellent. A very concise statement of explaining. If there was only the message which began this thread (the question) and then this reply of yours (the answer) this thread would have been complete.
My own reply had more to do with how the word 'salvation' was originally used by the Councils in the phrase. �No salvation outside the church.� The original meaning of the term 'salvation' as used by the early church Councils was explicitly to refer to the seven sacraments that were given to the church as a means of salvation for its member. I say �salvation� and not �justification� or �sanctification� as these are further things.
During the Protestant reformation - the term �salvation� took a shift of meaning and became the same to meaning as - justification. Either one was �saved� (by being a member of the church) or not saved (not being a member of the church) � this erased, for the early Protestants breaking away from Rome, any idea of spiritual progression, purgatory and purgation, and authority.
But the Catholic church remains as it always has. That is: all members of the church who legitimately receive the sacraments are : salvaged from destruction. While justification and sanctification are the results of a daily personal progress in the spiritual life (a daily doing of a living God�s will). As example: Padre Pio did not become a saint by receiving the sacraments more often than the rest of us. We Catholics are all aware that although we all receive the sacraments there is something further to those who become more saintly than others. Salvation is one thing and justification to sanctification is a further thing.
And so the misunderstanding of the phrase �No salvation outside the church� to mean that only members of the Catholic church militant (visible) will be saved and non-members will not be �saved� - is an interpretation of that phrase without any regard to the context of its historical use as a phrase within the church.
You gave well - the Church�s position on members and non-members. What I gave was a bit of how that particular phrase became misinterpreted.
At no time did I call you a fundamentalist - you may be occasional sensitivity (as we all can) - but attribute that to your good zeal for the proper care of the sheep.
-ray
