The Second Programming Log (New Testament to non-Catholic Fundamentalists) is clear: to be saved , we have to renounce all sorts of worldly attractions. Most of those attractions are sins we should avoid, anyway. But, Jesus made demands that were thought, and continue to be considered, insane by those mired in the world.
His commands should be considered in light of one sentence, John 15:14: “If you obey My commandments, you are My friends.”
He has thereby divided humanity into two groups, His obedient friends and the rest. When He told us in Mark, 12;31 “love our neighbors as ourselves”, and in Luke, 6;28, “do good to those who hurt you”, we either obey or we are no longer His friends. There is no middle ground. Those who are not His friends are not His friends. Those of us who are proud of being “neutral” should remember that Revelations, 3;16 tells us “the lukewarm water, I spit out of my mouth”.
When we consider John 6;53, “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.”, and understand that His Body and Blood are actually available only in the Catholic Mass, we have two choices. We can either be practicing Catholics, or not.
This may not mean that non-Catholic Christians can’t be saved. But, it most definitely does mean that being a practicing, obedient Catholic tilts the odds in our favor.
