Scripture is clear that belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is necessary for salvation.
Catholic Fundamentalists all know people who don’t believe that. It is painful to think of them as having to suffer in Hell forever. That thought makes some of us try to think of a way that non-believers may be saved.
Once, I knew a man who had thought about becoming a Roman Catholic. He told me that the priest had discouraged him to the point that he finally gave up on the idea. At the time, I couldn’t understand why this would have happened.
Over time, I saw his career appear to progress, and noticed that there were few core principles by which he operated. He would say, and do, whatever was necessary to “get ahead”.
After he had betrayed several people, I remember thinking to myself, “The priest with whom he studied may have realized that he did not want to be good enough to be a Catholic.”
Scripture is telling us that believing in Jesus is a step that we are required to take if we are to rise above this world and avoid the destruction toward which it and all who are a part of it are headed.
Believing in Jesus, especially as a Roman Catholic, requires a control of vanity that no other belief requires. Such belief makes a mockery of worldly desires and its focus on self-glorification. It requires that we leave vanity behind. Believing in Jesus forces us to say that a world we cannot see is more important than one we do see.
Belief in Jesus requires us to leave this world, and go in a direction toward God rather than toward our navel. Our closeness to God determines our place in Heaven. Those closest to Him here will be closest to Him, there.
The lesson? Get closer while we can.
PS. Just as members of the Jewish faith believe that certain things had to be done and not done to please God (circumcision, not eating pork), the logical extension of that to Christianity is that there must be a belief in Christ to rise to the next level.
Belief in Christ is a form of spiritual circumcision that raises us above worldly concerns. Those whose vanity keeps them bound to earthly concerns are, of course, unable to rise.
