All else pales before the risk of having ours soul tortured by demons forever.
Prophets predicted, over 300 times, specific things about Jesus. The predictions were made hundreds and thousands of years before He came. The miraculously accurate predictions, most so bizarre as to be beyond any conceivable coincidence, cause many to take Him seriously enough to call themselves “Christian”.
Is that enough to be saved? That’s a risk that nearly a billion people who are separated from The Catholic Church are taking. Do we have a duty to help them reduce that risk? Take a close look at this passage from Mark 4: 10-12:
“And when He was alone,
those present along with the Twelve
questioned Him about the parables.
He answered them,
“The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”
Jesus is clearly saying to “those outside” that they will not understand His parables because they aren’t supposed to “perceive” or to “understand “. Why? Because He says “those outside” may not be converted and forgiven! It is hard not to be stunned that anyone could read that and not become a Catholic.
The fact that they look, see, hear, and listen but do not perceive or understand shows the truth of His words. A billion non-Catholics who call themselves “Christian” do not “perceive” and do not “understand” that their refusal to do so is ordained. They need our help.to understand the risk of not becoming Catholic, remaining among the lost souls who do not perceive or understand.
How could anyone read “they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.” and NOT figure out that “those outside” in every age have freely chosen not to be with Him and the twelve and those in The Church He began by putting the twelve and the believers under the authority of the first Pope.
It is clear in Matthew 16: 18-20: “Thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in Heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in Heaven.” He also makes it very clear, as if additional proof is needed, “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.”
If a person who does not receive The Body and Blood through Catholic Communion is smart enough to figure out that it’s not good to be among those of whom He said, “they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and forgiven” the smart thing to do is raise a plea to Heaven: We, too, should pray for those we love: “Please God, let ‘those outside’ perceive and understand!”
We must urge our non-Catholic friends to read and heed all the Bible, not just the parts with which they and their schisms are comfortable.
All else pales before the risk of having ours soul tortured by demons forever.
