I agree with you on that: we are told to offer up our bodies as living sacrifice and walk the way of the cross. It is a path of obedience and self-denial and it only ends when Jesus tells us “it is finished” and we die.
Matt 24:13 tells us only those who persevere to the end will be saved. Romans 11:22 tells us to remain in His kindness or you will be cut off. John 14:21 tells us that he who keeps Christ’s commandments is the one who loves Him. Romans 2:2-8 tells us we gain eternal life by perseverance in good works. Gal 5:4-6 tells us nothing counts but faith working through love. Eph 2: 8-10 tells us we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. Phil 2:12-13 tells us to work on our salvation with fear and trembling. James 2:14-24 says a man is justified by works and not faith alone.
Salvation is not that simple. It would be nice if it was, and lots of people would like to believe it was that easy, but the Holy Spirit inspired sacred Scripture above says it is not. Hb 6:4-6 describes sharers in the Holy Spirit who then fall away. Heb 10:26-27 tells us if you sin after receiving the truth, judgement remains. And let’s not forget what Christ said about the lukewarm. Presumably they believed but not very actively or strongly. Are the lukewarm saved? There are just too many passages in Holy Scripture that contradict the simplistic notion of being “saved”.
I think of Salvation as receiving a ticket to Heaven on the day of your baptism, but you can’t misplace, ruin, or lose the ticket. You have to take good care of it and keep it safe until the day you die and present it to board the train. You have to be dependable and mindful that you will be taking that journey. The gift of Faith is to be held on to and lived with and kept safe until the end. We must finish the race to the end.
Finally, I have always wondered if the concept of being “saved” was presented to Protestants as a way to grow the membership. It is a soothing, attractive, and non-strenuous idea, one that would appeal to the masses. As we can see above, it’s not really Scriptural, because I can cite just as many passages that refute the idea. But it makes people feel good. They are happy because the issue seems nicely settled for them. It’s a more difficult and thought provoking journey to work out your salvation with fear and trembling every single day. And you have to tell yourself “no” a lot.
The key for me is this: Christ’s way is not easy. He told us so in the parable of the narrow gate. He showed that again when the followers could not accept his hard teaching in John 6 and walked away and He let them go. He showed us when even Peter denied Him and the apostles abandoned Him. Paul had to live with temptations every day. Christ asked us to do the hardest thing of all: love others as much as we love ourselves. Obviously that has to happen every day of our lives, even after we receive the gift of faith. He told the good man he was doing great but now he had to sell everything and do more. He told the prostitute her contrition saved her but she MUST SIN NO MORE. There’s a big “or else” in that story. Being “saved” is easy; but, for me, it truly doesn’t jive with everything we know about Christ’s life.
bkaycee, I want to thank you for the tone of your posts and the thoughtful responses. I also forgot to mention to you before that in our parish bulletin there are Scripture passages cited for reading every day of the week. We are not forced to read Scripture, but in our bulletin every week we Catholics are invited to read the Bible every day and incorporate it into our lives. We also bow to the Bible before and after each reading. And before the Gospel reading we make the sign of the cross on our foreheads, lips and chests as a way of asking Christ’s Word to fill our thoughts, our words, and our hearts.
Most Protestants do not know these facts. They believe what they are told at their churches about Catholics. I invite anyone to go to a Mass and see how we treat the Bible. We love it too!
“Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:28-29
>>Salvation is not that simple.<<
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ..." Galatians 5:1-26
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1
"This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves." Galatians 2:4