Somewhere over North Dakota 😉
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This report comes from evangelist Mark with the National SPSE team in Warren, Michigan:
I went on vacation last week and was on a flight across the country. A friendly young man sat next to me and introduced himself as Cody. We chatted casually about travel, family, hometown, etc.
I started to read a Mother Angelica book. Cody noticed the cover and said to me in a critical tone, “oh, you’re Catholic?!?” Cody asked me why I’m Catholic, assuming “just because you were born into it.” I told him my testimony that I was raised lukewarm Catholic, fell away from the Faith, and came back through young adult ministry. Ultimately, I stayed with the Catholic Church because all of the teachings are true, even if we struggle with them or deny them, the truth remains the truth.
Cody talked about how God delivered him from an addiction to pornography, to which I thanked God for that grace. We both agreed that God gives us the grace to overcome sins when we repent and believe in Him.
Cody then went on to talk about his belief in “once saved, always saved”, that it would be impossible for a believer to turn away from Christ. I said of course it’s possible, as long we are still alive we can choose to walk towards or walk away from God. I then referred to Hebrews 6:6 and 2 Peter 2:21, both of which warn that those who lose their faith will have harsher punishments than those that never had it. I tried to explain to him the differences between venial sins and grave sins, which he couldn’t seem to grasp.
I talked about moral certitude and absolute certitude. We can have a realistic hope in our salvation but, because God is the judge, only God can say for sure that I’m saved. If I declare myself saved then I’m trying to put myself in God’s place. I then referenced 2 Timothy 4, where St. Paul talks about he “finished the race” and “kept the faith.’ Cody couldn’t accept this and really wanted an oversimplified answer to a complex question. We ended our conversation in a friendly way but I pray that Cody will come to accept the difficult but true teachings of the Church.
Praised be Jesus Christ