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Question:
I
have been raised as a Roman Catholic. Yours might not necessarily be the
right way to eternal life. I do not think that any of us in our different
denominations can say, "Our way is the true way to heaven."
Answer: I keep
repeating the blessed truth that salvation is not found in a church or a
religious system, but in the person of the beloved Son of God, Jesus
Christ. For a sinner to be saved, he must turn to HIM and trust completely
and only in HIM.
On
the other hand, the Roman Catholic Church officially teaches that the
church is necessary for salvation. "Above all else, it must be "firmly
believed" that "the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary
for salvation...it is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely,
the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity
of the Church for this salvation. The Church is the universal sacrament of
salvation... she has, in God's plan, an indispensable relationship
with the salvation of every human being" (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Dominus
Iesus, September 2000).
I
hope that you will not look unto the church (much less any particular
denomination) for salvation, but to the head
and savior of the church, Jesus Christ. "Look unto ME, and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else" (Isaiah 45:22). I hope that you would be able to say, "I
am trusting in Him alone for my salvation. He is my one and only savior. I
don't rely on my own merits. I don't rely on Mary or the saints. I don't
rely on the church. I rely solely on Him, for He alone is the Messiah, the
Savior of the World."
There
are not many ways to Heaven. There is only ONE. And that is not a church
or a denomination. The way is Jesus Christ. He said: "I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"
(John 14:6).
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