Salvation, Faith and Religion

This is worth sharing specially nowadays wherein people just thought that only their faith can save them. Cough cough.. And the message also applies for those who believe that truth is relative. (Truth when it comes to faith and morals).

Last Monday, I visited an online forum of our village and one topic that caught my attention is about salvation, faith and religion. It all started when a neighbor of mine was asking why is it that a certain group votes as a group and then it went to salvation, faith and religion. After so many discussions, one member of the forum posted that religion will not save you only faith will. Then after a few threads a priest replied to his post and said this:

"whilst it is true that it is faith that will save you and not religion in a general sense, that same faith that is both formed and informed and educated will lead you to the true religion that is, from its very etymology, has to do with a personal relationship with the God you believe in. I would like to rephrase that ... faith saves, not necessarily your membership in an institutional religion, but you had better make sure that faith has gone beyond feelings and a feel-good, touchy-feely vague attachment to some god one does not know, nor love. Two things must coalesce: attachment and attunement, believing and belonging. Faith is both a gift and a responsibility. It has to be faith that seeks understanding - fides quaerens intellectum. Take note, dear friends and neighbors that I am not engaging in a debate. My understanding of facebook walls and groups is that we are free to state our positions, without fear of being shot down or attacked personally on account of that position. We live in a free country, last thing I heard."

After reading the priest's reply I got confused (reason read my reply below) and asked for clarification. My reply to the priest was this:

" Dear Fr. I'm now puzzled on what you said that "faith saves, not necessarily your membership in an institutional religion, but... etc"

First I thought salvation comes from Christ (which we all know), and provided that you are a member of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church we were taught that besides having faith we need to work for our salvation as stated in Philippians 2:12 "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, (as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but much more now in my absence,) with fear and trembling work out your salvation - Douay Rheims. So by saying that Fr. does that mean that it is ok for people to join heretical and cultic groups that preaches a false Christ? We all know Father that this heretical and cultic groups doesn't hold the Jesus promise and the authority to loose and bind as stated at Matt 16:18-20 "And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Then he commanded his disciples, that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ." - Douay Rheims

and no apostolic succession too as stated in Luke 10:16 "He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me" - Douay Rheims

Also how about the Sacrifice of the mass, in case we don't want to go to heretical and cultic groups, for those who will remain Catholics (Cafeteria, Middle and Traditionalist) do you mean that we can skip praying the mass during Sundays and Holy days of obligations all we have to do is to have faith in Christ?"

And then here was his reply to my message:

"ANTONO (actually he mentioned my name) now we are talking. Didn't I say that true faith will then lead one to the true religion? The reason why I modified the statement is simple. First we need to have a proper understanding of faith. Second, we need to have a proper understanding of religion. Obviously, your faith which seems educated and formed solid, has led you to what I just said - the true religion. Faith, for most people in this country is reduced to a vague acquiescence to some vague unknown God. Obviously that kind of faith is not what I mean, but one that believes and belongs, which among other things grasps both faith-content and faith-context. A touchy-feely type of assent to some vague notions of divinity is not what I mean. That kind won't save us. Second, for most people, religion is reduced to religious acts, that is, mere going through the motions, like attending religious services, albeit distractedly and half-heartedly. That kind of religion won't do either.

Having said this, now we can state for the record that we need both faith and religion of the true kind for us to be saved. Mere wishy-washy touchy feely type of assent to some god (small letter g) is not our definition of faith. If anything, it only leads to shallow religiosity that is based solely on "works" that do not engage the whole person. This "religion" does not lead to salvation. I just had to qualify that statement before explaining this a little further because that is the classical argument of people who think all religions are equal. All religions would be equal if not one of them claims to have been supernaturally revealed. But in our case, our religion is not on equal footing will any other because God had chosen to reveal Himself in and through His Son who became one like us and one with us. Since it is supernaturally revealed, our faith transcends mere human wishy washy, touchy-feely level. The content of that faith does not depend on us, but on God who reveals Himself. My Christian faith therefore cannot do without the Sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, because that is how our union with this supernatural God is achieved, through signs that are visible and palpable, but signs which point to and effect that which they signify. This is faith-content. I cannot do without this supernaturally revealed truths. But I cannot also do without the mediation of the institution that Christ has founded - the Church. This is the belonging aspect, the arena of faith-context. The gift of faith does not come in a vaccuum. It comes embedded in a context, in a community that has been entrusted as guardian of the faith-content by the Founder. This is the Church. After saying all this, and more besides that I cannot talk about here, it goes without saying that there is only one true faith, one true religion, and not all religions are on the same footing. that religion is not mine, nor founded by any man like you and me. That religion comes from above. It comes as a package the contents of which does not depend on me to choose and welcome depending on my whims. I am expected to accept the full truth about Christ and if I accept Christ, I also have to accept his mystical body, the Church. If I accept the Church, then I also accept the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist. If I know this in my heart, and still refuse the Church, then that is when the statement that came from the Fathers kicks in - outside the Church, there is no salvation!

Take not once again, that I write all this not to foster a debate, nor to disparage any other religion. I only wrote all this to clarify a commonly misunderstood, and much used statement, that it is "faith that saves and not religion." simply put, and I repeat it here, your faith, if it is true and authentic, will lead you too, to the true religion. If that is the case, then we need both faith and religion, not a man-made one, but that which has been instituted by God Himself."