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Yes, you've got that exactly right. Everything that must be believed can be found in scripture. But then I'm hazy on what Catholics mean by "must". Does that mean there are certain doctrines exclusive to Catholic dogma that must be believed for salvation? Because if so, no protestant is saved (maybe the Orthodox would be). Or is it some other version of "must"? Because that starts to sound like Mormonism, which requires belief in the Book of Mormon in order to gain access to a kind of second-tier salvation. In their system, Christians are saved, just not rewarded as richly as Mormons.

James A Lewis 2y ago

Those things which must be believed are all the dogmas, those things solemnly declared as infallible in Church councils or in papal "ex cathedra" statements (very rare, BTW). A second tier of church teachings exist on the level of "must not oppose". The lowest level is theological opinion, which people do not bear obligation to believe, and on this level discussion is encouraged. I may be missing some level(s), but that's the gist.

It should be helpful to point out that belief is not what saves, but the grace of God, which the Church knows she does not control but cooperates with God as a conduit. I say this because an infant has no capacity to assent to a dogma, nor any young child for that matter, but if we are to believe that the promise is made to us and to our children (Acts 2:39), some way other than belief must exist to attain salvation.

Salvation goes beyond the immediate scope of the discussion, but it is a worthwhile detour.

All that to say, some things a person must believe if he is able to intellectually assent (capacity and knowledge of the subject), but the will and mercy of God is not limited to a person's ability to believe.

> Acts 2:39: "For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him"

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Discussion

MichaelJ 2y ago

Salvation, in the Catholic view, comes through God's free gift of faith to the soul, provided we willingly accept that gift and allow God's grace to work within us. That gift of faith is given in Baptism. So all baptized Christians have salvation open to them. The Church that Jesus founded, and its sacraments, is the privileged dispenser of additional grace which helps us along the way to cooperate with that gift of faith and allow God to do His work within us.

hodlbod 2y ago

Yes, absolutely agree on that. Though Protestant, I practice infant baptism for my kids. But I guess the value of being Catholic would be that (in Catholic terms) you're in the least incorrect branch of the church, which most faithfully stewards God's grace. But of course once again the challenge becomes how you authenticate that. This is up to the individual believer, although of course unbelief does not invalidate authenticity.

James A Lewis 2y ago

Man! Infant baptism too?! You're not too far away, brother.

"Least incorrect," however technically correct literally, does imply the possibility for error. One Catholic belief is that the Church never errs, though her members may, a promise made by Christ in Caesarea Philipi. (Matt 16 supports this but is not immediately apparent and a bit of additional reasoning is needed to show it is true.)