What would a Catholic NEVER Say?? (It’s Not Humble)

Assurance of Salvation and the Call to Self-Examination

Is it humble to be uncertain about your salvation? So here we've got a Catholic on TikTok who responds to a young woman that mentions in her video that she is going to heaven. That's not the main point of the video that she made, but she does say that in the video she's going to heaven.

And what she actually says is that she would rather stay single until she goes to heaven rather than marry an unbeliever. And that's biblical. Paul tells us not to be unequally yoked, that we should not practice missionary dating nor missionary marriage.

But nevertheless, he stitches her on TikTok. He makes a response video in which he asserts that he would never say what she said. Let's listen.

I'd just be single until I go to heaven, then marry a non-believer.

Oh, I think I'm about to go full Catholic on this one. It is alarming to me when people so nonchalantly or assuredly talk about themselves going to heaven like she did in this video.

Be sure that we hear the terms, okay? Assurance is alarming.

And I like to point to Matthew in this instance where, you know, we've all heard, do not judge unless you be judged. And a lot of people think only of that as do not judge another, do not speak to another's salvation.

And that's correct.

Don't get me wrong.

But similarly, we should reflect that upon us. I shall not judge myself and what I'm doing.

That is up to Christ.

All right, let's think about that. Matthew chapter 7 says this. Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged. And by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Now, we know that in this passage, Jesus doesn't mean don't judge anybody about anything.

He can't mean that. And how do we know he doesn't mean that? Well, because in the same chapter, he says that we will know a tree by its fruit. That if a professing Christian only bears bad fruit, we can rightly judge them to be a false Christian or a Christian in name only.

Now, that requires judgment. That requires that we make judgments. Making judgments is unavoidable. We make judgments every day about many, many things. What the beginning of Matthew chapter 7 is talking about is hypocritical judgment.

That is to judge unfairly, to be quick to condemn, to be finding faults in others that exist in you as well. That is what Jesus is addressing in the beginning of Matthew chapter 7. So it really doesn't apply to self-judgment as he applies it.

Because you can't find fault in yourself that you don't see in yourself. So it doesn't really work. Now, should we judge ourselves in terms of being content with not knowing whether or not we are on our way to heaven?

Let's see what the scripture says. In the same chapter, Jesus makes it pretty clear that whoever obeys his word builds his house on a solid foundation. And whoever does not obey his word builds his house on sand and is destroyed.

Examining Ourselves in the Faith

So apparently, Jesus wants us to see at the very least that we should have some idea about our position before God. About whether or not we truly know him. In 2 Corinthians 13, Paul exhorts the church to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith.

Which means to test themselves as to whether or not they are believing and living according to the gospel that Paul preached to them. And then notice what Paul says in verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 13. We ourselves do not fail the test.

Paul has assurance that there's nothing in the text to indicate that such assurance is reserved for Paul alone by virtue of his apostleship. Why would he exhort them to examine themselves unless upon examination they were expected to reach a conclusion about themselves?

Now Paul tells them to examine themselves. Now let's move on to 2 Peter 1, verse 10. Peter writes, Therefore brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. Now the verb to make, poieo, is a present middle infinitive.

The middle voice gives it a reflexive sense. There's a reflexive sense to this verb so that what Peter is saying is make certain for yourselves your calling and election. This is done by developing the virtues that Peter lists out in the preceding verses.

So Peter wants you to be certain and that word certain there means firm and steady. He wants you to make firm yourself your calling and election. Pretty clear that the scripture says we should judge ourselves by the word and that we should have assurance about our position before God and our life in him.

There are more texts that we could go to. We could go to 1 John where he says, you know, I've written these things so that you may know that you believe. Assurance is not an unbiblical notion.

And I guess this makes sense if you believe that by faith alone we are saved.

I do. I do believe that.

And faith being just a proclamation in your belief in Christ, I guess this works.

Hold on a minute. Faith being just a proclamation of your belief in Christ. It seems that our friend is conflating faith with the profession of one's faith. You can't do that. What are you doing? The Bible says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

That's Hebrews 11 verse 1. Contrary to what the Roman Catholic might think, faith alone doesn't mean that we don't actually need to follow Jesus and obey him and be changed by him, that we don't need to necessarily take up our cross and deny ourselves and follow after him.

No, that changed life is the evidence of true faith by which we know that we are going to heaven. But our friend here, he conflates faith and one's profession of faith.

But for me as a Catholic, faith is something that you do, that you grow in.

Faith is something that you do. Well, faith is the gift of God. So here we have another conflation. James says, I will show you my faith by my works, not my faith is my works. He doesn't say that. Now, faith would be more like my personal, the personal entrustment of myself to the finished work of Jesus Christ, not the works that I add to the equation.

That's not what faith is.

Why It Is Not Humble to Doubt Salvation

I'd never say what she said.

He would never say what she said. Well, friend, you may think that you are being humble, but actually it is quite the opposite. It isn't humble to doubt your salvation. It's the antithesis of humility because what you're saying essentially is that the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice is dependent upon the work that you do, that it is dependent upon the working out of your faith.

As you said, faith is something that I do. It's really a pretty arrogant thing to assert. It's pretty proud. The reality is that the work of Christ secures eternal redemption. Hebrews 9, 11. He is the author and the finisher of our faith.

Hebrews 12, 2. He who began a good work in me will finish it. Philippians 1, 6. Jesus says he gives eternal life to his sheep and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of his hand. John 10, 28.

The true faith teaches that Christ's sacrifice is actually enough to save and not just some of the way, but all the way. And to suggest that it's not enough to save you or that its effectiveness depends upon your performance or your works is the height of arrogance and displays a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel.

You are not being humble, my friend. Christ is enough.