I don’t do a lot of public speaking. I do not debate. But I have conversations every day on Facebook. People from all over the world ask questions about all sorts of topics. Here’s a glimpse of how I attempt to speak kindly to everyone. Even if what we say can be rather hard for a non-Christian to hear, we can be kind in the way we present the truth, while being bold for the gospel.

Ephesians 4:31-32: Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

With that in mind, take a look at just one question from a Catholic we’ll call Val.

Val: Do you believe that a Catholic can be saved?

David: A person can be saved who believes in the shed blood of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus with nothing else added. If he or she is in a building full of people who do not believe, that person is still saved. But if a person believes Catholic doctrine and relies on the sacraments and rituals to “becoming saved,” as written in Catholicism’s Catechism or dogma or canons and decrees, that person is not saved.

If a person has been in that system and then comes to simple faith in the shed blood of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, that person has been saved out of whatever his or her religion, whether Catholicism, Mormonism, JW, etc. The next thing to do when the Lord opens the door is to leave and grow in faith.

Revelation 18:4: And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18: And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, ...

Val: But what if that person is unaware?

David: Unaware of what? People are not accidentally saved. It is very intentional.

Val: What if there is a sincere person who was raised a Catholic?

David: Sincerity doesn’t save a person. If a person sincerely seeks God, the Lord can lead him to the gospel. But it is the only way to be saved.

Acts 4:12: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

John 14:6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Corinthians 3:11: For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

God heard Cornelius and led him to the means to hear the gospel and be saved in Acts 10:4-6.

See also: 2 John 9, Matthew 1:21, John 3:36, 1 John 5:11-12.

Val: You give so much thought to even such random questions that I ask.

David: I never want to be flippant.

Val: You provide detailed scripture verses and stuff when most would not.

David: I’m not aware of what others would do. I can only answer for myself.

God bless you all! - David