Roadmaps of Redemption and Salvation

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 15, 2025

The crucifix affixed above the altar signifies that the Sacrifice of the Mass participates in the one Sacrifice of Jesus for our redemption. The Cross defines our worship and provides the path to salvation. But the roadmaps of redemption and salvation vary in the post-Reformation era of fragmented Christianity.

Catholic teaching holds that Original Sin wounded but did not destroy human nature. For our redemption, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He confronted evil, suffered and died for us, and overcame sin, suffering, and death in the glorious Resurrection. He sent the Holy Spirit upon us at Pentecost, and the Church was born. The Church provides the roadmap. The Church is the sacrament—the sign and the means—of salvation. The Church is the “light of the world” (Mt. 5:14) The cult of the Catholic saints provides incarnate examples of the Church’s authentic magisterial teaching.

Wounded by sin, we encounter the risen Jesus in the Sacraments, and ever-so-gradually, we can grow in virtue. A virtue is a good habit, the result of repeated good actions reinforced and elevated by God’s grace. Virtue and the Sacraments are intertwined and become inseparable over time. Virtue perfects our fallen human nature with the help of God’s grace.

Patterns of vice distort our happiness and virtue, as choking vines entangle pine trees. We usually need Purgatory to purify us of every sinful entanglement. Some dismiss Purgatory as an unpleasant distraction from salvation. On the contrary, Purgatory helps us understand how God administers His justice for the many sins we see in ourselves and in the world, and the need to complete a virtuous life in the finishing school of God’s love. Purgatory gives us hope. Despite chronic attachments to sin, God purifies us of every entanglement in Purgatory before we enter heaven.

Our understanding of the Catholic salvific roadmap is a work in progress. The ritual celebration of the Sacraments—above all, the Eucharist and Penance—helps us navigate the everyday and peculiar circumstances of our lives. Some claim they “confess their sins directly to God,” but psychological self-justification is more likely. When we articulate our sins in Confession, we begin to overcome an imprecise awareness of our sins and our need for repentance and forgiveness.

Thoughtful Catholics know that unrepentant grave sins—violations of the Ten Commandments and those rooted in the Seven Deadly Sins—lead to damnation. Blasphemy, impiety, murder, adultery, theft, and lies are the stuff of damnation.

Protestant roadmaps vary. Protestant views of redemption and salvation significantly depart from the Catholic roadmap. Traditional Calvinism (or Presbyterianism), for example, holds a stern view of Predestination. Sin has condemned man to everlasting horror and disgrace. But the Cross of Jesus redeems only the chosen few. God reaches into the “mass of the damned” and rescues but a handful. God predestines us to heaven or hell, and there’s nothing we can do about it. How do we know we are among the chosen?

Calvinists concluded that prosperity in this life confirms God’s eternal favor. Success requires virtuous, hard work. The famous White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) work ethic is rooted in the Calvinistic understanding of Predestination and the need to demonstrate redemption. The work ethic, apart from the flawed theology, has considerable merit.

Hilaire Belloc suggests American Capitalism is rooted in Calvinism. The robber barons of the 19th century and many banking and business associations were Calvinistic/Presbyterian networks. Hence the birth of hard-working capitalism. But as Belloc observes, the religion of Calvin disappeared, and capitalistic institutions remained! Happy with American capitalism? If Belloc is correct, thank a Calvinist. Unhappy with capitalistic globalism? Blame a Calvinist! (Catholic social teaching favors economic subsidiarity with labor and capital as complements.)

When asked: “What unrepentant sin would result in damnation?” Old-fashioned Calvinists would (perhaps nervously) scoff. It doesn’t matter. God predestines us, up or down.

The classic Evangelical Protestant roadmap teaches that Original Sin obliterated human nature. Using the indelicate metaphor of Martin Luther, after sin, we are dung heaps, and God’s grace covers the dung of souls like snow. The doctrine explains why those TV preachers rarely speak about virtue. Virtue implies a metaphysical impossibility: the gradual perfectibility of human nature. (The dung heap dogma is a horrible error. God does not make junk. Even sin cannot destroy God’s good creation.)

According to the doctrines of old-time religion Protestantism, God saves us with the “born-again” experience. The highly emotional moment of repentance acknowledges Jesus as “my personal Lord and Savior.” The born-again faith covers the dung heap of our existence with grace and guarantees our salvation. Instantaneously, we are saved forever. But how do I know whether my subjective born-again experience was sufficient?

When asked: “What unrepentant sin would result in damnation?” Born-again Protestants would (perhaps nervously) scoff: It doesn’t matter. I’m saved. The articulation of sin may be helpful for emotional peace of mind, but it’s unnecessary for salvation.

Liberal Protestantism and Liberal Catholicism are two peas in a pod. The roadmap coincides with predominant secular ideologies. What unrepentant sin would result in damnation? Liberal Christians would arrogantly scoff at the question. Everyone goes to heaven, except perhaps those who do not celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Catholic Church is a church of saints, but mostly sinners. Protestants—and countless non-Christians—are often among the virtuous (putting a lie to the mass-of-the damned and dung-heap dogmas). The path to sanctity remains the same for everyone: renouncing sin and following authentic truth according to our lights. Pssst! Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

The Christian path of virtue is arduous, fraught with spiritual danger, and needs the light of God’s grace to stay on course. The Cross of Jesus is the way: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mt.16:24) St. Paul warns against presumption: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil. 2:12)