Only Individuals Can Be Saved

“Only individuals can be saved.” Screwtape to the demon student body, Screwtape Proposes a Toast, C.S. Lewis, addendum to The Screwtape Letters

C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, and one of my favorite books of his is The Screwtape Letters, which describes the efforts of an experienced demon (Screwtape) trying to educate his “young” protégé (Wormwood). Through Screwtape Lewis manages to describe and, in a way, caution us about the wiles and deceptions of the devil.

As with anyone’s favorite reads, every now and then something new strikes you that, somehow, hadn’t impressed you before. So it was with Screwtape. At first this title caught me by surprise. Aren’t we called to acts of charity to others, to evangelize, tell others about Jesus and God’s love and mercy? Aren’t we told to die to self and not to conform to this world? One might think that our salvation is tied to others and how strong our membership is in the Church and the Body of Christ. These are all important, but it is our individual actions (or inaction) by which we will be judged.

We will all be judged individually. It isn’t a comparison test. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God will line us all up and take the top 10 or 20 or 30 percent. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 tells us “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, ... whether good or evil.” (Emphasis added.)

God sees into your heart. Today people want to be Frank Sinatra, whose iconic song, “I Did It My Way,” is the theme song of hell. They reject God in an effort to be their own god. We have gone beyond moral relativism, to the point of not just having different personal truths but to making our own truths whenever we want, even if they contradict our past truth which we defended profusely. This is why we see so many prominent transgender women who have families “left over” from when they knew they were men and not women. Do not be like the pharisee in Luke’s Gospel who went to the temple and prayed, “’God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” (Lk 18:11-14)

Jesus spoke very plainly about how to attain the kingdom and it all comes down to what we, as individuals, do during our lives. Works by themselves don’t get us into heaven, only faith and God’s mercy can do that and none of us are worthy. But failure to act on faith can put up a barrier to our getting to heaven. Jesus tells us in his description of the judgment day, known as the Sheep and the Goats (Mt 25:31-46), that we will be judged, not only by our deeds, but also by what we failed to do. Lewis makes note of this in his Reflections on the Psalms, “the heaviest charge against each of us turns not upon the things he has done but on those he never did.” This is echoed in Bishop Sheen’s words, “We lose our souls not only by the evil we do but also by the good we leave undone.”

Jesus also told us, “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 7:21) These and other admonishments in Chapter 7 of Matthew’s gospel are all about individuals and the things they do.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) provides additional detail. Besides our own sin, it tells us that when we cooperate in the sins of others, we, too, incur personal sin.

CCC 1868: “Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:

•  By participating directly and voluntarily or approving them;
•  By ordering, advising, praising or approving them;
•  By not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
•  By protecting evil-doers.”

Pope St. John Paul II tells us, “...the person ‘is the primary route that the Church must travel in fulfilling her mission: the individual is the primary and fundamental way for the Church’ ...” (JPII, Exhortation, Christifideles Laici 36)

The Old Testament also tells us in 2 Kings 14:6, “... every man shall die for his own sin.” (Also Deut. 24:16) The Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine is also specific, “In its true sense, sin is always an act of the person, because it is the free act of an individual person and not properly speaking of a group or community. ... At the bottom of every situation of sin there is always the individual who sins.” (117)

So what is the lesson that we should draw from this? First, as the Letter of St. James states, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (Jas 1:22) We also have to realize and trust in God that, if we do this, God will grant us his mercy. But we must be on a road of continuous conversion. This involves regular prayer. We must persevere to the end. If we stop advancing on the road of conversion, the devil is winning. Jesus called us out of this world and St. Paul cautions us, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Rom 12:2)

“The demon has only one door by which to enter into our soul: the will; there are no secret doors. No sin is a sin if not committed with the will. When there is no action of the will, there is no sin, but only human weakness.” St. Padre Pio

CCC 1736 “Every act directly willed is imputable to its author:”