I have a question for bowler. Bowler, do you believe that one can be justified without Baptism but one can not be saved without Baptism? Or do you believe that one can neither be justified nor saved without Baptism?
I don't believe one can be pre-sanctified
and then die before he is baptized. Whether one can be pre-sanctified before baptism or not is another story. And remember, if Trent is talking about justification by desire, it is only talking about explicit desire, not implicit! The implicit BOD'ers and Implicit Faith'ers have then
NOTHING in Trent!
The explicit baptism of desire of the catechumen believers ask the ridiculous question: What happens to a
catechumen who is sanctified before baptism, but dies by accident un-baptized? BOD is their answer. But the question is a strawman, because what God started, he can easily complete.
(It's by far more difficult for God to bring people back from the dead just to be baptized, and God has done it hundreds of recorded times!)
Council of Trent. Seventh Session. March, 1547. Decree on the Sacraments.
On Baptism
Canon 5. If any one saith, that
baptism is optional, that is, not necessary unto salvation; let him be anathema.
This Canon is on the sacrament of baptism, that is the subject and title of the Session. It is very clear that the sacrament of baptism is necessary for salvation. Baptism of desire (BOD) is not a sacrament!
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CANON 2.-If any one saith, that
true and natural water is not of necessity for baptism, and, on that account, wrests, to some sort of metaphor, those words of our Lord Jesus Christ; Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost; let him be anathema.
This is very clear too, and concurs with the Canon 5 above.
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Session VII (March 3, 1547)
Canons on the Sacraments in General
Canon IV. If any one saith, that the
sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto salvation, but superfluous; and that, without them, or without the desire thereof, men obtain of God, through faith alone, the grace of justification;
though all (the sacraments) are not indeed necessary for every individual; let him be anathema.
(The heading of this Session is sacraments in General. That means all seven sacraments, baptism, confirmation, penance, communion, matrimony, extreme unction, and the priesthood. Baptism of desire is not a sacrament, so please refrain from salivating at the sight of the word “desire”. One can’t become a priest or be married “by desire”.)
This says that the
sacraments are necessary for salvation. It also says that not all are necessary for every individual, therefore, at least one is necessary for salvation. this one can only be the sacrament of baptism, since that's exactly what the two Canons on the sacrament of baptism say.
The three canons concur with each other perfectly and clearly.
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Now, the proponents of BOD of the catechumen, ask the speculative question:
What happens to a catechumen:
1)who is sanctified by God before being baptized,
2)then dies unexpectedly,
3)while still in a state of grace,
4)without anyone around to baptize him?
This is total speculation, theory, supposition, and guesswork. What are the chances of such a possibility? Here's additional comments concerning points 1,2,3, and 4 above:
1) Lets say a person potentially can be sanctified before receiving the sacrament of baptism, that Trent has said so, however, how long before baptism? It maybe one second before the water hits his head. If a person is sanctified one second before baptism.
2)3)4)- no one dies unexpectedly to God. Why would God sanctify someone, then take his life before anyone can baptize him?
The only answer to the speculative question above, that would fulfill all the requirements of Trent touched on by this question,
is that, every person sanctified before receiving the sacrament of baptism, will be baptized. They cannot die unbaptized, God would not allow them to die. No such person has ever existed or will ever exist. This is what St. Augustine meant by:
St. Augustine: “If you wish to be a Catholic, do not venture to believe, to say, or to teach that ‘
they whom the Lord has predestinated for baptism can be snatched away from his predestination, or die before that has been accomplished in them which the Almighty has predestined.’ There is in such a dogma more power than I can tell assigned to chances in opposition to the power of God, by the occurrence of which casualties that which He has predestinated is not permitted to come to pass.
It is hardly necessary to spend time or earnest words in cautioning the man who takes up with this error against the absolute vortex of confusion into which it will absorb him, when I shall sufficiently meet the case if I briefly warn the prudent man who is ready to receive correction against the threatening mischief.” (On the Soul and Its Origin 3, 13)