If someone thinks they are saved and say they love jesus but do not really follow him, because god loves them and they are not self excluding since they say they want to be with him, they will be saved?
In Catholic teaching, **it is not enough to “think you are saved” or to say “I love Jesus.”** Salvation is not treated as a mere inner opinion or a verbal claim; it involves **real communion with Christ expressed in obedience, repentance, and perseverance**.
### 1) Jesus says profession is not the criterion
> “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
So if someone says they love Jesus but **does not really do the Father’s will**, Catholic doctrine does **not** allow you to assume they are saved. Their claim does not match the standard Christ gives.
### 2) Faith must be “alive” in works (not just claimed)
The Catechism states the principle very directly:
> “faith apart from works is dead.”
And Scripture explains that “faith” without corresponding action toward God is not saving faith.
So if someone “believes” they are saved while refusing conversion in practice, the Church reads that as **dead/ineffective faith**, not saving faith.
### 3) Perseverance matters; grace can be refused or lost
Catholic doctrine also emphasizes **perseverance**: one must endure in faith and not allow oneself to “make void rather than preserve the grace of redemption.”
The Catechism likewise speaks of the **“grace of final perseverance”** as something the faithful rightly hope for. And it explicitly ties hope for final salvation to living in “communion with Jesus” and the “good works accomplished with his grace.”
So someone who genuinely loves Jesus would not be able to remain indefinitely in a posture of refusing obedience; if they persist in refusing Christ’s will, that signals they are not actually in communion with Him as they claim.
### 4) “They want to be with Him” is not the same as doing His will
You’re asking about cases where a person says they want God and feel convinced they are saved, but do not follow Him.
Catholic teaching would respond: **the will to be with God must include the will to live with God**—that is, to turn from sin and to cooperate with grace in concrete obedience. Otherwise, “wanting” becomes merely sentiment or self-deception, because Christ’s criterion is “the will of my Father.”
### 5) One clarification: you can’t judge a person’s inner state
Even though objectively “Lord, Lord” without doing the Father’s will is not saving, the Church does **not** give you permission to declare the eternal destiny of another person with certainty. We can say the teaching is: **professed love without persevering obedience is not the way of salvation**.
## Conclusion
So: **No**—in Catholic teaching, someone who truly does not follow Christ cannot be presumed saved merely because they say they love Jesus or believe they are “self-unexcluded.” Christ and the Church judge by **the Father’s will, living faith, and perseverance**, not by claims alone.
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