im a catholic,A christian once told me that only people who go to heaven are the ones who follow the bible....

Question

what about the people who did not have the the opportunity to be born after the bible was written?...

jesus welcomed all people into heaven. he forgave sinners, & healed ppl w/ diseases, Even though the bible was written AFTER his death

so shouldnt that also mean people b4 the bible should be able to go to heaven as well?

i asked that to a group of catholics and they said all people who are good go to heaven..
i asked that to a group of christians and they were stumped... did not know how to answer.

Answer 1

I am packing up to move, so my Bible isn't accessible at the moment, but it states that Abraham, for example, was saved by faith (or his faith was credited to him...something like that -- can anyone clarify?). The most important thing to remember is that God is a god of compassion, mercy, and grace, and He makes provision for those who do not (for whatever reason) have the "Jesus" aspect of faith revealed to them. God will reveal himself to each of us in the appropriate way at the appropriate time so that we all have the opportunity to make a decision about faith in Him. I don't believe anyone will be condemned for not choosing something they were never aware of in the first place.

Your Catholic friends who told you that good people go to heaven are not telling you what Jesus taught. Jesus taught that we are saved by grace -- there is NOTHING we can "do" to EARN salvation. Every single one of us falls short of God's standard; thus, God provided grace through Jesus to save us.

It's not enough to believe in Jesus, however. Even the devil believes in Jesus. What's required is submission to Christ, repentance of sins, and acceptance of Jesus as Lord of your life. That's it. If you "do" that (and I put "do" in quotation marks because I said earlier there is nothing you can do to earn salvation), then you're saved. That's the only "do" you can "do." The rest is God's grace. Jesus was the son of God and His sacrifice paid the price for our sins so we wouldn't have to pay the price ourselves, and thus, we can enter into God's kingdom whole and pure and without flaw IF we accept Christ. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

They can't answer you because there isn't an answer. Christians are under the illusion that they have the only correct religion and it has existed since the beginning of time. You know, creation and all that. Unfortunately for that theory, Christianity didn't come into existence until some two thousand years ago.
You're asking the right questions. However, don't expect Christianity to give you the right answers. Religion, once you approach it with logic, can be a slippery slope.

Answer 3

I once asked a friend of mine "Solomon was a religious man and he tried his best to do what God wanted ! When he died, did God say 'I'm sorry, Solomon ! Since the savior hasn't come yet, I can't let you go to Heaven !' ?", and my friend said "No, back then you could get to heaven just by being good !", and he added "It's easier to get to Heaven now that we have Jesus Christ !" .

he gave me the best answer he could . I went to a lecture at my local Catholic church one evening, and the speaker said "Jesus Christ's sacrifice covers everybody who has ever lived, even those who were born, lived their lives, and died before He was born !" .

You won't get a satisfying answer from the average person in the Yahoo ! Answers ommunity . You should ask a Catholic priest for more information .

Answer 4

It's true that would not be fair if being able to read the bible was the requirement to get into heaven.

I won't write my beliefs here but if anyone's interested go ahead and contact me.

By the way - I'm confused by your use of "Christian". A christian is someone who believes in Christ, so catholics are christians, aren't they?

Answer 5

First of all the new testament was written b4 jesus was even born. The first 5 books of the new testament were written shortly after the death of jesus. After adam and eve sinned sins were atonned for by the sacrafice of an animal. Then when moses delivered the jewish people from captivity he gave them the ten commandments and a set of laws. This law told the people what they needed to sacrafice an animal for and how exactly to sacrafice it. When jesus died for our sins he was the sacraficial lamb. This is why we no longer have to make these sacrafices. His blood covers all of our sins.

It is said that when a sheep looses its mother that if you try to give it to a mother the mother will snif it and recognize that it is not its own. It will then proceed to kick it until it dies. Because of this when a sheep is orphaned they will take the wool or coat from a mothers sheep and make a coat out of it to cover the orphaned sheep. Then the mother will smell the orphaned sheep and smell her own. She will receive this child as her own. This is in a sense what jesus did for us. We use his sacrafice as a coat and god see's us as his own and not as the sinners that we are.

Answer 6

i think its hilarious that the same council that made the catholic church actually dictated out exactly what was and what was not included as bible material. and for the first 1000 years of catholicism they controlled every aspect of the bible. and even still they are the leading authorities on this planet to bible knowledge.
now my question is wouldnt that make anyone who gives any creedance to the bible in belief or otherwise at least homage the catholic faith? wouldnt the belief in bible make them catholic? the bible is undoubtly the property of the vatican. therefor any actual bible must at least adhere to the catholic created bible.

Answer 7

The Catholic Church believes that those who die never hearing of Christ but have sought the truth and does the will of God as they understand it can be saved. This is called the Baptism of desire. (1)

If they died before Jesus died for our sins and opened the gates of heaven for us, then they waited in what is called in the Old Testament Abraham's bosom or Sheol.

Catholics believe that after Jesus died on the cross, he descended into Sheol, the place of the dead. While there He freed the holy souls who awaited their savior in Abraham's bosom. (2)

With love in Christ.

Answer 8

you know what i ask myself this question before.somebody told me do you remember when god was punished and there's one guy to his right and left,i said yes well one of them went to heaven because he ask for forgiveness and admit what he done wrong.if you really read the bible there no such thing as religion.when did you hear that the bible it's self mention any kind of religion.it only said christian.were all christian.but people do things like having there on religion because they want power.they what to feel to be worship them.not me for me if i want to go heaven the first thing i would do is love my family first and then help other people who needs help.

Answer 9

The way to heaven is believing that Christ died for you and is your personal savior. There is nothing you can do to get into heaven, it is not about deeds, its belief and accepting Christ into your heart. By the way, I am Catholic.

Answer 10

A colleague of mine and I were having a conversation about people who interpret the bible to suit their own needs. he said that most people approach it as a "choose your own adventure" book. they pick out small parts that they agree with and mold their entire faith around only those parts.