Salvation only through the Catholic Church?

Question

What does the Church believe about salvation? Do only fully-babtized Catholics go to heaven? What about the other Christians? What happens if a Catholic doesn't confess their (mortal) sins before death?

Anything else about what the Catholic Church believes about salvation?

Thanks
God Bless

Answer 1

The Catholic Church does not teach that only Catholics can be saved. It does correctly teach however that salvation is only through the Catholic Church because it was to the Catholic Church that the Good News of salvation was given, and therefore only through the teaching of the Catholic Church that anyone has received the Christian message. Today of course there are thousands of unauthorized manmade churches preaching various versions of salvation, intermixed with many manmade traditions. Even though Jesus never intended that any such churches should exist, His own Church still teaches that these churches can bring people to salvation through that portion of God's holy truth which they have received from the Catholic Church.

As for mortal sins - those sins which James describes as "sins unto death" - that description should answer the question. If a spiritually deadly, or mortal, sin is committed, one which removes Gods redeeming grace from the soul, and is not repented and confessed, that sinner is lost. That's what "unto death", or "mortal", means.
.

Answer 2

Hey Amelia,

Well this is two courses of eschatology (salvation theology) easily, so maybe this is something to continue via email on my avatar. There's a lot of misconceptions, so I'll go with the basics:

1) You must be born again by water and spirit.
2) You must believe and profess faith (if you live to that age)
3) You must repent of your sins (if you live to that age)

I'm not tracing through Scripture or Catechism (commentary on the Scripture) because everyone else will do that. What I want to do is point out the concepts, and that disagreement comes into play over when these three must happen, if they must happen at the same time, and if they must happen in any order.

1) Jesus is clear that all must be born again of water and spirit, aka Baptism. It is believed that Baptism is a conferring of saving grace, the action of the pouring of the water and the consecration of the Baptized in the Name is sufficient, hence why infants are allowed to be Baptized (note that the Catholic Church considers infant and adult baptisms to be equivalent).

2) The profession of faith has to be public, and it has to be believed (otherwise you're just lying). The Catholic Church follows the Nicene Creed, and respects the baptism of any Christian church that baptizes in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and adheres to the Nicene Creed.

3) If you sin, you must repent. Repentence is by confession, to God directly for small sins, to a priest for serious ones.

Everything else would fill VOLUMES. Please note that if not all catholics understand Catholic theology (in its 2000 years of development), fewer Protestants do, so I hope you'll turn to a reputable source such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or a Catholic study bible. The wording is bulky and sometimes antiquated in the Catechism, but it expresses the message most directly. Also, I can forward more specific questions to theologian friends of mine.

Peace of Christ,
V17

Answer 3

Heb. 9:12 - Christ's sacrifice secured our redemption, but redemption is not the same thing as salvation. We participate in and hope for salvation. Our hope in salvation is a guarantee if we are faithful to Christ to the end. But if we lose hope and fail to persevere, we can lose our salvation. Thus, by our own choosing (not by God's doing), salvation is not a certainty. While many Protestant churches believe in the theology of "once saved, always saved," such a novel theory is not found in Scripture and has never been taught by the Church

He, in administering the righteous judgment of the Father to all, assigns to each what is righteous according to his works....the justification will be seen in the awarding to each that which is just; since to those who have done well shall be assigned righteously eternal bliss, and to the lovers of iniquity shall be given eternal punishment. And the fire which is un-quenchable and without end awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which dieth not...But the righteous will remember only the righteous deeds by which they reached the heavenly kingdom, in which there is neither sleep, nor pain, nor corruption

Answer 4

I wish I had my catechism with me right now so I could give you the complete answer. If none of the answers you recieve here help, I would strongly suggest looking it up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Church believes that there is hope or heaven for the little babies who die before baptism or birth because our God is merciful.
I'm not sure about the other Christians, I know that the Catholic Church recognizes the baptisms of some other faiths to be valid. If those Christians live a holy life, and have only venial sins on their soul, I believe they have a chance of heaven (not sure about the official teachings of that, sorry)
There is purgatory, the place where the souls with venial sins on their souls go to cleanse themselves before entering heaven, becuase as the Bible says "Nothing unclean shall enter it (heaven)"
If a Catholic does not get a chance to confess their mortal sins to a priest before death, I am not sure what happens. If the person is truly sorry, I think there is hope. I do not know for sure though. (Better consult the CCC on that one)
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Answer 5

+ Salvation +

Here is the joint declaration of justification by Catholics (1999), Lutherans (1999), and Methodists (2006):

By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

+ About Non-Catholic Christian Churches:

Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements. Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, ... All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him."

+ About Judaism:

The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ; for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

+ About Islam:

The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day.

+ About other non-Christian religions:

All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city.

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 6

"Salvation is through the Catholic Church" means that the salvation that Protestants and other Christians enjoy streams like a river from God, through His Church, and then out to everybody else. It doesn't mean that only Catholics can go to Heaven or anything like that.

Answer 7

You dont have to be a catholic to have salvation, being a protestant, you can have salvation as well. Basically we're a bit different because of different views between the catholic and protestant but we are all united because we believe that jesus is our lord and savior. You dont have to be baptized to go to heaven, like when jesus was on the cross, one of the men beside him mocked him and the other one on the other side rebuked the first one and believed and so jesus promised him life wit the Father in heaven. Its just that, jesus wants you to be baptized, just like he was. You should study the bible and talk to ur church or a christian friend to find out more, its just that once you believe, you are saved. God bless.

Answer 8

It has been a long while since I studied Catholic doctrine, but as I understand it they do accept other denominations of Christianity that hold to certain core doctrines. My denomination (Reformed Presbyterian) works the same way.

There is plenty that a Catholic and I would disagree on, but we can agree on those items that relate to salvation; faith in Christ, the Ressurection, etc. Of course every demonination will think theres is the most correct interpretation (I know I do), but that does not mean I will not see any Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, etc in Heaven.

Answer 9

The Catholic church does believe that baptism is important and so does the Christian church as well. BUT the catholic church has allot of tradition that they believe more then the work of GOD. Lot of the old believes in the catholic church are so deeply rooted that there's no change even in the second council there not much that take place by in the early 60's Read on the history of the catholic church. And then read Revelation

Answer 10

I don't know what catholics teach on salvation, but this is what the bible teaches. "you must be BORN AGAIN of WATER and SPIRIT" (John 3:3,5.) This was demonstrated by Jesus' babtism by John the Baptizer. When He was brought down into the water,the Spirit desended upon Him. this was the baptimal model that jesus set forth for his disciples when they began the church shortly after "the great commission (Matthew 26). Second, salvation is IN Christ. Question, if that is so, how does one get INTO christ. Romans 3:23 states that "all have sinned, fallen short of glory of God. OK, now we know what our human nature and condition is--that of sin. The remedy for it, is finding salvation in christ. See Romans 6:4 and following:

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

This "Newness" described here is the new nature that the Christian he or she now has. . our old selves have passed away (buried) and we have PUT ON/IN Christ. We can verify this by the Holy Spirit that lives in the newly converted person, Acts 2:38--"Repent and be baptized in the NAME of Jesus and you shall receive the gift (DOREA in the greek-meaning Personage or person) of the Holy Spirit. In otherwords, when we repent, and are baptized into Christ, we then receive the The Holy Spirit. Evidence of having the spirit dwell in you can be evidenced by spiritual fruit you now bear. Even on the Day of Pentacost, the Jews who were both repentant and baptized were added "to the kingdom 3000 that day." that was the beginning of the Christian Church.
Also, you have salvation when you BELIEVE in the testimony of jesus' resurrection from the dead AND-(greek word- KAI "to join two words together of equal rank") are BAPTIZED will be saved. In otherwords when you BELIEVE AND (KAI) are BAPTIZED you will be SAVED. Further evidence shows that Romans 10:9 states "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and BELIEVE in your heart that God raised him from the dead (also Mark 16:15-16), you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. So, to sum up, what leads one to salvation....repenting of your sin (Acts 2:38), believing in the resurrection of Jesus (Mark 16:15-16, romans 10:9-10), being baptised (acts 2:38,Gal 8:26).

Moreover, evidence shows salvation is IN Christ so we must be baptized (Romans 6:23). Baptism allows us to be forgiven of sin and receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), but repentance of sin is required.