Access to heaven.... (the Catholic one)?

Question

An athiest, Muslim, Hindu or any non-Catholic who does 'good' deeds all her life, helping others and so on... is it not true that according to Catholic law she will go to hell, whilst a serial killer who repents on his deathbed goes to heaven?

My questions:

1. Is this what the religion officially 'says'?
2. Do people agree with it?
3. How do you decide which bits of your religion to agree with, and which bits not to?
4. Does a "pick 'n' mix" approach undermine faith?

Answer 1

The Catechism of the Catholic Church officially states:

+ About Non-Catholic Christians:

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, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church.

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 2

Any human being, if he lives a good life, not harming others and generally doing good, will NOT go to hell.

Religious affiliation does not guarantee entry to heaven.
1-Any Religion doesnt say anything. Persons do.
2-Each person agrees with whatever best suits him/her.
3-You agree with whatever you can live with.
4-Picking and mixing is a very simple approach to any situation.

Answer 3

No it is absolutely not true. That is the exact opposite of what the Catholic Church teaches. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states (this is a paraphrase since I don't have the book in front of me, but it's close ...) "Those who through no fault of their own do not recognize Christ or His Church, but who do their best to do the will of God as perceived through the dictates of their conscience, these too may be saved". There are many fundamentalist Protestestant denominations however, who will tell you that all non-Christians are damned - and even some who will tell you that those who don't belong to their denomination are damned.
.

Answer 4

Following is what the Catholic Church teaches, as quoted from the Cathechism:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation

Answer 5

Please read the entire passage from beginning to end, and read it carefully:

"Outside the Church there is no salvation"

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:


Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:


Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337

848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338

Answer 6

Most (that is, not the hard-core Evangelical whackos) will say that it is not for us to judge and we don't know, and that only God can see in your heart.... so it is possible for someone who never outwardly accepts Christ can get in heaven if God knows in ther heart that they have.

Without a pick 'n' mix approach, their would be very little faith.

Answer 7

Ah, but you can be the worst kind of person and be prayed into heaven for a nice stipend. Isn't that right.

As a Baptist, I accept all of the Bible, I do not mix and match scriptures to my beliefs. I form my beliefs from the scriptures.

Can we be sinless? We cannot erase our past sins, but Jesus gave His life that we may appear before His Father as righteous and just. However the scriptures tell us that if we have accepted Jesus as the Christ and the Lord and Savior of our lives, we will not deliberately sin.

grace2u

Answer 8

You need to sort the logical from the illogical.

There have been to many attempts to fix the bible for God by well meaning people.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 9

Yes, that's what it says.
No, I don't agree with it.
I don't have a religion.
It doesn't undermine faith, it illustrates the hypocrisy of it.


VLR

Answer 10

If you die in christ you have eternal life! That's what scripture saids.