Many fundamentalist Protestant Christians say that Catholics are not christians and will go to hell?

Question

No one answered the earlier question...so, am asking it again.

For those that believe that Catholics are going to hell...what happened to all of the people before the protestant denominations broke from the Catholics...before they could be protestant...did those people go to hell?

Answer 1

Fortunately, it's not up to the fundies . . . it's up to God Himself.

Answer 2

The true church of Jesus Christ began with the death and resurrection of Christ. Catholicism was instituted around 311 AD. And not all catholics are going to hell. I have met many Catholics that loved Jesus Christ. However, the upper ups in the catholic church will, because they are teaching heresies. Such as:
1. Mary can get you to heaven. WRONG
2. The bread and wine really become his body and blood. WRONG
3. That the lay people in the church are too stupid to read and understand the Bible. Wrong
4. Catholic pope in infallible.WRONG (He is a man..)
There are many other things I could share, but that should be enough. And they were called Protestants because they Protested what the Catholics were teaching. They had been around since about 33 AD.
I hope this answers your question, any further questions go to the website below.
Also, I don't want to offend the catholics but look up some of the cases I listed above. They do, for the most part worship idols and the dead. Both of which GOD said will condemn you. That came from God not man. Also Constantine was just the tip of the problem, but look at everything that has come since. Read the Two Babylons by Hyssop for more information. Thank You for allowing me to go on. Hope it helped.

Answer 3

I'm a Catholic and I'll tell you what some Protestants have told me when I asked a question like that:

1. Catholics are not Christian because they don't believe in justification by faith alone. Catholics have perverted the pure doctrines of Christ. So............

2. Many of the people who lived before the Reformation were "actually Protestant" - i.e. they were Bible Christians who believed in justification by faith and sola scriptura, but they were persecuted or squelched by the Catholic majority.

Far fetched, but that's how they explain away the obvious. The obvious fact being that there was nothing but the Catholic Church since the time of Christ and that the "churches" which came into existence beginning with Martin Luther were all novelties, unbiblical and manmade.

Most Protestants believe that while the Catholic Church officially teaches heretical doctrines, not all Catholics will go to Hell. They won't go that far or try to judge men's hearts.

Answer 4

In North-east India, the 'Bible belt' there's a lot of rivalry between Baptist preachers who breathe 'hell fire' and the Catholics. I have actually attended a Bible Revival, this was a Pentecostal-type thing, where people were seeing 'visions' and speaking in 'tongues' and I was shocked to see a friend of mine, usually an intelligent college student, suddenly roll her eyes and 'see' all the catholics running downwards into hell!
As luck would have it , I attended the same girl's wedding a year later, in the Catholic Church. She had become a Catholic, because that was the only way she could marry the Catholic Guy she fell in love with!
I asked her if she had joined the downward slide to hell. She laughed it off and said that all she wanted to do was to impress her preacher Uncle that she cane from a good non-backsliding stock.
But when she fell in love, all the fundamentalism flew out the window!

Answer 5

Well James it is my experience that few Protestants would agree with this except the diehard fundamentalists, Hell would indeed be quite full if all the generations before the reformation were there, but of course this is elitist nonsense, Christ promised Peter that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His church, I fail to see how Christ decided to start another rival church and make a wrong statement in the first place.

Answer 6

I am a fundamental Protesant Christian and an ex-Roman Catholic member. I do believe that the church of Rome has some very serious errors in their doctine, however I would never make a blanket statement that all Catholics are going to hell. There is no way that I or anyone else on this forum can see into their hearts. Also it is imporatant to remember that a small number people in the Church of Rome which do not agree with their teachings, therefore it is imporant to make a clarification as to what is believed by an individual Roman Catholic.

Answer 7

Most non-Catholic Christian denominations accept Catholics as Christians. A very few do not.

A dictionary would say that a Christian is someone professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.

Catholics would fit this definition.

In the Nicene creed, from 325 A.D., Catholics profess:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.

Through Him all things were made.

For us and our salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried.

On the third day He rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are baptized as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:19, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

We truly are spiritually "born again," we just don't usually use those words.

With love in Christ.

Answer 8

Aw, honey.

It's that whole Constantine thing. Very "DaVinci Code."

I am a Catholic. When Protestants tell me I'm going to hell they usually site Constantine. And say that he polluted the church with Paganism.

Protestant converts to Catholicism such as Scott Hahn and Alex Jones discovered this whole protestant teaching was not true. You might want to read a couple of their books to understand.

Audax makes some good points, however, both Sola Scripture and Sola Fide are, I believe, primarily Lutheran ideals. Not all Christians accept these non biblical teachings.

Answer 9

Anyone who believes and trusts Jesus Christ as their personal savior will go to heaven. Jesus is not going to come down and scoop up all the baptist, or catholics, he's coming for the christians-believers in Christ!! Denominations are for our personal style of worshipping and learning about God. It is not a determining factor for salvation. There are many pagan religions. There are man proclaimed catholics, baptists, methodists, presbtyrians, etc. that are going to hell because they have a fake salvation!

Answer 10

I think it would be more accurate to say that a lot of "Christians" from all types of denominations are going to hell. My best friend is Catholic and if she isn't there in heaven then there is no hope for me. She is the nicest and most loving person I know.

Answer 11

People do not go to hell because of the banner under which they "worship".

Each person stands guilty before God because we have all broken His Laws: We have lied; we have stolen; when we look at another person with lust in our hearts, we are guilty of adultery; when we become so angry with another that we want to get revenge or have ill will towards the other person, we are guilty of murder in our hearts, when we use God's name in a manner unbefitting a holy and righteous God, we drag God's name through the mud and we are guilty of blasphemy, etc, etc.

It is for these reasons that a person will be judged and go to hell.

When God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins, it put God (the Judge) into a position where He can now grant a pardon to anybody who will acknowledge their sins and repent and trust Jesus for a personal relationship with God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Everything I've just shared can be supported through Scriptures.

The problem with the Catholic church is that they do not rely on a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. They depend on Mary and other saints to intervene on their behalf.

There are two problems with this as I see it:

First, as one person once stated, God has no "grandchildren". We must each stand before God ourself. We can not use any other intermediary other than Jesus Christ, so asking Mary to "pray for us sinners" violates this Biblical mandate.

Second, the need for a personal relationship with God is not taught. Jesus said "You must be born again ...", but catholics do not teach this, again violating Biblical mandate.

There may be other reasons (for instance, some point out the use of statues in the Catholic church, which is prohibited in the 10 commandments, etc), but this is beginning to get long-winded.

The point is, we have ALL sinned, and we are ALL guilty before a holy God. Unless a person approaches God directly through His Holy Son, Jesus Christ, and receives Jesus as the lord (ie boss) of his life, he can not be saved.

Please note, however, that being "Catholic" does not automatically preclude that a person will not go to heaven. Like I said, the banner under which a person "worships" has no bearing on the matter. The only thing that matters is whether or not the person's name is "written in the Lamb's Book of Life."