When I was in Catholic grade school in (1937-1945) the nuns taught that anybody who wasn't baptized Catholic

Question

would go to hell. Does anybody know if this dogma is still practiced and does anybody believe in hell and if so, what fuel does the devil favor?

Answer 1

The Catholic Church teaches:

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.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p3.htm#819

+ Hell +

Hell is the state of complete and final self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives

I like to think of it this way. The only way a person will go to hell is if they want to.

God in His (or Her) unlimited love has given us free will to choose. Our most important choice is to freely decide to accept or reject God's constant offer of spending eternity with Him in heaven. God will respect the choice to reject Him.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art12.htm#1033

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Yes, one MUST be Baptized or else they cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

What you have to realize is that there is more to Baptism than the reception of said Sacrament. One can receive Baptism via the Sacrament, yes.

But there is also Baptism by Desire and Baptism by Blood. Neither of these entail the reception of the Sacrament, yet Baptism is still bestowed upon the person/people in question.

Baptism by Desire occurs when someone literally desires to better know the Higher Power but, due to ciurcumstances beyond a person's control, cannot receive the actual Sacrament of Baptism itself.

Baptism by Blood occurs when one, who has not received the Sacrament itself, nevertheless believes and is martyred for that belief.

There is hell. To not believe it hell is to reject Dogma and commit heresy. In fact, one cannot truly begin to believe/understand God and Heaven if one does not also believe in the Devil and hell.

Answer 3

Ah, Hell! The final threat to keep the masses in line with the churches. Nothing like the threat of burning forever in pain in order to behave in class, go to church, get baptized, etc.
Now let's see.....is this type of Hell real? Logically speaking, would an eternal loving creator damn you forever to such a pit for a few measly years on Earth? I would'nt even do this to my worst enemy...and I'm only human.
Read the Bible. There are many passages that talk about the dead. Basically putting it, "the dead have know nothing at all." In other words, being dead is like a deep sleep....no feelings, no memories, no concept of the passage of time. In other words, no existence. You're only hope would be the resurrection sometime in the future. Otherwise, you no longer exist. Those that have died, don't even know that they died.
Look at Lazarus. After Jesus resurrected him, Lazarus never spoke of some kind of afterlife...and he was dead for a week. Even Jesus said that Lazarus sleeps. Jesus never said that he went to heaven, or hell for that matter.
So, what about the "Lake of fire" that Revelations speaks of? Read this scripture. It speaks of God throwing death and Hades into the lake of fire. How do you throw death and hades into this fire? It's symbolic. Basically it means that God will destroy death and Hades (common grave of mankind). So in the future, there will be no death nor any need for graves.

Answer 4

As far as I know, it's still the same, although Im not Catholic. I've heard plenty of Catholics say this though, I *think* that even the Pope has said this not too long ago. Someone can check that out.

No, in Judaism we don't have such a concept as hell. We have reincarnation. Where it is translated into English as "hell" in the Christian bibles (old testament), it doesn't say that in Hebrew nor does it mean that.

What fuel the devil favors? Again, we don't have such a concept as a "devil", but I would guess from the Christian concept of it that the fuel would be eternally damned souls? Dunno, just a guess.

Answer 5

Inasmuch as there is no salvation aside from Jesus, and since the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, then it logically follows that there is no salvation outside of the Church. The argument then becomes, "what is the Church?"

Lay Catholics argue that the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church, although it is more precise to say the official teaching is that the Fullness of the Gospel was entrusted by Jesus the Lord to the Catholic Church. Thus, while it is true that one can find salvation outside of the Catholic Church, the truth upon which the salvation is found resides in the Catholic Church.

Answer 6

Rome believes something like that, pehaps there might be some clauses. Despite what other say otherwise from nuns or priests, those might be individual views but not actual Roman Catholic dogma.

While I no longer follow catholocism I am a confirmed catholic, but was baptized Lutheran as an infant. I had to submit my baptism for review for it to be accepted and then be confirmed in the catholic church. However, I myself rejected the infan baptism later, because scripture does not accept infant baptism so I was baptized as an adult.

Answer 7

I went to a Catholic school and I was taught that all faiths have some truths in them, and as long as you aren't a sinful person, you could go to heaven. If you're not Catholic and you go to hell, that means all of the people in the Old Testament, great people like Gandhi, etc are all burning in hell. That also means that those who were in the Crusades and killed thousands of people are in heaven. Makes no sense to me.

Answer 8

I believe Catholics still says that there is no salvation outside the Church, but even back before Vatican II they taught that besides Baptism with water there was something called Baptism by desire, which some would say includes anyone who desired to lead the kind of life God wants us to live. In the end, it is my understanding that the Church teaches that God is loving and merciful and desires the salvation of all people.

Answer 9

Not that i'm aware of - then agian i'm probably not the best person to ask.

Catholic missionaries in Asia weren't up to teaching that either strand of thought either. Then again, i was told by a religion professor at George Washington U that whenever a western religion gets imported to the East - unless rabidly fanatically controlled in its disemination - it kind of acclimates itself to a moderate stance.

Must be a cultural difference?

Answer 10

All those who claim the blood of Jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross, repent from their sins, get baptised and receive the Holy Spirit are his children...I don't care if they have never set foot inside a church. It is not the church that saves you, it is belief in an almighty God and the death of his Son on the cross, where he died for your sins.

What must you do to be saved?....Let Peter tell you the same way he did the first converts...the first Jewish converts....later on in Acts Chap 10,,,you can read about the first Gentile converts....it is the same.....

Acts Chapter 2

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.

When you read Acts Chapter 10, pay close attention to how they knew the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit.