A bit confused on Catholic teachings on salvation

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Generic_Man

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-Is it possible for a non-Catholic to be saved if he/she is a good and righteous person but does not know The Catholic Church to be the truth?

-Do works come from faith or not?

I’m pretty sure that the answers are yes and no respectively but I want to be sure.
 
The Catechism of Pope St. Pius X states the Church’s doctrine in a simple and straightforward manner:
No one can be saved outside the Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church, just as no one could be saved from the flood outside the Ark of Noah, which was a figure of the Church.
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If he is outside the Church through no fault of his, that is,** if he is in good faith**, and if he has received Baptism, or at least has the implicit desire of Baptism; and if, moreover, **he sincerely seeks the truth and does God’s will as best he can **such a man is indeed separated from the body of the Church, but is united to the soul of the Church and consequently is on the way of salvation.
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Generic_Man said:
-Is it possible for a non-Catholic to be saved if he/she is a good and righteous person but does not know The Catholic Church to be the truth?

-Do works come from faith or not?

I’m pretty sure that the answers are yes and no respectively but I want to be sure.
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Generally answered (because it’s midnight and I don’t have the resources at hand), those who do not know the Catholic Church is the keeper of all Truth that the Holy Spirit leads it to can be saved by their faith in Jesus Christ; they are not in full communion with the Church, but they share a common baptism into Jesus Christ. God, however, can operate outside the means He has given us, so in the end, it really is up to Him who is saved and who is not. Catholics do not believe that it is possible to be “righteous” apart from God, so I don’t think it’s okay to say that well-meaning atheists are saved.

“Works”, if you mean the good works God has prepared for us in advance in Christ (cf. Eph 2:10), are the result of our faith working through love (Gal 5:6; cf. 1 Tim 6:18; Titus 3:8,14; Heb 10:24) and are manifestations of the fruit of the Holy Spirit active in our lives. Works do not save us, nor do they justify us; we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and that first grace is not merited by anything we can do. However, these good works we do – which we will be judged for (cf. Rom 2:5-8,16; 1 Pet 1:17) – provide for us an increase of grace (cf. Matthew 25:14-30) enabling us to persevere and endure to the end, and so be saved (cf. Matthew 24:13).
 
Hellisreal said:
  1. Yes
    2)Yes
Caesar will disagree. I can live with that. 🤷
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I agree that those are not joined to the visible institution of the Catholic Church can be saved, as per the teachings of the Church which I demonstrated with the words of St. Pius X. However, that is not to say that the Church is not necessary for Salvation.
 
For a example a good and righteous non-Catholic I mean someone like Mohandas Ghandi. Ghandi is a pretty strong example, but you know what I mean
 
Generic_Man said:
For a example a good and righteous non-Catholic I mean someone like Mohandas Ghandi. Ghandi is a pretty strong example, but you know what I mean
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The problem with examples like this, is we dont know. He COULD have died in a state of unrepentant sin.

God knows best.👍
 
Generic_Man said:
-Is it possible for a non-Catholic to be saved if he/she is a good and righteous person but does not know The Catholic Church to be the truth?

-Do works come from faith or not?

I’m pretty sure that the answers are yes and no respectively but I want to be sure.
Click to expand...
Is it possible for a non-Catholic to be saved if he/she is a good and righteous person but does not know The Catholic Church to be the truth?

If they truely do not know and are unaware and have not made a personal decision to not seek the truth or have not personally rejected the truth.

Do works come from faith or not?

Yes.
 
Salvation is of the Lord, not man or a church. Yes someone can be saved even if they know every bit of Catholic Church doctrine and reject it all
 
allischalmers said:
Salvation is of the Lord, not man or a church. Yes someone can be saved even if they know every bit of Catholic Church doctrine and reject it all
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If a person knowingly rejects The Church, they are also rejecting Christ. How can a person who knowingly rejected Christ possibly be saved. See Matthew 25.
 
allischalmers said:
Salvation is of the Lord, not man or a church.
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CORRECTION:

Salvation is from the Lord THROUGH his Church. That’s why he established the Church. Otherwise men would never know about the Lord and his gift of salvation. The Bible didn’t just fall out of the sky, you know. :rolleyes:
 
Generic_Man said:
-Is it possible for a non-Catholic to be saved if he/she is a good and righteous person but does not know The Catholic Church to be the truth?
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Explicit joining with the Catholic Church is a necessity if the person has arrived at the knowledge of its necessity for salvation. Hence, the Sacred Council says:
“Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.” LG 14.

However, if a person has not arrived at this truth, then the Lord shall not hold this against them, but rather they will be judged on their attempt to live in accord with right action.
Hence, the council says:
“Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience.” LG 16
-Do works come from faith or not?
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Faith is a tricky word, because we can have explicit faith, or implicit faith. As such, the likes of Rahner can set forth the proposition of the ‘anonymous christian’. (not a very helpful term, try telling a muslim he is an anonymous Christian)
Either way, the council says:
" Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life." LG 16.
I’m pretty sure that the answers are yes and no respectively but I want to be sure.
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The answer to the first question is a matter of knowledge. If the individual hasnt seen the church as necessary, they may be saved without having entered it.(Notwithstanding that salvation is full incorporation into the body of Christ)

The second is a bit trickier as it is open to a bit of interpretation. However, if I understand your question to be can a muclim do a good act? Certainly! Hence, without explicitly following Christ, they follow the dictates of their conscience, which is the aboriginal vicar of Christ.(cf. GS 16)
 
allischalmers said:
Salvation is of the Lord, not man or a church. Yes someone can be saved even if they know every bit of Catholic Church doctrine and reject it all
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Completely illogical statement. If you know every bit of Catholic Doctrine and reject it, then you are rejecting the Lord since the Lord is part of Catholic Doctrine. If you reject the Lord then how are you going to have salvation? As you said, although not completely accurate as pointed out by another, Salvation is of the Lord.
Now, if you know every bit of Catholic Doctrine AND know that this doctrine is the correct and complete truth yet reject it, then salvation is very unlikely…
 
Ilroy said:
Completely illogical statement. If you know every bit of Catholic Doctrine and reject it, then you are rejecting the Lord since the Lord is part of Catholic Doctrine. If you reject the Lord then how are you going to have salvation? As you said, although not completely accurate as pointed out by another, Salvation is of the Lord.
Now, if you know every bit of Catholic Doctrine AND know that this doctrine is the correct and complete truth yet reject it, then salvation is very unlikely…
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I dont think he meant every single Christian doctrine, just the Catholic only doctrines.

Marian doctrines, mandatory acceptance of all other newer doctrines, indulgences, purgatory, etc
 
Ilroy said:
Completely illogical statement. If you know every bit of Catholic Doctrine and reject it, then you are rejecting the Lord since the Lord is part of Catholic Doctrine. If you reject the Lord then how are you going to have salvation? As you said, although not completely accurate as pointed out by another, Salvation is of the Lord.
Now, if you know every bit of Catholic Doctrine AND know that this doctrine is the correct and complete truth yet reject it, then salvation is very unlikely…
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there is no correct and complete truth in the Catholic Church
 
allischalmers said:
there is no correct and complete truth in the Catholic Church
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So…God is not correct nor Truth??? The Bible is not correct nor Truth??? These are just two very obvious things that show your statement to be plain anti-Catholic tripe.
 
kaycee said:
I dont think he meant every single Christian doctrine, just the Catholic only doctrines.

Marian doctrines, mandatory acceptance of all other newer doctrines, indulgences, purgatory, etc
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That could well have been true…but read his/her next post. Says it all. All I can do is laugh first…then pray for the person and those like him/her.
 
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