A Protestant Going to Hell?

[Teelynn]

I myself am a “Cradle Catholic”. I love the Church and Never intend to leave. To me the Catholic Church is the easiest roadmap to Christ and therefore to salvation. It is beyond a doubt the most beautiful, edifying way of life that there is. HOWEVER-------AND THIS IS A BIG HOWEVER-------As I matured even and maybe especially in my faith life I came to realize that GOD DOES NOT BELONG IN THIS NEAT TIDY SQUARE LITTLE BOX CALLED CATHOLICISM!!! JESUS CHRIST IS THE BOTTOM LINE!! YES, I believe there are many Protestants in Heaven. You might all be surprised when you get there!!! All faiths have not been perfect as they are made up of men who are unperfect. But for me this is where God meant me to be… In the Roman Catholic Church. Have never had even a thought of going Protestant - although I do have many friends who are. Some of them more Christ like in their walk than some Catholics I know!!!

When I was a child the nuns taught us that anyone who was not Roman Catholic would not be saved. I used to grieve terribly over this as I had some friends who were not Catholic. I used to think they were all doomed. Children are impressionable and I realize that the nuns had to teach doctrine according to a child’s understanding but what a simplistic view that is!! GOD IS SOOOOOOO MUCH BIGGER THAN THE HUMAN MIND CAN FATHOM!!!

Just my 2 cents!

Love and Peace,
Teelynn

 

[Isidore_AK]

RonWI:

Did the authors of the Catholic Catechism happen to read the Athanasian Creed before they put pen to paper? It ends:

This is the catholic faith; which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.

Muslims and Jews “cannot be saved” because they do not confess the contents of the creed. Or how about John 14:6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

As unfair as it may seem to politically correct, modern day America, those who claim Muslims and Jews are saved are wrong.

No one is claiming that Muslims and Jews are saved. What is said is that ALL are redeemed. What you do with redemption is your business.

J.W.B.

I hate to say this, but there is no cut & dried answer. Not all Catholics will be saved. Some Protestants may be saved, some others may be saved. Only God knows the answer. We are not to judge the state of anothers soul.

That being said…the Catechism says that others ‘may achieve’ salvation. The last time I checked, ‘may’ was a conditional term. Protestants may be exempted from Catholic disciplines, but they are NOT exempted from natural law, regardless of what they believe. If they sin…they don’t have recourse to the confessional, all they can do is pray that God will forgive them, which would require that they have no attachment to their sins. Something which I don’t think many can acomplish…

The decision must be left to God…we can hope that many will be saved, but Jesus himself said that the path was narrow, and that many would falter…and few would be saved.

 

[JGC]

RonWI:

Did the authors of the Catholic Catechism happen to read the Athanasian Creed before they put pen to paper? It ends:

This is the catholic faith; which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.

Muslims and Jews “cannot be saved” because they do not confess the contents of the creed. Or how about John 14:6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

As unfair as it may seem to politically correct, modern day America, those who claim Muslims and Jews are saved are wrong.

Well, consider those who have never heard the gospel because of geography or politics through the ages. Or pehaps my ancestors who were brought up presbyterian and learnt that Catholics were totally in error and going to hell?

I believe God will judge us on what we know and what we have done with that knowledge. Quite frankly we should worry about ourselves first before condeming others.

 

[RonWI]

JGC:

I believe God will judge us on what we know and what we have done with that knowledge. Quite frankly we should worry about ourselves first before condeming others.

That’s nice what you believe. But the Athanasian Creed, however politically incorrect it may be, is the confession of the Church. John 14:6 is the testimony of Jesus Christ. I’ll stick with that.

 

[JohnDee]

JWB:

Protestants are taught that they don’t need the confessional, just as you are taught that you do. We all need to confess our sins, there is no denying that. But Protestants believe that they have the authority, through Christ, to appeal to Christ directly for forgiveness of their sins without having to go through a “middleman” like a priest. Not saying if that is correct or not, just commenting on what they are taught.

 

[Andrew_11]

I do not think all protostants are going to hell, but am confused in the protostant position on divorce considering that they pride themselves on their knowledge of scripture. Didn’t Jesus forbid divorce in the Sermon on the Mount.

God Bless,
Andrew

 

[JGC]

RonWI:

That’s nice what you believe. But the Athanasian Creed, however politically incorrect it may be, is the confession of the Church. John 14:6 is the testimony of Jesus Christ. I’ll stick with that.

Well, it’s one of the Church’s documents. In the Catholic Church, we maintain the apostolic faith through scripture and tradition. My view is a very distilled version of the Church teaching on other Christians, other faiths, and those with none.

I’ll post the CCC sections if you wish.

On this one, we will simply have to disagree.