Am I going to hell for not being Catholic?

[KingJohn]

I’ve always wondered. Also, what do protestants think of this view?

 

[Will_B]

God has infinite Mercy… If you know the truth and follow the truth the answer is, probably you are your way to Heaven… If you know the truth and reject the truth, you are probably on your way to Hell?? >> If you were never told or heard the truth and you practice another faith, then you are truly at the Mercy of God… Most likely on your way to Heaven??

Remember, Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life”
So to follow Jesus in the path to Heaven…

 

[chero23]

God has infinite Mercy… If you know the truth and follow the truth the answer is, probably you are your way to Heaven… If you know the truth and reject the truth, you are probably on your way to Hell?? >> If you were never told or heard the truth and you practice another faith, then you are truly at the Mercy of God… Most likely on your way to Heaven??

Remember, Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life”
So to follow Jesus in the path to Heaven…

You make an excellent post.

To the op, if your looking into the truth and you the importance of the Eucharist, salvation, the saints, the Virgin Mary, the importance of the church. If you see the truth and say, ah well I still don’t agree with it even doh I see the answer. Then I think you are playing with fire.

 

[mdkirkbride]

catholic.com/magazine/articles/what-no-salvation-outside-the-church-means

 

[A_G]

Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus.

If you are not Catholic you are at the mercy of God. God can allow whom ever He wants into His kingdom. If you willfully reject God, then there is no salvation.

 

[Minnesota1]

Hard to answer as Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish, Muslim, Dalia Lama. All believe their religion is ultimate truth.

 

[jmcrae]

I’ve always wondered. Also, what do protestants think of this view?

If you want to be completely sure, then you should join the Church that Christ established for the purpose of bringing us to Heaven.

With regard to which, if any, Protestants will be saved, it is up to God to make that decision; not us.

 

[KingJohn]

So, it’s basically… “We are 100% sure you go to Heaven as a catholic. However, if you’re outside of our faith, we are not sure.” Which can leave people to be paranoid.

 

[Mikeydell]

I’ve always wondered. Also, what do protestants think of this view?

I don’t believe ANY human, Catholic or otherwise, can answer that question for you. We can only postulate an opinion. You could become/be a Catholic and still go to Hades. Let me ask you this: is the Rev. Billy Graham on the pathway to hell?

If you want to become a Catholic then by all means please do so. You have the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation that was handed down by JC Himself. Protestantism can’t give you that! Pray from your heart to the Holy Spirit for the TRUE guidance that you need. Protestants do believe in the Holy Spirit, am I correct?

God Bless and much peace!

Mike

 

[ConstantineTG]

So, it’s basically… “We are 100% sure you go to Heaven as a catholic. However, if you’re outside of our faith, we are not sure.” Which can leave people to be paranoid.

If you’re not Catholic, should you care about what the Catholic Church teaches? The JWs teach that those who are not JW will not go to heaven. LDS teaches that those who are not LDS will not go to heaven.

If you care about what the Catholics say, then become Catholic. If you don’t want to be Catholic, you shouldn’t care about what they say. No need to be paranoid.

 

[ConstantineTG]

If you want to be completely sure, then you should join the Church that Christ established for the purpose of bringing us to Heaven.

The Orthodox Church? :newidea:

 

[Isaiah45_9]

I’ve always wondered. Also, what do protestants think of this view?

[bibledrb]Romans 9:15[/bibledrb]

 

[douggg]

I’ve always wondered. Also, what do protestants think of this view?

No one goes to hell for not being Catholic or non-Catholic. Persons go to hell for willfully rejecting the gospel, salvation through Jesus’s death and resurrection, after they reach a point of accountability that they should be aware that it is the truth.

Doug

 

[Micosil]

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

 

[JRRTFAN]

Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus.

If you are not Catholic you are at the mercy of God. God can allow whom ever He wants into His kingdom. If you willfully reject God, then there is no salvation.

We’re all at the mercy of God, A G. Being a Catholic is not a pass by any means, in fact our living as a Catholic may very well be the determining factor. A Catholic may not divorce and remarry save a declaration that all prior marriages were null. What will the judgment be for those, otherwise good Catholics, who have denied this fact?

 

[JRRTFAN]

No one goes to hell for not being Catholic or non-Catholic. Persons go to hell for willfully rejecting the gospel, salvation through Jesus’s death and resurrection, after they reach a point of accountability that they should be aware that it is the truth.

Doug

Not so, Doug. Anyone who rejects entry or fails to remain in the Catholic Church, IF THEY KNOW THAT IT IS THE CHURCH FOUNDED BY JESUS, cannot be saved. In that case rejection of the Church is rejection of the founder and one who knowingly rejects the founder gets what he wants.

 

[YoungTradCath]

I don’t know.

 

[JustaServant]

I don’t know.

And that’s the answer anyone should give. Catholics do not make pronouncments as to who and who is not in Heaven or in Hell.

 

[josh987654321]

So, it’s basically… “We are 100% sure you go to Heaven as a catholic. However, if you’re outside of our faith, we are not sure.” Which can leave people to be paranoid.

What you have said is what I think some protestants believe, The Catholic Church does not teach such a thing, as a Catholic, I can tell you that just because I am a Catholic doesn’t mean I am 100% sure to go to heaven, the Catholic Church doesn’t even teach that. None are assured to go to heaven, In fact to think that you are assured to go to heaven, to think that you have somehow “earned” heaven or that it’s your “right” would be arrogance and that is an assured way not to get into heaven.

*Matthew 7:21-23 A Warning

21 Not everyone who calls me their Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only the ones who obey my Father in heaven will get in. 22 On the day of judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, “We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles.” 23 But I will tell them, “I will have nothing to do with you! Get out of my sight, you evil people!”*

I also like this one -

*Matthew 21 :28-32 A Story about Two Sons

28 Jesus said:

I will tell you a story about a man who had two sons. Then you can tell me what you think. The father went to the older son and said, “Go work in the vineyard today!” 29 His son told him that he would not do it, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The man then told his younger son to go work in the vineyard. The boy said he would, but he didn’t go. 31 Which one of the sons obeyed his father?

“The older one,” the chief priests and leaders answered.

Then Jesus told them:

You can be sure that tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you ever will! 32 When John the Baptist showed you how to do right, you would not believe him. But these evil people did believe. And even when you saw what they did, you still would not change your minds and believe.*

Now in saying all of this, you are certainly severely crippled in salvation without Christ, without the Church. As another person summed it up well in a story they told, I can’t remember it exactly but it went something like this -

If two people were drowning and one was your son and the other was a very good person, but was of no relation, and you could only save one, which one would you save?

This is how Christ and his Church are important for salvation.

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[josh987654321]

.

I’m not sure whether you are Protestant or not, however the other problem with Protestantism is their idea of “heavenly reward.”

People who think that religion is to be practiced seeking only an eternal reward, are mistaken with regards to God. Do you think of God as a banker who only looks at the numbers? the only valid law for God is love.

He who truly loves will always consider himself in debt, and the last thing in his mind will be that his love be rewarded. This is why Jesus taught us to give alms, trying that our left hand not know what our right hand does because receiving alms is almost always a humiliation, only alleviated by the love with which it is given.

The only kind of alms that does not hurt, comes from the one whom fully identifies with the person in need, and shares with him from the much or the little that he has. In this way there is no room for vanity in the one who gives, or humiliation in the one who receives.

If there was a reward in heaven for the amount of works stemming from love/charity, than there would have to be some kind of shanty town in heaven. there would be rich and poor in heaven if that were the case so obviously that is not the case. This is why those with such a view struggle with these teachings -

*Matthew 20: 1-16 Workers in a Vineyard

20 As Jesus was telling what the kingdom of heaven would be like, he said:

Early one morning a man went out to hire some workers for his vineyard. 2 After he had agreed to pay them the usual amount for a day’s work, he sent them off to his vineyard.

3 About nine that morning, the man saw some other people standing in the market with nothing to do. 4 He said he would pay them what was fair, if they would work in his vineyard. 5 So they went.

At noon and again about three in the afternoon he returned to the market. And each time he made the same agreement with others who were loafing around with nothing to do.

6 Finally, about five in the afternoon the man went back and found some others standing there. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”

7 “Because no one has hired us,” they answered. Then he told them to go work in his vineyard.

8 That evening the owner of the vineyard told the man in charge of the workers to call them in and give them their money. He also told the man to begin with the ones who were hired last. 9 When the workers arrived, the ones who had been hired at five in the afternoon were given a full day’s pay.

10 The workers who had been hired first thought they would be given more than the others. But when they were given the same, 11 they began complaining to the owner of the vineyard. 12 They said, “The ones who were hired last worked for only one hour. But you paid them the same that you did us. And we worked in the hot sun all day long!”

13 The owner answered one of them, “Friend, I didn’t cheat you. I paid you exactly what we agreed on. 14 Take your money now and go! What business is it of yours if I want to pay them the same that I paid you? 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Why should you be jealous, if I want to be generous?”

16 Jesus then said, “So it is. Everyone who is now first will be last, and everyone who is last will be first.”*

Please continue to next post -