Am I saved?

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jamil_joseph02

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I am walking on the streets. Then I am being kidnapped. Fortunately, I know how to defend myself. I used that knowledge of self-defense to the kidnapper. Then I accidentaly killed the kidnapper (too much for the self-defense, eh?). I have no intention of killing him. I just wanted to defend myself, protect my life. I didn’t know he’s got company, another kidnapper. He shot me dead.

Am I saved? Will I go to heaven?

What’s the Catholic answer for this?
 
The act of self defense is not a sin. Unintentionally killing someone in this context is not a sin, either.

From the Catechism:

2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. “The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor. . . . The one is intended, the other is not.”

2264 Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow:

If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful. . . . Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one’s own life than of another’s.
 
1ke, good answer.

I just wanted to point out that nobody in this forum can descern if anybody is “saved” based on the question.

I think the answer provided only points out that the discussed situation will most likely not be THE deciding factor of the final disposition of ones soul.
 
Okay, the Catholic church teaches that those who endure to the end will be saved: those who die in the state of grace will be saved, and those who die in a state of rebellion against God will be condemned. My question is what if you’re neither in a state of grace nor rebellion? can that be possible?
 
jamil_joseph02 said:
I am walking on the streets. Then I am being kidnapped. Fortunately, I know how to defend myself. I used that knowledge of self-defense to the kidnapper. Then I accidentaly killed the kidnapper (too much for the self-defense, eh?). I have no intention of killing him. I just wanted to defend myself, protect my life. I didn’t know he’s got company, another kidnapper. He shot me dead.

Am I saved? Will I go to heaven?

What’s the Catholic answer for this?
Click to expand...
Not enough information to say.
It is up to the judgement of God.

Anything more then that would be presumptuous, and IMHO a sin.
 
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