Are only Catholics destined for Heaven?

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TULIPed said:
Exactly right. And somehow they persuaded enough people to believe that it happened that Christianity became the state religion of Rome.
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I don’t think the Romans were persuaded so much by Paul’s evangelizing as by the Emperor Constantine’s edict that Christianity was the ONLY religion allowed to be practiced in the Roman Empire. People who practiced anything else were thrown in the hungry jaws of whatever animal was in the Colosseum. Pretty convincing on Constantine’s part.

But I’m Jewish. We don’t evangelize or concern ourselves with the religion of others. We respect another’s right to walk a different path than we do. And, getting back to the topic, we believe people of any religion can go to heaven. Jews. however, aren’t so concerned with heaven than with living right in this life.
 
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Start said:
Prior to Constantine there was a lot of persecution.
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Precisely the point. The Romans were being persecuted for their religion. After the edict of the emperor making Christianity the state religion, why would anyone want more persecution?
 
I’m sure Constantine made it illegal to practice any religion but Christianity in the Roman Empire. To do so incurred harsh punishment, but the animal thing was tongue-in-cheek.

Pagan religions.
 
ConstantLearner said:
I’m sure Constantine made it illegal to practice any religion but Christianity in the Roman Empire.
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Always good to check facts when giving others “Catholic Answers” instead of offering vague opinions with “I’m sure” 😀.

I believe in 313 Constantine made Christianity legal (along with many other religions).
In 380 Theodosius made Christianity the State religion.
 
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Yes, you’re right. Thank you. And it is always good to fact check.

Constantine only legalised Christianity, he did not in any way make it ‘official’ though Christians were allowed to build places of worship. Theodosius in 380 made Nicene Christianity the official Imperial religion, all other sects were deemed foolish. He also withdrew state support from all other religions.

https://www.quora.com/Who-made-Chri...of-the-Roman-Empire-Theodosius-or-Constantine
 
This sort of issue is only really a problem when the religion concerned is in a position to impose instances of evangelism/proselytising and/or discriminatory practices on the rest of the population in order to ‘save’ them.
 
Kaninchen said:
This sort of issue is only really a problem when the religion concerned is in a position to impose instances of evangelism/proselytising and/or discriminatory practices on the rest of the population in order to ‘save’ them.
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That’s true, but people still like to discuss things even if they aren’t presenting a problem.
 
Yes, I suppose I was restricting the question of ‘problem’ to “problem for those who don’t believe a word of it.”

Thinking that there’s a ‘disease’ (you’re all doomed!) to which there is only one ‘cure’ (believe!) is a different kind of problem.
 
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I understand now. I apologize for the misunderstanding on my part.
 
Shakuhachi said:
What if one highly doubts or even cannot believe that “the Catholic Church is the one true church”?
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yes, I said that if you TRULY KNOW and BELIEVE and then walk away you are at risk of losing salvation. If you don’t believe or have doubts then this doesn’t apply to you. But I would highly recommend a through examination of the basis of your faith.

After all, why waste time on something that isn’t true?
 
Just to add some stuff. A reading of the Bible suggests some stranger things. Like this from the book of Matthew

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness

Read one way it could mean that it’s not who we believe in but how we live our lives that counts. There’s also the situation where the disciples complain that people are casting out demons in Jesus’s name who don’t even believe in Jesus and He tells them to let them carry on.

Paul talks of there no longer being Jew or gentle, slave or free. The implication is that we need to move away from cliquiness and love others sacrificially without promise or expectation of reward.

Revelation talks of the gates of heaven always being open (name removed by moderator)lying that there is no such thing as eternal conscious torment.

We won’t know until we die.
 
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ConstantLearner said:
Emperor Constantine’s edict that Christianity was the ONLY religion allowed to be practiced in the Roman Empire. People who practiced anything else were thrown in the hungry jaws of whatever animal was in the Colosseum. Pretty convincing on Constantine’s part.
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this isn’t true. Constantine did not make Christianity the state religion. He only legalized its practice. Constantine continued to have pagans serving in court and in all kinds of civil servant places. But by removing the legal punishments from the practice of Christianity it allowed the faith to spread rapidly. People have to remember you didn’t just walk up and ask to be made a Christian, you had to go through training. The Church ensured that those that came to the faith understood exactly what they were getting involved with.
 
lordjules said:
Revelation talks of the gates of heaven always being open (name removed by moderator)lying that there is no such thing as eternal conscious torment.
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how does this imply that there is no eternal hell?
 
And yet the Church accepts people without sacramental baptism can reach heaven.
 
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