Are only Catholics destined for Heaven?

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ConstantLearner said:
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Wannano:
I think I am correct in saying that amongst the Believers Baptism groups in the Protestant churches, baptism would only be performed by a minister or at least a fellow believer. This would by in large stem from the fact that there would never be an emergency situation for the baptism, because salvation is not contigent upon the act of baptism.
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I think baptism as a requirement for salvation is only important to Catholics, though most Protestants I know do baptize. Judaism, too, has a form of baptism, full immersion in the mikvah bath. Of course we do not believe in the Trinity or in Christ as the messiah. Only converts have to undergo immersion in the mikvah. They immerse three times, absolutely no clothing, make up, or nail polish. When they emerge the third time, they are considered reborn Jewish. Jewish women use the mikvah at specified times when ritually impure.

Some Protestants I know believe in full immersion baptism, others baptize like Catholics. Of course, one can’t immerse a baby! That’s why the Protestants who believe in full immersion only baptize adults.
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Not quite accurate…Protestants who believe only in immersion do not baptize babies because they do not believe in infant baptism itself. Technically I don’t think baptism for Catholics is a requirement for salvation as much as it is the thing that gives you salvation. It is required therefore, but it is actually the vehicle. Infant baptism is not directly mentioned in scripture and indications are it was not practiced as a requirement for several hundred years .
 
ConstantLearner said:
Of course, one can’t immerse a baby! That’s why the Protestants who believe in full immersion only baptize adults.
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No…that’s not it. Full immersion protestants believe in “believer’s baptism”, which means one must reach an age of reason and publicly profess they have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior in order to be baptized.
 
That’s right, largely because believing that Christ died for your sins is seen as primary.
 
TC3033 said:
No…that’s not it. Full immersion protestants believe in “believer’s baptism”, which means one must reach an age of reason and publicly profess they have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior in order to be baptized.
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Thanks. I remember from my Protestant friends from school now. And, I have a Lutheran aunt. Or maybe she’s Methodist. I can’t remember.

Jews do not believe in original sin, so baptism is not an essential for us.
 
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Jesus Christ told us that some will make mistakes about Him;
and that could be forgiven; but if someone blasphemes The Holy Spirit;
they will not be forgiven in this life or the next.
Someone has to reject The Universal Church of Jesus Christ;
which is what ‘Catholic’ means; with full knowledge;
and only God has an impartial view of human hearts.
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He also spoke of sins of ignorance receiving less stripes but to whom
much is given much is required.
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But being Catholic; we strongly desire unity of faith; so this does not
mean, at all, complacency in being an instrument of conversion by The Holy Spirit;
by prayer, example, and peaceful words with sincere concern for the other;
certainly not argumentative, judgmental, or berating a point.
We must overcome divisions with patience; compassion and willing to non-judgmentally let go and let God.
 
OK, can you explain why with something a little more specific.
Perhaps quote a phrase from my contribution and say a little more than “Acts of the Apostles”.
I’m not a historien, just a young guy repeating what the Church says,
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May I politely suggest that perhaps it behoves you to check the works of Catholic historians or Biblical scholars before contributing on a forum likely to be home to anonymous Catholics who may be well trained in Catholic history or Sacramental theology.

Simply re-iterating the remembered impressions of lay-teachers or parents from our childhood as if that actually was the mainstream position or related well to the more subtle issues we are discussing here I suggest is quite unlikely to be the only acceptable Catholic position. It may not necessarily even be the mainstream scholarly Catholic position.
 
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What is it I said that you believe contradicts infallible teaching?
 
So when you can quote me in short sentences where my history of the Church must be mistaken do come back and we will take this further.
 
What “policy” (do you mean “discipline”) are you talking about?
I have been talking about Vatican and Magisterial post Vatican interpretation of the quoted texts from St John’s Gospel.

Sure, they may not be proclaimed as Dogma just yet.
But given they are Magisterial why would you object to me holding them and discussing them here?

This is “Catholic Answers” not “my invented personal theology” 😀.
I don’t need to be a historian to repeat the teachings of the Church.
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You may not understand that:
(a) perhaps because you havent yet engaged in tertiary theological studies you may be mistaken and your views are not wholly what the Church teaches despite your personal feelings you are right.
(b) the Church does not have final answers on many issues and Catholics may legitimately hold a range of opinions on matters you are not as familiar with as you might think.
(e.g. you are free to believe Mary did die or did not die; the human soul enters an embryo at conception or up to some weeks later).
[c] That even if you are correct - that does not means others are wrong or mistaken. If there is no final answer yet contrary views by different Catholics are both acceptable.
 
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Walterross said:
Hello everyone, I had this question concerning other religions, even non-catholic christian religions. I know that the Catholic church is the true church because Jesus Christ instituted it. I also know of the whole saying “all catholics are christians but not all christians are catholics.” I just had a question, does this mean that only catholics can be saved? In the catholic church, there are the sacraments as well as the belief of saints etc. I know that if you are in a state of mortal sin, you must go to confession to receive forgiveness and to be saved. Yet, non-catholic christians do not have the sacrament of confession. What if they are in a state of mortal sin? They don’t inherently know that they are in danger. They might believe in another kind of penance? What if we are mistaken in our religious identity when we die? For example, if I commit sexual sins and am a christian (non-catholic) but do my penance through helping others, for example, what does God think of this? I’d like to think that God would be merciful because we did the best that we knew, even if we don’t practice catholicism. I don’t know what to think about others who believe in different gods completely. Any thoughts/insights?
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I have heard that exorcists say that by the time a soul gets out of purgatory, if it wasn’t Catholic when it got there, it was by the time it got out. However, that is probably a moot point, as the vast majority of souls never even get to purgatory in the first place:

 
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Goodness! It looks scary! Had no idea that was ever done. Thanks for the video.
 
Pat_Albertson said:
I have heard that exorcists say that by the time a soul gets out of purgatory, if it wasn’t Catholic when it got there, it was by the time it got out. However, that is probably a moot point, as the vast majority of souls never even get to purgatory in the first place:
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That’s just one person’s idea. Even the Church teaches that no one really knows. And why would anyone need to follow any faith creed after death?
 
It seems to me that one has to be careful in engaging in arguments that are similar in nature to those between Pharisees and Saducees. I’m sure it’s fine to argue that everyone will be Catholic in heaven if you follow the Catholic rule book. I reckon the truth is no one knows who has not died.
One of the reasons that Christ had to die on the cross was that the chosen nation (the Israelites) weren’t getting the point. So if anything I would say we are more likely to be Jewish in heaven.

However, religion is a human construct so there won’t be religion in heaven as there won’t be a need for it. Also to narrow what God can do by saying all will be Catholics in heaven is surely limiting God’s power?
 
ConstantLearner said:
That’s just one person’s idea. Even the Church teaches that no one really knows. And why would anyone need to follow any faith creed after death?
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The video makes it plain that the teaching of the doctrine of the fewness of the saved is not just one person’s idea. As for why one discovers that Catholicism was right after all after one is dead, well, I would have to say that that is due to there being only one sort of afterlife. I suppose though, that in accordance with the many universes idea of quantum mechanics, there might be an infinite number of heavenly histories and thus a heaven where St. Lucifer caste the arch-demon Michael out of heaven, one where it was Peter who betrayed Jesus and Judas who was the first pope, etc., but as far as I know, that is only something that is just my own wild supposition. I don’t really take that idea seriously, but merely toss it out there as a possible alternative to there being only one sort afterlife. There are many alternatives to the many universes idea as a being a ‘solution’ to the mystery of how quantum mechanics can be the way that it is, and no teaching whatsoever that there is a heavenly history other than the one the church teaches.

This is one book that discusses some of the alternatives to the many universes idea: The Infamous Boundary: Seven Decades of Controversy in Quantum Physics.
 
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But that video is the product of fallible, human minds, who have zero experience with the afterlife.

People can, and do, guess all they want, but it amounts to no more than a guess.

No matter how many universes, there is only one God. Once people meet him and know the truth, no one will be following a path of formal religion. It won’t be necessary. Religion will cease to exist when God is known.
 
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Kaninchen said:
Hm, ConstantLearner, like me, is Jewish, so the whole saints thing isn’t really our problem.
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The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.

I think you are going against one of the central tenets of Catholicism here. I think it best if I unsubscribed from this thread. I will let the mods deal with this.
 
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No, not only catholic go to heaven. But if you read the post once there youre “catholic” as only “catholics” are in heaven.
 
Pat_Albertson said:
I think you are going against one of the central tenets of Catholicism here. I think it best if I unsubscribed from this thread. I will let the mods deal with this.
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There are two and ONLY two things you 100% have to agree with in the faith. Both of those are Ex cathedra spoken from the chair of peter.

Next the poster is JEWISH, they are not required to agree with anything catholic. Is this board getting to the point that any discussion on the faith must only be if you agree with 100% of the faith?
 
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