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Publisher
Guest
Same answer for all…by the grace and mercy of God in Christ…
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LDNCatholic
Guest
Who was doing that?God is not boxed in by “religion”, so I think once in heaven, there will be only LOVE, not “religion” and titles and labels. On Earth, we have labels and titles, but God is bigger than that.
Don’t alienate people.
I responded to a post that suggested that when Protestants go to heaven they will remain Protestant.
I suggested that this was not the case. Which is exactly what you’re doing.
Don’t misrepresent people
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CrazyRachel
Guest
Not at all my darling. My husband is a Protestant and he’s also an absolute saint. Just love God and Jesus with all your heart and soul.
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SteveVH
Guest
The danger, IMO, lies in accepting false doctrines such as “once saved always saved”. If one fell into mortal sin and felt no need to repent (because they believed were already saved) then they could be in great spiritual danger. The one thing we all have going for us is that we have a merciful God who desires that we all be saved. Another way to look at this is that being Catholic is certainly no guarantee of salvation either. But we do have the sacraments available to us; aid stations along the path of the race.
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Godfollower
Guest
I would suggest a reformulation of the question. No one, Catholic or otherwise, is “able” to go to Heaven. Recall the Church’s teaching that Jesus ascended (active voice; He went there on His own power) to Heaven, but Mary was assumed (passive voice; God lifted her up) into Heaven.
God’s grace is available to all who will accept it. Jesus came for all. He died for all. He rose for all. If a human being, Catholic or otherwise, fully accepts God’s grace, then God will grant that person entrance into Heaven – through God’s power, not through the human’s power.
The risk for a non-Catholic is being led astray. Although the Catholic Church is imperfect, her moral and faith teachings are without error (though, unfortunately, sometimes the example her leaders set is problematic or downright sinful), protected by the Holy Spirit. Other Christian traditions – and non-Christian traditions, for that matter – are more likely to lead their followers astray by encouraging them to make sinful choices in this life that can affect their chances for the next life. Just being non-Catholic isn’t a sin; it isn’t like St. Peter will be checking membership cards at the pearly gates. The concern Catholics have for non-Catholics is that, relying mistakenly on erroneous teachings, non-Catholics might be irrevocably harmed in the next life.
A good example is the “once saved, always saved” doctrine of some non-Catholic Christian denominations. Scripture clearly teaches that one who has “been saved” – that is, a Christian who accepts and follows Jesus’ teachings – can later lose salvation. But some branches of Christian tradition teach that merely accepting God in a one-time ceremony guarantees salvation, no matter what happens next in that person’s life. And some of those Christians go on to lead what looks to us like hate-filled lives, relying erroneously on the teaching that they have “bought their ticket” on the train to Heaven.
A practicing Catholic knows better than that. Not to say that all Catholics are sin-free; we aren’t. But we are at least being given the teachings we need to accept God’s will. Some – not all, but some – non-Catholic believers have a lack that we don’t.
(This is only an example to respond to the OP; I’m not trying to hijack the thread about OSAS. If you want to ask about OSAS, please raise it in another thread).
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Trevor_Stamm
Guest
Well, what are some of those teachings you have a problem with?
And you have to go back in this thread looking at part of the Catechism i quoted, within it “847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:”
Know
~to be aware of the truth or factuality of : be convinced or certain of.
If your not certain that the Church is the truth, then you don’t truly know thus this principle of “no salvation outside of the church” does not apply to you or others. Once you do understand that the Church is the truth, your going to have to make a choice because it is then you will have certainty and if you choose not too follow Christ then you will be sinning against the Holy Spirit.
Taken from, here
Q. 1. Where do I find in the Holy Bible the reference to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit?
A. Through its Catechism, the Catholic Church teaches that:
“‘Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.’ [Mk. 3:29; Mt. 12:32; Lk. 12:10] There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. [John Paul II, DeV 46] Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.”
Q. 2. More specifically, what sins offend the Holy Spirit?
A. There are six sins that offend the Holy Spirit. These are:
(1) Despair,
“By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God’s goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.” (C.C.C. # 2091)
(2) Presumption of God’s mercy,
“There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God’s almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).” (C.C.C. # 2092)
(3) Impugning the known truth,
(Clarification: To “impugn” the known truth means to attack it by word or argument, to resist it, to contradict it, or even to oppose the known truth or to challenge it as false.)
(4) Envy the spiritual good of another,
(Clarification: Regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians states, “All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually as the Spirit chooses.” To envy the spiritual good of another is to question the Divine judgment of the Holy Spirit in His distribution of spiritual gifts. It is to be jealous of another person who has a gift different than one’s own gift. Through envy, one rejects the gift that he has received from the Holy Spirit, determining in his own mind that the gift he has received is not good enough for him and he wants someone else’s gift.)
(5) Obstinacy in sin,
(Clarification: To be “obstinate” means to resist the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, to be stubborn, to persist in sin, to be unyielding.)
(6) Final impenitence.
(Clarification: “Impenitence” means to be uncontrite, unrepentant, hardened, unconverted, to be without regret, shame or remorse.)
But like I said, all of this does not apply to you or others who don’t know that the Church is the truth, so your answer is yes people outside of the Church can be saved. They will be judged by their deeds and weather or not they knew Christ and his Church.
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grammyball
Guest
I just joined this website to explore what Cattholics belive. Being Southern Baptist, I wanted to know if Catholics could go to Heaven.
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pablope
Guest
Well, for one thing, the Apostles, St Paul, and all the martyrs killed by Rome during the early years of Christianity were all Catholics. Don’t you think they are not in heaven now?
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GaryTaylor
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Most definatly, yet I don’t know why you would think they couldn’t?
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Nicea325
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Yes. If I am correct,the CC does not teach that our Protestant brethen are condemned to Hell. I do not see any basis for it.
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Nicea325
Guest
Why wouldn’t Catholics go to Heaven? I did not know Heaven was exclusively for Protestants only?
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area525
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Biblically speaking, you can know how to go to heaven…
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
God bless…
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Trevor_Stamm
Guest
Following your Baptist theology, “Once saved, always saved!” Right? So by your theology, we’re saved for we follow Christ. Our theology is if you truly do not know the truth of the Church Christ established and gave to Peter, if you lead a virtuous life you’ll be saved.
Matt 7:13-14 (RSV)
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
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pablope
Guest
With due respect…not so…
You fail to include the following:
matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
You still have to continue doing the Father’s will.
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area525
Guest
When people come to know Christ as their Savior, they are brought into a relationship with God that guarantees their salvation as eternally secure. Numerous passages of Scripture declare this fact. (a) Romans 8:30 declares, “And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” This verse tells us that from the moment God chooses us, it is as if we are glorified in His presence in heaven. There is nothing that can prevent a believer from one day being glorified because God has already purposed it in heaven. Once a person is justified, his salvation is guaranteed - he is as secure as if he is already glorified in heaven.
(b) Paul asks two crucial questions in Romans 8:33-34 “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? No one will, because Christ is our advocate. Who will condemn us? No one will, because Christ, the One who died for us, is the one who condemns. We have both the advocate and judge as our Savior.
(c) Believers are born again (regenerated) when they believe (John 3:3; Titus 3:5). For a Christian to lose his salvation, he would have to be un-regenerated. The Bible gives no evidence that the new birth can be taken away. (d) The Holy Spirit indwells all believers (John 14:17; Romans 8:9) and baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). For a believer to become unsaved, he would have to be “un-indwelt” and detached from the Body of Christ.
(e) John 3:15 states that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will “have eternal life.” If you believe in Christ today and have eternal life, but lose it tomorrow, then it was never “eternal” at all. Hence if you lose your salvation, the promises of eternal life in the Bible would be in error. (f) For the most conclusive argument, I think Scripture says it best itself, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Remember the same God who saved you is the same God who will keep you. Once we are saved we are always saved. Our salvation is most definitely eternally secure!
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OrdinaryMelkite
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Della
Guest
This is called the “string of pearls” way of interpreting Scripture. One strings together verses that seem to say what one is proposing to “prove” that it is so. You’ll pardon me for saying so, but this is a poor way to go about it since anyone who reads Scripture and has any common sense at all can point out a number of verses that contradict such a conclusion.
Eternal life begins in this life as a promise not a guarantee. It is perfectly possible for any believer to fall into serious sin and so disconnect himself from God. This is why there are so many verses that encourage us to hold fast to what we’ve received and that warn that those who turn their backs on God are like dogs that feed on their own vomit and other such references.
God isn’t so cruel as to let us enter eternal life with unforgiven sins on our souls. He doesn’t white wash us like rusty metal and then pretend there’s no rust underneath. No, he commands us to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. This is a life-long, daily cleansing from sin, a “washing of the feet” and a restitution for the harm our sins have caused. The OP’s question was “can Protestants be saved” and the answer is of course they can. Anyone can be saved who avails himself of the grace of God, but that availing is a daily thing not a once in a life time event.
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area525
Guest
Mat7:21 are hypocrite people. They say they follow Christ, but their action are far from doing the Father’s will…
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Trevor_Stamm
Guest
So your saying “once saved, always saved” is false.
And what are the works and the will of the Father according to you?
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heart4home
Guest
So if protestants can be saved, does that mean they won’t have as much accountability, or actually less chance of sinning since certain things could not apply?
I mean according to Catholic Church teachings a Catholic could be damned to Hell for missing a single weekly Mass without having sincere repentance and yet protestants would have to be excused from that obviously as they don’t have that requirement.
What about the use of birth control. Since most denominations see nothing wrong with it, will they be free from needing to repent that, while somebody who was baptized as a baby, by their parents in the Catholic Church, but left because they disagree with that stance will be held accountable for using it? Or what about a practicing Catholic who chooses to use it?
What about the baby baptized Catholic and then the parents never even bothered to attend Church and so the person eventually finds them self in a Baptist Church as a grown up. According to Church teachings they are accountable to Catholic teachings.
It just seems, that what is being said here even by the Catholics, is that it’s all good, and that almost could send the message that you are better to not join the Church as you’ll just be held accountable for more things than if you don’t.
I mean according to Catholic Church teachings a Catholic could be damned to Hell for missing a single weekly Mass without having sincere repentance and yet protestants would have to be excused from that obviously as they don’t have that requirement.
What about the use of birth control. Since most denominations see nothing wrong with it, will they be free from needing to repent that, while somebody who was baptized as a baby, by their parents in the Catholic Church, but left because they disagree with that stance will be held accountable for using it? Or what about a practicing Catholic who chooses to use it?
What about the baby baptized Catholic and then the parents never even bothered to attend Church and so the person eventually finds them self in a Baptist Church as a grown up. According to Church teachings they are accountable to Catholic teachings.
It just seems, that what is being said here even by the Catholics, is that it’s all good, and that almost could send the message that you are better to not join the Church as you’ll just be held accountable for more things than if you don’t.
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