Believing in Jesus Christ necessary for Salvation according to the Catholic Church?

[kilk]

I am currently in a Catholic small group studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I am having problems with #161 under "The Necessity of Fath, which states, “Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation.” The Catechism goes on with # 183 under “In Brief”, "Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” I am having an extremely hard time with this being printed as the belief of our faith. My group leader went to the pastor of our parish (I have newly moved here) who affirmed this to be the teaching of our religion. I can not believe that any soul that does not believe in Jesus Christ as savior is condemned according to our church. I thought we (as a church) were past that years ago. So that means all Jews, Musilums, ect. ect. are condemned to hell??? This is what the people in this parish are saying which really lights my fire and is very contrary to what I have heard from my priests in the past. HELP.

 

[computerguy]

Too my knowledge, I don’t think that everyone is doomed to hell for that. I really don’t know though, and may never know. If you have not come to know Jesus/etc, thats an entirely different story (not known even who Jesus is). But yes, we have to believe in Jesus.

 

[anamchara]

kilk:

I am currently in a Catholic small group studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I am having problems with #161 under "The Necessity of Fath, which states, “Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation.” The Catechism goes on with # 183 under “In Brief”, "Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” I am having an extremely hard time with this being printed as the belief of our faith. My group leader went to the pastor of our parish (I have newly moved here) who affirmed this to be the teaching of our religion. I can not believe that any soul that does not believe in Jesus Christ as savior is condemned according to our church. I thought we (as a church) were past that years ago. So that means all Jews, Musilums, ect. ect. are condemned to hell??? This is what the people in this parish are saying which really lights my fire and is very contrary to what I have heard from my priests in the past. HELP.

Kilk, try to not let it get at you. The Catechism is very complex and really should be taken as a whole not just one section. Try reading more on the subject of salvation and others outside the faith in other sections

 

[jbuttrey]

Let me give you an analogy to your question.

The Catholic Church is the true church because it has all the graces (tools) needed for complete salvation. The Catachism agrees that God works outside the Church meaning bringing people outside the church to salvation. The church (Catholic) even accepts the Baptism of most other Churches agreeing these people are saved. It is by baptism we are saved.

Ask an apologist here for a more complete explanation of this with references to sections of the catachism.

Don’t worry and fight everything that they say, I was told lots of funny things in my Catachism classes, Take the good, question the rest in your own mind.

You are comming to receive all the Graces of God, cheif of them the Eucharist, no mater who gives it to you.

Presented right, why would anyone want to be outside the church with all the graces and tools for salvation.

John

 

[kilk]

anamchara:

Kilk, try to not let it get at you. The Catechism is very complex and really should be taken as a whole not just one section. Try reading more on the subject of salvation and others outside the faith in other sections

I totally agree. I of course believe that Jesus came to us for our salvation but the God that I am close to does not condemn to hell those who, for whatever reasons, do not acknowledge Him. My faith is solid and I am totally at peace with God but this parish appears to be ridged and locked in times past and that is what bothers me.

 

[Della]

kilk:

I am currently in a Catholic small group studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I am having problems with #161 under "The Necessity of Fath, which states, “Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation.” The Catechism goes on with # 183 under “In Brief”, "Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” I am having an extremely hard time with this being printed as the belief of our faith. My group leader went to the pastor of our parish (I have newly moved here) who affirmed this to be the teaching of our religion. I can not believe that any soul that does not believe in Jesus Christ as savior is condemned according to our church. I thought we (as a church) were past that years ago. So that means all Jews, Musilums, ect. ect. are condemned to hell??? This is what the people in this parish are saying which really lights my fire and is very contrary to what I have heard from my priests in the past. HELP.

Apparently, you haven’t gotten to the part of the CCC that explains this more fully:

“Outside the Church there is no salvation”

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

The “unbelief” in the section of the CCC you have been studying is deliberate not passive. Those who will not believe who have full knowledge of what the Church teaches and yet reject Christ and his Church are the ones in danger of being lost, not those who have never heard or have a faulty understanding of Church teaching due to being taught such misconceptions all their lives.

God is merciful AND just. He will not condemn to hell people who have invincible ignorance or insurmountable barriers to belief in Christ merely for that.

 

[kilk]

Della:

Apparently, you haven’t gotten to the part of the CCC that explains this more fully:

The “unbelief” in the section of the CCC you have been studying is deliberate not passive. Those who will not believe who have full knowledge of what the Church teaches and yet reject Christ and his Church are the ones in danger of being lost, not those who have never heard or have a faulty understanding of Church teaching due to being taught such misconceptions all their lives.

God is merciful AND just. He will not condemn to hell people who have invincible ignorance or insurmountable barriers to belief in Christ merely for that.

 

[kilk]

kilk:
Thank you for your answer which corresponds with my understanding of our religion. I greatly appreciate your time.