Can atheists be saved?

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Charlemagne_III

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The question I want to raise does not concern whether atheists who convert and repent before they die can be saved. Rather, the question I invite for discussion is whether the atheist who dies an atheist can be saved.

Your thoughts?
 
Charlemagne_III said:
The question I want to raise does not concern whether atheists who convert and repent before they die can be saved. Rather, the question I invite for discussion is whether the atheist who dies an atheist can be saved.

Your thoughts?
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Saved from what? they don’t believe in anything.
 
CHRISTINE77 said:
Saved from what? they don’t believe in anything.
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Well, I guess that would be saved from perdition.

As Pascal put it, everything to gain … God; everything to lose … God.

I don’t wish to seem judgmental, but I believe God is.

He is merciful too, but mercy has its limits … as hell does indeed exist. :eek:
 
Almost everybody most likely gets Purgatory.

It takes as much effort to be a great sinner as a great Saint. Most human beings won’t make the effort to do either.

ICXC NIKA
 
If an atheist has committed unrepented mortal sin, then most likely no, however, through God anything is possible. I know that the lowest realm of purgatory holds those who committed mortal sins but felt sorry and repented right before death.
 
Dying as an atheist gets you Hellfire in return. John 3:36 says “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him”.
 
If an atheist like Christopher Hitchens was invited into heaven he would definitely want to be as far from God as possible and so would choose to go to the other place.
 
McCartney said:
If an atheist like Christopher Hitchens was invited into heaven he would definitely want to be as far from God as possible and so would choose to go to the other place.
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I think just the opposite. And God better be prepared for some serious discussions.
 
McCartney said:
If an atheist like Christopher Hitchens was invited into heaven he would definitely want to be as far from God as possible and so would choose to go to the other place.
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Here’s a very appropriate quote for anyone who says what Hitchens (or any atheist) would do if they existed post-mortem:

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” – Christopher Hitchens
 
drac16 said:
Dying as an atheist gets you Hellfire in return. John 3:36 says “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him”.
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Maybe God allows them the opportunity to believe prior to their judgement.
Bradski said:
I think just the opposite. And God better be prepared for some serious discussions.
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Well, being God, He knows the answer to every conceivable question. No preparation needed.
 
I think we need to careful not to apply a very black and white answer to the question. Though atheism is lack of belief in God or gods, the reasons vary greatly so I think it affects the outcome.

Some atheists make conclusions based on an incomplete understanding of God. Many today are simply byproducts of our environment, conditioned by media and secularism and taught that the accumulation of wealth, seeking personal fulfillment outside of the greater social context becomes more important than paying service to a fish bumper sticker, caricature version of an old man in the sky. It’s easy to believe in nothing and there is a whole group that will open their arms to them in acceptance and tell them they have the intellectual high ground. How much are they at fault?

Some atheists are too apathetic to legitimately attempt to seek the truth. Others investigate God through a limited scope or through one lens. Some carry a past wound to their soul. Others are influenced by their natural disposition or by the failure of their parents in raising them. Many have never sat to listen to the liturgy for one hour of the week or have never been exposed to the Gospels. Yet there are many atheists who are genuinely good people, more so than many self-identifying Christians. Remember that God has written the Law on the hearts of all men.

So I think it all depends if ‘atheists can be saved.’ Though there is a risk if there is a hardening of the heart and more so if there is an outright rejection, but that applies to anyone, atheist or not. There is no real justice in the world except that what comes from God, who is merciful and fair. In the end, I think its an accumulation of a lifetime of choices that will determine whether we are saved or whether we choose to reject God.
 
Quoted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (quote between lines):

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p3.htm
“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
Our Father, Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
is now,
and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
 
I always think about the parable of the man with two sons (paraphrase follows):

A man had two sons. He told one, “Go work in the fields”, the son says, “OK”, but instead buzzes off to the market or the chariot races or whatever.

The man says to his second son, “Go work in the fields”, but the son replies, “Not likely!”, but he goes and works in the fields anyway.

So which son is actually doing the will of his father?

It seems that Jesus thinks more of those who walk the walk as opposed to talk the talk. An atheist who says with his voice that he does not believe, might show through his deeds that he actually does believe with his soul.

Basically, I think there may be a lot of very surprised atheists with valid boarding passes at the Pearly Gates come Judgement Day, just as there will be many equally shocked Christians at the gates of H-E-double-hockeysticks.
 
DaddyGirl said:
If a god or gods exists…and there is an afterlife beyond this one…and if the options for that afterlife are to be either saved and go to a “heaven” or not be saved and go to a “hell”…and if this god is as loving, understanding, all-knowing, and wise as people claim…and if this god, in the end, chooses to save or not to save each person…then…OF COURSE atheists can be saved!!!

If a god doesn’t “save” an atheist who is good and loving and true…then that would be a very unloving, unfair, unwise god.

So perhaps…with some gods–the wise, loving ones–atheists can be saved; and with others–the foolish, spiteful ones–they cannot.
It depends on the god.
There have been known to be many, after all.

.
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Seriously?
 
Mike_from_NJ said:
Here’s a very appropriate quote for anyone who says what Hitchens (or any atheist) would do if they existed post-mortem:

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” – Christopher Hitchens
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And since atheism can only be asserted without evidence, it can be dismissed without evidence. 😉
 
michaelArc said:
I think we need to careful not to apply a very black and white answer to the question. Though atheism is lack of belief in God or gods, the reasons vary greatly so I think it affects the outcome.

Some atheists make conclusions based on an incomplete understanding of God. Many today are simply byproducts of our environment, conditioned by media and secularism and taught that the accumulation of wealth, seeking personal fulfillment outside of the greater social context becomes more important than paying service to a fish bumper sticker, caricature version of an old man in the sky. It’s easy to believe in nothing and there is a whole group that will open their arms to them in acceptance and tell them they have the intellectual high ground. How much are they at fault?

Some atheists are too apathetic to legitimately attempt to seek the truth. Others investigate God through a limited scope or through one lens. Some carry a past wound to their soul. Others are influenced by their natural disposition or by the failure of their parents in raising them. Many have never sat to listen to the liturgy for one hour of the week or have never been exposed to the Gospels. Yet there are many atheists who are genuinely good people, more so than many self-identifying Christians. Remember that God has written the Law on the hearts of all men.

So I think it all depends if ‘atheists can be saved.’ Though there is a risk if there is a hardening of the heart and more so if there is an outright rejection, but that applies to anyone, atheist or not. There is no real justice in the world except that what comes from God, who is merciful and fair. In the end, I think its an accumulation of a lifetime of choices that will determine whether we are saved or whether we choose to reject God.
Click to expand...
Hell exists for a reason. If people do not want to follow God, to paraphrase St. Peter, where else should they go?
 
John_Lazarus said:
Basically, I think there may be a lot of very surprised atheists with valid boarding passes at the Pearly Gates come Judgement Day, just as there will be many equally shocked Christians at the gates of H-E-double-hockeysticks.
Click to expand...
Again, how do you get to heaven having committed mortal sins without repenting them?

By definition of an atheist, he cannot seek God’s forgiveness, there being no God to forgive him.
 
Gorgias said:
Not his aphorism, but rather, one that seems to have originated with a Christian Scripture scholar… 🤷
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According to Wikipedia,

“English translation of the Latin proverb “Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur” (“what is freely asserted is freely dismissed”), which was commonly used in the 19th century.”
 
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