can non christians go to heaven

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I am currently involved in a heated arguement with my brother in law who is adament that non christians who live a decent and moral life can go to heaven. My understandig is that Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
 
(Matthew 5:45):
“that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Do not underestimate the mercy and love of GOD, I believe everyone will end in heaven, BUT the point would be the duration which will be spent in “Purgatory” prior to heaven…
 
It is true that Jesus is the Way, the Life, and Truth.
Accepting that it is God’s desire that all enter the kingdom of heaven, we do not know how the Father will draw non-Christians to Himself. Is God’s hand too short to save?
One of the things that my brother liked about Vatican II was learning that his “Presbyterian Shinto friends were not doomed to hell.”

CCC843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all good and truth found in these religions as “a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.”

CCC847…“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.”
 
Yes…those who bear the fruits of universal goodness…we leave the judging up to God.
 
KathleenGee said:
Yes…those who bear the fruits of universal goodness…we leave the judging up to God.
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church begins with a discussion of natural law.
CCC27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself.
 
Muslims claim they worship the true God and will ultimately only go to heaven, other religions the same philosophy.
 
KathleenGee said:
Yes…those who bear the fruits of universal goodness…we leave the judging up to God.
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This is the key.

The gospels tell us what to do, and that is to preach the gospel. The rest is up to God.

I would ask the person, do they believe that unborn babies who die will go to hell because they never believed or were baptized? Do severely mentally handicapped people go to hell because they cannot understand the significance of Christ’s victory over death? Almost certainly they will be willing to make exceptions for these people. Now you can extend it to people who have never heard or understood the gospel. You would have to ask them, is it really their choice not to believe, or is it their circumstances that prevent them from believing?

At the same time I think it’s important not to take a universalist approach. This could prevent us from really bringing the gospel to people. Remember that the Church is the normal way by which men come to salvation.
 
No, it is impossible for a non-Christian to go to heaven. 😦

However, through an implicit baptism-by-desire, a non-believer on earth might become a Christian in Heaven! 😃
 
I sometimes think that there are more non-christians in heaven than christians.😦
 
Rascalking said:
I sometimes think that there are more non-christians in heaven than christians.😦
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I believe it was Gandhi who said something to the effect that, he would be a Christian except for the fact that he knew too many.

Also, as a child, I remember being told, in relation to this issue, that we should never deny the covenanted mercies of God. As an adult, I’ve thought about that comment from time-to-time and have always found it helpful and profound.
 
I was actually having this same argument with a friend last night. The Bible says without Jesus it is impossible to get into heaven. Plain and simple. I know we cannot judge who goes to heaven and hell, but the Bible clearly tells us that if you do not believe in Jesus you will not have eternal life. I find it very hard to sugarcoat that when it is clearly written.

John 3:36
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.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 3:3
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

1 John 5:11-13
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
 
johnnykins said:
I believe it was Gandhi who said something to the effect that, he would be a Christian except for the fact that he knew too many.

Also, as a child, I remember being told, in relation to this issue, that we should never deny the covenanted mercies of God. As an adult, I’ve thought about that comment from time-to-time and have always found it helpful and profound.
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oops - should be “uncovenanted” kinda changes things
 
to me, “through no fault of their own” would only apply to some very narrow circumstances: people in a remote location who have no knowledge whatsoever, people who have some knowledge but no way to research or validate it, and children.

for people in modernized countries, with plenty of access to libraries and the interwebz, I do not see their rejection of christianity as an excuse, because they have the resources to investigate on their own and have chosen not to, or have and yet have still chosen to reject it.

this means that a shinto family in rural japan or a hindu family in rural india, for example, who pracitce faithfully and have no way to investigate christianity, would be way less culpable than someone living in a european or american city who simply decides they don’t need all those christian rules and can just “be a good person.”

and of course, degree of culpability contributes to length of time spent in purgatory before being allowed into heaven. it is quite difficult to not be mad that those people who ignored the rules on earth can still get in, but I always remind myself that clearly god knows what he’s doing and the purgatorial suffering would be proportional and just to whatever they did in their earthly lives…
 
For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them on the day when according to my gospel, God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus.(Romans 2:14-16).

If I am understanding this passage correctly, in light of the current discussion, while we who are Catholic have faith in Jesus Christ while here on earth, even those who are outside the Church can be brought to the Father through Jesus Christ. This is in line with what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches regarding the salvation of non-Christians.
 
There is not salvation outside the realm of the Catholic Church, the Church of Christ All who reject Christ are certainly doomed. Through the Church, not necessary a “member” of the church, they **can **be saved. However, we do not know with certainty. Not even us Catholics are necessarily saved in the end, because we still have free will and can reject Christ in our last moments. Let’s just hope all of our non-Catholic friends have enough grace to repent perfectly on their death bed. In fact, let’s all hope we can have the grace to repent as well.

Salvation in itself is a very complicated discussion.
 
People will say “yes”
People will say “no”

Truth is Only God knows
 
runningdude said:
The Catechism says it is possible. As obedient Catholics, that really is the only answer.
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The Bible says it isn’t possible. Look at the verses I put up on my earlier post. The Bible clearly tells us without believing and following Jesus you cannot get into heaven. We must accept Christ and his salvation. A non Christian is someone who does not follow Christ, so how will they accept Christ and follow him?

We also know that our good works alone do not get us into heaven but it is by grace through faith that we are saved and not from ourselves. Just because someone is “good” doesn’t mean they will get into heaven because the Bible clearly tells us we are saved by the grace of God because of our faith in him. You can be the most amazing person but without faith how does that get you to heaven?

Saying non Christians can get into heaven is saying that they don’t need Christ, but the Bible says we must believe in Christ. By saying they don’t need Christ means that Christ’s death and resurrection isn’t really needed.

I’m going to be careful about saying that those who have never heard the gospel will go to heaven. We all have sins and are not worthy of being in God’s presence. They might not know of Jesus but if one does not ask for forgiveness of their sins will they have eternal life?

Romans 1:18-20 says:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

So although they might have never heard of Jesus they have no excuse of not knowing God, but they must seek him and repent. Will the ones who live in an Island that no one has ever stepped foot in go to heaven? Even if they don’t believe in God?

That is why I believe it is everyone’s duty to contribute to some type of evangelization.
 
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