Contradiction in RCIA teaching with scripture?

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ursula1

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I am attending an RCIA program as a sponsor. Today the program touched on the missionary mandate of the church. One area is bothering me. That is,"It is our clear understanding, held firmly, that in Christ, Love is revealed fully to us, and with Love, eternal life with God. The church is the community gathered in this love, and it is necessary to be within that unity in order to live fuly in Divine Love. [SIGN]Of course, those who do not know Christ or the church, but who are faithful and true and seek God with a sincere heart and in grace try to live according to their conscience, these, too, can share eternal life with God.[/SIGN]
Does this not contradict what Jesus said when he stated, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my father also.” John 14:6-7

My candidate is somewhat confused by this, as am I. So were the Team members.
Thanks for any insight you may be able to give:confused:
 
Those who have never heard of Christ but live a good life are not necessarily condemned to hell. If they try to seek the greater good, they are looked favourbly upon.
 
Ursula;

Here is something which may help understand what that statement is trying to address:

"While acknowledging that God loves all people and grants them the possibility of being saved [cf. *1 Timothy 2.4], the Church believes that God has established Christ as the one mediator and that she herself has been established as the universal sacrament of salvation…It is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for salvation. Both these truths help us understand the one mystery of salvation, so that we can come to know God’s mercy and our own responsibility…

“The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the Gospel revelation or to enter the Church…For such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifce and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation.”

This is from Pope John Paul’s 1990 encyclical Redemptoris Missio (The Mission of the Redeemer). (emphasis in the original: 9.10)

Another excellent statement for Catholics on this is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s statement Dominus Iesus (then-Cardinal Ratzinger was the primary author) issued in 2000.

Both of these are accessed from the Vatican website. These should be taught in RCIA classes!

I hope this helps

Pax Christi,

Jonathan
 
Hi Ursula,

The statement you quote is from Vatican II and is also included in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Since God wants everyone to be saved and to be saved through Jesus Christ, we must conclude that even those who do not have the opportunity to know the Catholic Church can be saved.

If someone, whether pagan or Protestant or Muslim has within their heart the disposition to accept God’s will, whatever that may be, and does their best to follow the dictates of their conscience, then they actually belong to the Church in spirit and God wil save them in consideration of the merits of Jesus Christ, who actually died for ALL.

Verbum
 
ursula1 said:
I am attending an RCIA program as a sponsor. Today the program touched on the missionary mandate of the church. One area is bothering me. That is,"It is our clear understanding, held firmly, that in Christ, Love is revealed fully to us, and with Love, eternal life with God. The church is the community gathered in this love, and it is necessary to be within that unity in order to live fuly in Divine Love. [SIGN]Of course, those who do not know Christ or the church, but who are faithful and true and seek God with a sincere heart and in grace try to live according to their conscience, these, too, can share eternal life with God.[/SIGN]
Does this not contradict what Jesus said when he stated, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my father also.” John 14:6-7

My candidate is somewhat confused by this, as am I. So were the Team members.
Thanks for any insight you may be able to give:confused:
Click to expand...
This teaching simply means that Christ can choose to save people who don’t know Him, because they did their best to follow Him and do His commandments, even though they had never even heard of Him during this life.

They aren’t being saved in some other way than Christians are; they are still being saved by Christ. The difference is that they are not aware that they are being saved.

Obviously, people who have heard of Christ need to join His Church, but Christ Himself is not bound by His own laws; He can save whomever He wants to save.
 
ursula1 said:
I am attending an RCIA program as a sponsor. Today the program touched on the missionary mandate of the church. One area is bothering me. That is,"It is our clear understanding, held firmly, that in Christ, Love is revealed fully to us, and with Love, eternal life with God. The church is the community gathered in this love, and it is necessary to be within that unity in order to live fuly in Divine Love. [SIGN]Of course, those who do not know Christ or the church, but who are faithful and true and seek God with a sincere heart and in grace try to live according to their conscience, these, too, can share eternal life with God.[/SIGN]
Does this not contradict what Jesus said when he stated, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my father also.” John 14:6-7

My candidate is somewhat confused by this, as am I. So were the Team members.
Thanks for any insight you may be able to give:confused:
Click to expand...
I have summarized a writed in 7 postings under
Re: No one comes to the Father except through me

I think this article will clarify " Can people of other faiths be saved" etc. You can find these 7 postings my “double click” my name at the header and search under my postings.

God Bless
 
***Thank you ***to everyone who responded to my query. All responses will be of great interest to our RCIA group.

:blessyou:
ursula1
 
There’s also some scripture that’s relevant.

"And Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, butin every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.’ " (Acts 10:34-35)

“For he [God] will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.” (Romans 2:6-11)

Jeremy
 
Ursula,

It looks like you have already gotten some very good responses to your question. I saw that you joined in September and only had two posts, and I wanted to welcome you to the Catholic Answers Forums–or at least out of the lurking shadows. I hope you have a blessed and fruitful time here.
  • Liberian
 
Of course, those who do not know Christ or the church, but who are faithful and true and seek God with a sincere heart and in grace try to live according to their conscience, these, too, can share eternal life with God.
Click to expand...
The statement in the *Catechism of the Catholic Church *(847), below, appears to be a little more restrictive than your statement, as indicated by the words I have underlined.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.
 
Salvation - Mother Teresa’s teaching in line with the Church.

If one THINKS & BELIEVES His/her way LEADS TO GOD
If DO NOT know of ANY OTHER
If he/she DO NOT DOUBT and so
DO NOT feel the need to look elsewhere, then SALVATION
BUT
God gives to all souls He create, a chance to meet Him,
To acceptHim or to reject Him.

From the moment the soul received the GRACE TO KNOW God he/she must begin to search./ seek for the TRUTH

If he/she ACCEPTS, then SALVATION
REJECT, then DAMNATION

(Notice the IF, AND & BUT)
  • When each of us is called to meet God , The question asked is “How much have you loved”. Refer the Parable in Matt 25:32-46.
  • God loves his Creation NOT “Religion” per se.
  • In the Pascal mystery is Redemption for everyone.
    – That is why our response is “People of other faiths CAN be Saved” and we don’t say " People of other faiths WILL be saved"… Final Salvation is God’s call.
  • It is an Extraordinary Grace of God to be invited to follow the way of Jesus and as Christians our obligations are
  • to follow His teachings as taught by the Church (through revelation, the Bible and the World), which includes Evangelizing **Jesus Is LORD **to the World.
  • We are NOT called to Judge souls; BUT by our love… they will know that we are disciples of Christ.(Just imagine - if all Christians walk the path of Mother Teresa, in full submission to Jesus’ call - wouldn’t the peoples of the world want to receive the JOY we live in the world?)
Prais be to God
 
Liberian,

Thank you for your warm welcome. Truly, I have already been very blessed by the forum topics, questions, and answers. It is a gold mine of information.

I’m kinda shy:o : , soooo…I’m not very visible. But, hopefully, will get to know the ins and outs of this mind-boggling site and be more present.🙂

Thanks again.
Ursula
 
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