"dictates of their conscience"

[KevinK]

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. (CCC 847)

What exactly does “try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience” mean for example a Mayan whose culture and conscience allowed human sacrifice?

 

[Maximilian75]

I would say that human sacrifice is very much against the natural law. Consciences can be perverted and malformed.

 

[Gorgias]

What exactly does “try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience” mean for example a Mayan whose culture and conscience allowed human sacrifice?

Would such a person “know [God’s will] through the dictates of their conscience” is to abhor human sacrifice? If not, then it would seem that performing human sacrifice – in invincible ignorance – would not constitute a mortal sin.

 

[BlackFriar]

Most people, especially if they do not pray or have quiet time daily never allow their conscience to speak to them. Instead they follow the dictates of their bodies, the opinion of their peers or the conveyor belt of their culture.

That includes Catholics.

 

[Homerun14]

The key word in this paragraph in the Catechism is “may”. It doesn’t say they will attain heaven, but that it’s possible that God might indeed save them. But then again, He might not. To say that God might save such people, is just expressing a hope that is not based on anything specifically revealed to us.

Actually, such a statement appears to run counter to the fact that Jesus founded His Church and instructed His apostles to go out and evangelize the world. If people who never hear what Jesus has revealed to us also get to Heaven, then there was no need for the apostles, and the Church over time, to spread the word. The missionaries over the ages had it all wrong that they were doing a necessary thing in trying to save souls, and were martyred for their efforts.

The concept of conscience has been muddied in recent years. The definition of conscience is your inner self that urges you to do right. A sinful act is still sinful whether your conscience tells you so or not. If your conscience doesn’t bother you about a certain action, that doesn’t make a sinful act now OK. Your conscience is not the determining factor of whether an action is sinful or not.

 

[GRoods]

Thou shall not kill.
Cain killed his brother.
Will you let someone kill you?
I would hope not, but on this topic of human sacrifice one would be able to say a culture that accepts murder as a means of worship surely must turn from there ways, or face Gods wrath.

 

[Zaccheus]

Actually, such a statement appears to run counter to the fact that Jesus founded His Church and instructed His apostles to go out and evangelize the world. If people who never hear what Jesus has revealed to us also get to Heaven, then there was no need for the apostles, and the Church over time, to spread the word.

Uh, no.
Suppose that I, having no access to a doctor, suffer an infected wound that could cause my death. Suppose that I manage to survive the infection, perhaps by amputating the infected part. Does it follow that I have no need for doctors?

Obviously I have a very much greater chance to survive dangerous injuries or sickness if I have access to modern medical care than if I do not.

It is possible for someone who never heard of Christ to be saved, provided that person tries diligently to do the right thing. But a Christian has a much better chance of salvation because we have been given God’s Word to teach us what is right.

A Catholic has an even better chance because we have been given the Sacraments to help us. Baptism to give us grace, Confession for the forgiveness of our sins, the Eucharist to fill us with His Presence and His grace.

 

[Genesis315]

Just following the dictates of your conscience cannot save any one, but it can ultimately lead one to salvation. Remember, faith is absolutely necessary for salvation (see CCC 161). That doesn’t mean that those currently without faith cannot be saved–in fact, it is following their conscience and participating with grace that they can come to faith and be saved. In response to those Protestants who said the existence of non-Christians meant God did not provide for the salvation of all, St. Robert Bellarmine responded:

St. Robert Bellarmine, De Gratis et Libero Arbitrio, lib. 2, cap. 8

This argument only proves that not all people receive the help they need to believe and be converted immediately. It does not, however, prove that some people are deprived, absolutely speaking, of sufficient help for salvation. For the pagans to whom the Gospel has not yet been preached, can know from His creatures that God exists; then they can be stimulated by God, through His preventing grace, to believe in God, that He exists and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him: and from such faith, they can be inspired, under the guidance and help of God, to pray and give alms and in this way obtain from God a still greater light of faith, which God will communicate to them, either by Himself or through angels or through men.

Pope Francis teaches the same thing:

Lumen Fidei

Because faith is a way, it also has to do with the lives of those men and women who, though not believers, nonetheless desire to believe and continue to seek. To the extent that they are sincerely open to love and set out with whatever light they can find, they are already, even without knowing it, on the path leading to faith…Any-one who sets off on the path of doing good to others is already drawing near to God, is already sustained by his help, for it is characteristic of the divine light to brighten our eyes whenever we walk towards the fullness of love.

See also CCC 848 where it states that “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.”

Adoring creatures rather than the Creator (see CCC 844) or murdering innocents is so clearly contrary to the law written in all our hearts , that there is little excuse and I don’t see how someone who persists until death in doing such things can be said to be on the road to faith or cooperating in grace or following their conscience (although, who knows what happens even at the “11th hour” in their conscience and soul so that they might be converted before death). See Rom. 1:20 and Rom 2:15 for the inexcusableness of idolatry and the responsibility of all for the law written in all our consciences (which forbids murder among other things).

 

[BlackFriar]

The definition of conscience is your inner self that urges you to do right. A sinful act is still sinful whether your conscience tells you so or not.

I think what you mean to say is that the matter that people of good conscience blamelessly engage in is still gravely disordered.

 

[Homerun14]

Exactly. I wouldn’t call engaging in sinful actions having a good conscience, not characterize the actions as blameless. There is nothing in Scripture, nor the tradition of the Church, that says when God gave us the Ten Commandments, He stipulated that we are to follow them, unless our conscience tells us otherwise.

 

[thistle]

In my personal opinion there cannot be many people alive today that would genuinely be covered by invincible ignorance. Some will opine that Jews, Muslims, Protestants and even atheists are but I do not not believe this. The Church does not teach that any particular groups are invincibly ignorant because it does not know so opinions will differ on this.
Also we should note that the CCC quoted in the OP does not say anyone who is invincibly ignorant will be saved. It says they may be saved.

 

[Genesis315]

Yeah, sometimes it seems that ignorance is treated as a means to salvation, when it is in fact an obstacle. For ignorance to excuse certain erroneous beliefs or actions, the person must still love God above all things and otherwise be disposed to follow the divine law wherever it leads as he comes to know it. Plus, faith is absolutely necessary for salvation–and that requires knowing God. The document of the Holy Office (now CDF) cited by Lumen Gentium on this point says:

But it must not be thought that any kind of desire of entering the Church suffices that one may be saved. It is necessary that the desire by which one is related to the Church be animated by perfect charity. Nor can an implicit desire produce its effect, unless a person has supernatural faith: “For he who comes to God must believe that God exists and is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrew 11:6). The Council of Trent declares (Session VI, chap 8): Faith is the beginning of a man’s salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, without which it is impossible to please God and attain to the fellowship of His children" (Denzinger, n. 80l).

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