I heard a few years ago a priest and rabbi talking about religion (they respected each others very much) and they both said, a heaven without a Ghandi is not heaven, if someone who was saintly and not Catholic or not Jewish couldn’t enter, they wouldn’t want to be there, it wouldn’t be fair.
I have never talked to a holy priest that said that others that were good were barred from heaven, that is God’s decision not ours and if you judge them, that to me is a greater sin.
If John Paul ll wouldn’t baptise a Jewish infant, if Mother Theresa brought Jesus to people, but didn’t try to convert, showed respect to them, they should be examples to others.
To be quite honest, this is a rather silly story. If the priest and rabbi were serious, I would never go to either one of them for spiritual advice of any kind. They are committing the grave error of substituting the human conception of fairness for the judgement of God. In Isaiah God tells us quite explicitly that His thoughts are not our thoughts.
55:8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
55:9. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.
What makes heaven heavenly is the presence of God. If God’s will were to keep out Pope John Paul II, then so be it, it is no less heaven and I will accept his judgement.
As for Ghandi, he is to be lauded as a remarkable human and is a good role model for leadership, non-violence, and social activism. There are many positive things which can be said about him.
On the other hand, it is also my understanding that he led a less than exemplary personal life. As with many who are held up as national icons, these details of his life are little known and hugely overshadowed by the rest of the events in his life. But when he stands before God, they are no less important. We will not be judged with a scale trying to get our good deeds to outweigh our bad ones, but on the absoluteness of every action.
With that said, I have no idea where Ghandi is now. I am only sure that it is wrong for a priest or other person in Christian authority to hold up Ghandi as a good example to his flock. Ghandi was not a Christian and did not live a saintly life. For the Christian, he is not a role model for godly living. He is not a fellow Christian and does not ascribe to our beliefs or teachings. For certain ideas, it is appropriate to look to him, but for spiritual ideas and actions, we must look elsewhere.
