On a Deserted Island With Nothing but a Bible

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Say a person were shipwrecked on an island with nothing but a bible. The island has sufficient food and water to support the person for a full lifespan. The person comes to the island with no knowledge of God or Jesus, and only has access to what is in the bible. For the sake of discussion, let’s say it’s the KJV.

Is it possible for that person come into the full grace and glory of salvation with only the bible to go on?

My opinion is yes.
 
Well that person might receive a baptism of desire (assuming they have never been baptised…?) assuming they come to beleive in Christ and truely desire to follow. Of course in this senario such a baptism is sufficient because it is the only form available to him, the Sacrament requries that someone else do the baptising of the individual, you can’t do it to your self.

This does not however, support a theology which reject baptism under normative situations. That is to say, you can’t just answer an alter call, bypass baptism and claim you truely follow Christ. If you follow Christ, you are obedient to his teaching, and Christ was quite clear, you can not enter the kingdom unless you be born of water and the spirit. More over, the first thing Christ did after this was take his Apostles out baptising, which of course would later lead to some scandal among John the Baptists followers. More over, Christ never had his Apostles stop baptising, they kept right doing it at his direction, and continued doing it after his death, resurrection and ascension.
 
PLeeD said:
Say a person were shipwrecked on an island with nothing but a bible. The island has sufficient food and water to support the person for a full lifespan. The person comes to the island with no knowledge of God or Jesus, and only has access to what is in the bible. For the sake of discussion, let’s say it’s the KJV.

Is it possible for that person come into the full grace and glory of salvation with only the bible to go on?

My opinion is yes.
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So your response is going to be “You don’t need the church for salvation, you just need the KJV!”
 
PLeeD said:
Say a person were shipwrecked on an island with nothing but a bible. The island has sufficient food and water to support the person for a full lifespan. The person comes to the island with no knowledge of God or Jesus, and only has access to what is in the bible. For the sake of discussion, let’s say it’s the KJV.

Is it possible for that person come into the full grace and glory of salvation with only the bible to go on?

My opinion is yes.
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It’s possible for them to be saved, though they’re not in the best situation. They will not be able to be baptized, nor receive the Holy Spirit through the laying of hands, nor be able to partake in communion in the memory of Christ. They will also not be in the presence of others, which will likely adversely affect their mental health. They’ll not have access to the Church, nor Tradition so it is quite possible that the complete misunderstand the Scriptures especially since it’s written in the archaic language of the KJV.

All in all, there’s a lot of ifs, but their salvation will depend on their relationship with God and how they measure compared to what was given.

-Prophecy
 
crazzeto said:
Well that person might receive a baptism of desire (assuming they have never been baptised…?)
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Yes, assuming they weren’t baptized, and were completely un-churched. Their only source of knowledge would be through the bible.

Thanks for that. I’d never heard of the doctrine of “Baptism of Desire”. Baptism was one of my main questions about this situation.

Are there any other barriers?
 
PLeeD said:
Yes, assuming they weren’t baptized, and were completely un-churched. Their only source of knowledge would be through the bible.

Thanks for that. I’d never heard of the doctrine of “Baptism of Desire”. Baptism was one of my main questions about this situation.

Are there any other barriers?
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Sorry I’m being a little slow this morning, barriers too what? :o
 
PLeeD said:
Say a person were shipwrecked on an island with nothing but a bible. The island has sufficient food and water to support the person for a full lifespan. The person comes to the island with no knowledge of God or Jesus, and only has access to what is in the bible. For the sake of discussion, let’s say it’s the KJV.

Is it possible for that person come into the full grace and glory of salvation with only the bible to go on?

My opinion is yes.
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it would have to be the Douay Rehims Bible

oh and i know what youre trying to do, youre trying to get us [Catholics] to admit that all you need for salvation is faith alone, just remember, this is not a normal circumstance. under normal circumstances one does need more than just faith, but this poor fellow’s circumstances render that impossible.
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crazzeto said:
Sorry I’m being a little slow this morning, barriers too what? :o
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Barriers to salvation? Barriers to “getting to heaven”?
bingbang said:
So your response is going to be “You don’t need the church for salvation, you just need the KJV!”
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You are wrong. I’m trying to understand what Catholics regard as essential. Do you always put words in other people’s mouths?
 
PLeeD said:
Barriers to salvation? Barriers to “getting to heaven”?

You are wrong. I’m trying to understand what Catholics regard as essential. Do you always put words in other people’s mouths?
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Normativly? Or for this individual? For the individual in your story a baptism of desire will suffice because that is the best they can offer God. They have no priest who can offer Mass or confession, they have no foundation for prayer other than what the scriptures say, thus God’s Mercy will triumph and this person will be save despite the fact that they can not participate in the normative plan of salvation.

For us, we need confession to deal with sin after baptism. More over, for us who are not on deserted islands we must eat Christs body and drink His blood, as it says so clearly in the Gospel

Joh 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Joh 6:52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
 
If it’s the original KJV the deutrocanonicals are included(although they are separated from the rest of the OT).
 
PLeeD said:
I’m trying to understand what Catholics regard as essential.
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The church and the sacraments are essential. However, is someone is physically unable to be a part of the church, who is to say what is impossible for God?

Anyone who thinks it wouldn not be possible for a person in this situation to receive salvation (as the question is stated) is being a pharisee in my opinion. Am I wrong?
 
PLeeD said:
Say a person were shipwrecked on an island with nothing but a bible. The island has sufficient food and water to support the person for a full lifespan. The person comes to the island with no knowledge of God or Jesus, and only has access to what is in the bible. For the sake of discussion, let’s say it’s the KJV.
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Not to be a wise-acre, but what if you did the same experiment with the Ramayana or the Mahabharata? Would your desert island castaway become a Hindu?
 
tomarin said:
Not to be a wise-acre, but what if you did the same experiment with the Ramayana or the Mahabharata? Would your desert island castaway become a Hindu?
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Not necessarily. The castaway with the bible might not become Christian.

I’m only asking what is possible.
 
PLeeD said:
Not necessarily. The castaway with the bible might not become Christian.

I’m only asking what is possible.
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If the castaway finds himself only with the Gospel of John, do you think he can still be saved?

-Prophecy
 
PLeeD said:
Not necessarily. The castaway with the bible might not become Christian.

I’m only asking what is possible.
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Since anything is possible with God, why does the Bible need to be in the castaway’s language or why does he even need one at all?

It is not the Bible that saves but God.
 
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