I’ve read a lot of threads about the Catholic perspective on salvation. Much of what I read says there is no salvation outside of the Church. In other words, the salvation of Protestants, even “good” Protestants, while possible due to G-d’s mercy, is not as likely as the salvation of “good” Catholics. There is also a minority viewpoint that the good of “any religion outside of Christianity” can possibly be saved, with particular reference to the Jews and Muslims, but perhaps not limited to them. Then there is also the notion of “invincible ignorance,” which applies to people who have not been exposed to the teachings of the Church through no fault of their own, which enables those who do not practice Catholicism to possibly be saved, but there is no guarantee. (Of course, there is no guarantee for anyone’s salvation, only more or less likelihood.) The exact meaning of “invincible ignorance” with respect to a lack of understanding is also debated. If I’m wrong on any of the above points, please correct me.
Nice job! If there’s anything to correct, it’s either nitpicky or a matter of opinion on which Catholics may go one way or the other. Ie., the degree of certainty one may have pertaining to their state of grace (or not). I could name several different CAF people who say different things about that, but I’m sure some of them will put it out there on this thread.
Now to my question: what is the Protestant perspective regarding salvation, particularly as it applies to Catholics?
If God saved them (that is, brought about regenerative transformation in their lives such that they ceased to be dead-in-sins unregenerate people and started being alive-in-Christ regenerate people, aka Christians), then this permanent God-authored transformation culminating with the indwelling presence and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit would make them Christians just the same as any other Christians. If that sort of thing happened, of course.
Is it simply that if they believe in Jesus and the Trinity, that’s all that is required, or is there something else necessary for them to be saved?
No, that’s not all that is required. What’s required is that God actually save them. Regenerate them. Elect predestine regenerate transform indwell sanctify glorify get their butt into heaven. These are things that God does. He’s either doing them or He’s not. If you don’t know, you ask. If the other person isn’t able to say one way or the other, than I guess you don’t really know because apparently they don’t either. But if God’s doing these things, He’s doing these things, and you know what the end result will be.
Do they have to give up something, such as the veneration of Mary and the Saints, for example?
Nope. That doesn’t have much in the way of soteriological significance. I think there’s some Catholic beliefs in their ability to remit temporal punishment while people are in a state that we (Protestants) don’t believe exists in the first place, but it doesn’t really touch on eternal destiny or eternal life/punishment.
And the second part of my question is what is the Protestant perspective regarding the salvation of non-Christians, such as Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Pagans, and so on?
Depends how hard or soft you are on universalism. Even for some who are stringently anti-universalism on paper, they’ll say something like “However I don’t want to put God in a box or presume to know the exact limits of the purview within which He can work.” Iow, even for those who aren’t universalists, there’s sometimes room to say “I can’t claim to know the eternal destiny of every one of those kinds of people.”
Generally, though, the Protestant perspective is more opposed to universalism if you’re both far from Catholicism and deep into all that is conservative. So for these non-Christian kinds of people- even for Jews- they’re generally seen as outside the Body of Christ and not among those who will inherit the Kingdom.
Are they all automatically condemned to Hell if they don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus and the Trinity?
I don’t think Protestants generally view certain doctrines as the agents of salvation, which is what they seem to be described as here. Rather, they are true teachings concerning the nature and person of God that are very important to understand because you need to believe things that are true, and then God is the divine agent that causes eternal salvation to actually take place. But it’s not like God is some cosmic Rube Goldberg project where the right setup will automatically cause things to fall into place- God is a person (three persons, actually, but one substance) that does things exactly when He does them, and these actions don’t necessarily have close temporal continuity with the moment at which a person does such-and-such or the exact time when a person believes or prays for thus-and-such. It happens when God does it.
Anyway…if you do believe in the divinity of Jesus and the Trinity, you don’t automatically go to heaven. It depends on what God has or hasn’t done. If you don’t, though, it’s certainly a problem. If those things describe a faith-group, I don’t think those beliefs could possibly fall within the purview of Christianity. And generally speaking, I would have to say such people are not capable of coming to the Father unless it’s through Jesus Christ (aka God). If that’s not happening, it’s not happening, so to say.
(I realize that different Protestant denominations may have different views on this.)
Yup.
Third part: what about non-believers of any G-d or gods (atheists) according to Catholicism and Protestantism? Can there possibly be any salvation for them?
I would say the same thing as before. Generally, though, most will think of it as an easier call in that situation.
Thanks for your questions!
