Salvation, Non-Christians and John 14:6

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“I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the father but by Me” - John 14:6

The Protestant view of John 14:6, is that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and that accepting Him as one’s Lord and Savior, thus becoming a Christian, allows someone to enter into Heaven. Implying that only Christians go to Heaven and Non-Christians are going to Hell.

But what’s the Catholic view on John 14:6? What’s it mean? What’s it imply? Does the Catholic view differ from the Protestant view? Does John 14:6 rule out the possibility of Non-Christians or Non-Catholics entering Heaven?
 
Catholics believe the same thing, but with a slightly different feel. We still believe you must go through Jesus Christ, but that we don’t know who Jesus has revealed himself to. Where as a protestant will often say if you haven’t heard the name “Jesus Christ” you can’t possibly know him, Catholics admit that God can reveal himself to anyone he chooses. Someone might know Jesus and follow the law of God without ever having seen a bible, or a church.

The odds are much better if a person is Catholic and has access to the revealed faith, but we cannot discount that others may find the path as well. Jesus owns the Catholic church, the church does not own Jesus.
 
I’d say you described the Evangelical Protestant view. But to answer your question, basically it is only through and because of Christ that someone can be saved. People can be saved in spite of their false religion, but only because of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross.
 
Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Paragraph 847 - 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.

Paragraph 848 - “Although 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, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”

See also 839 - 846.

The Catechism is on line at several websites. Two of them are vatican.va and scborromeo.org.
 
I know this discussion was a couple weeks ago, but I have a follow on question.

I understand that those whom “through no fault of their own, are ignorant” will be saved, but what about those who are purposeful in their actions. For example, what if there existed someone in modern society that lived a good clean life, was humble, honest, charitable, kind, and respected the dignity of life. Will this person, who makes the world a better place and whose personal philosophy is in line with Christianity, achieve eternal salvation even though they simply decided not to follow an organized religion?
 
Dannel11 said:
I know this discussion was a couple weeks ago, but I have a follow on question.

I understand that those whom “through no fault of their own, are ignorant” will be saved, but what about those who are purposeful in their actions. For example, what if there existed someone in modern society that lived a good clean life, was humble, honest, charitable, kind, and respected the dignity of life. Will this person, who makes the world a better place and whose personal philosophy is in line with Christianity, achieve eternal salvation even though they simply decided not to follow an organized religion?
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That would depend on why he didn’t follow “organized” religion. Was it in defiance of authority or because he simply didn’t “get it”? Did he thumb his nose at church attendance out of boredom or with full knowledge of what it means and with full consent of his will? These are the type of questions anyone in that position has to ask himself. God knows the intentions of our hearts, but we have to be honest with ourselves and ask ourselves the hard questions or we may be in serious risk of damning ourselves through stubbornness not through mere disinterest.
 
Dannel11 said:
What if the person simply felt that they didn’t need to subscribe to any religion.
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Once again, he would have to ask himself why, and he would have to have an answer that would satisfy God not just himself. If he is not sure what would satisfy God, he’d better ask a knowledgeable Catholic, most likely his own parish priest. If he was a Protestant, he might want to ask why the religion in which he reared doesn’t “speak” to him.
 
followingtheway said:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the father but by Me” - John 14:6

The Protestant view of John 14:6, is that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and that accepting Him as one’s Lord and Savior, thus becoming a Christian, allows someone to enter into Heaven. Implying that only Christians go to Heaven and Non-Christians are going to Hell.

But what’s the Catholic view on John 14:6? What’s it mean? What’s it imply? Does the Catholic view differ from the Protestant view? Does John 14:6 rule out the possibility of Non-Christians or Non-Catholics entering Heaven?
Click to expand...
I think it’s very simple; no one comes to the Father except through Christ. If a non-Christian dies in invincible ignorance and was honestly seeking truth, he then is baptized by desire. And the only way after this life to attain the beatific vision and to know and see God is through Christ, no one else can offer that gift. There is no other way, truth, religion, path, etc… God gave to mankind other than His only begotten Son. No one saved in Buddhism is saved because of Buddhism, or Hinduism, or Paganism, or Gnosticism, etc… if someone is saved while practicing any of those false teachings it is because they were invincible ignorant of the truth and had no possible way of knowing it, lead a life in accordance of natural law and Christ sees fit to offer them to accept him or deny him, “he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.”
 
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