What happened to all of those before Christ (Greeks, Early civilizations)?

[John_Monaco]

I know every human being has a chance to go to heaven, so what does the Catholic church say about those who lived before Christ, and never knew anything about Judaism/Christianity?

I was reading my AP European text, and was curious, because they were talking about early civilizations, thousands of years before Christ. Now, where would they go after they die?

Also, if they weren’t baptized, then how can they go to heaven? Is it the same situation with those today, who are completely ignorant of Christianity, due to their location?

But then, that makes me curious on if their fate after life is by God’s grace.

Hm, just curious.

 

[Godfollower]

I know every human being has a chance to go to heaven, so what does the Catholic church say about those who lived before Christ, and never knew anything about Judaism/Christianity?

I was reading my AP European text, and was curious, because they were talking about early civilizations, thousands of years before Christ. Now, where would they go after they die?

Also, if they weren’t baptized, then how can they go to heaven? Is it the same situation with those today, who are completely ignorant of Christianity, due to their location?

But then, that makes me curious on if their fate after life is by God’s grace.

Hm, just curious.

Everyone’s fate after life is by God’s grace, so in that respect their fates are no different than ours. No one deserves to go to Heaven; it is only God’s willingness to allow us there, despite our unworthiness, that lets anyone in.

As for those who died before Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection, they were neither in Heaven nor in Hell; they were in the abode of the dead, waiting.

Because Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit, In which also coming he preached to those spirits that were in prison: Which had been some time incredulous, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.

1 Peter 3:18-20.

For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead: that they might be judged indeed according to men, in the flesh; but may live according to God, in the Spirit.

1 Peter 4:6.

 

[Detales]

Actually, in the teaching language used at the time of Jesus in that area, it is likely that “For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead: that they might be judged indeed according to men, in the flesh; but may live according to God, in the Spirit.” meant that the Word was preached to those who had not yet awakened to the Truth within themselves as the Image and Likeness of God. The “dead” were the unenlightened “living,” as in “Let the dead bury the dead.”

The same thing happened as is happening now and will happen always to everyone with or without hearing of Jesus or other Masters. We die unawakened or not. The point of the Teaching ascribed to Jesus’ by the Church was to awaken, or be “reborn” in a Way rarely considered these days, so that “the second death will have no sting.”

For some ideas surrounding this, one might usefully read Maurice Nicoll’s The New Man.