Who gets into heaven?

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Shikomu

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Do all good people get into heaven according to Catholic doctrine? For example, do good atheists, or good homosexuals get into heaven? Do good non-Catholics get into heaven? And what about all the good people who came before Jesus? To clarify, when I say “good” I mean someone who has done many good deeds on this Earth (excluding miscarriages, abortion babies, babies who die like immediately after birth, etc.), who are sorry for what they did wrong, and do their best to improve that behavior. Also, could you show me the source in Catholic doctrine that supports your claim? For those who comment, thank you very much for taking the time to read to my question. God bless you all.
 
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So, no. That’s very disappointing. I thought God would be more concerned with encouraging and rewarding good on this Earth rather than being jealous and eternally punishing those who do not believe in Him and His Holy Roman Catholic Church. If there is any doctrine that states something contradictory to this statement, I would love to hear it.
 
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From a “doctrinal” standpoint, this section of Church teaching answers the question.
From a practical standpoint, only God knows the answer to your question.
Shikomu said:
I thought God would be more concerned with encouraging and rewarding good on this Earth rather than being jealous and eternally punishing those who do not believe in Him
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It is current thinking in the Church, that God doesn’t either “reward” or “Punish”, but rather affords all perfect justice at the end of life. Perfect justice is simply giving one what one asks for. Those who seek to live in accordance with God’s law, will receive one outcome, those who choose to defy and ignore that law will receive another. It’s pretty simple really. This picture of God as a vengeful deity, full of wrath for being offended is not quite the accurate picture. The Scriptural references to that concept were written in a more barbaric time when developed concepts of law and justice were elemental at best, and divine law was equated with human law and practice.

Edited to say that God has done all He can in encouraging good by the Commandments He handed down according to Scripture. Anything else would be a contradiction to the concept of free will.
 
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So, just to clarify. God will not punish those who are good, regardless of whether they believe in him. Yes?
 
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People should do their best to know the truth. That includes treating all people with kindness. Letting someone in front of you during the morning commute two times a week is a good start, but no, it’s not enough.

I think there’s a lot of people out there who bury their heads in the sand because it’s easier than thinking about hard questions. Many of us are very materially comfortable and don’t like to think about the fact that one day we will die. It’s easier to pretend we won’t and cover it up with the pursuit of pleasure.
 
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Only God knows who will enter heaven. We can only guess and that seems pointless to me because no one knows for sure.
 
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I defined goodness in the original post. Would someone who meets that definition of goodness be saved, regardless of whether they believe in God?
 
But of course God would tell us what we need to do to get into heaven. I’ll phrase it another way. Is being a Catholic, or a Christian, a requirement to get into heaven according to Catholic doctrine?
 
According to Catholic doctrine, yes you need to be Catholic or know God to go to heaven. But let me be clear here, we as Catholics are not the final judge on who gets to heaven. We have no way of knowing what is in people hearts before they die and if they seek God or not. Nor is it our place. The best we can do is evangelize and let God do the rest. I hope this helps you.
 
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Who gets into heaven?

Quite simply, those who die in a state of grace.

It’s not simply a matter of “being good”, as ALL of us fall short of God’s perfect goodness. If “being good” was the standard NONE of us would get in. We need to accept, and cooperate with, God’s grace. That’s what the Sacraments are for.
 
Shikomu said:
Do all good people get into heaven according to Catholic doctrine? For example, do good atheists, or good homosexuals get into heaven? Do good non-Catholics get into heaven? And what about all the good people who came before Jesus? To clarify, when I say “good” I mean someone who has done many good deeds on this Earth (excluding miscarriages, abortion babies, babies who die like immediately after birth, etc.), who are sorry for what they did wrong, and do their best to improve that behavior. Also, could you show me the source in Catholic doctrine that supports your claim? For those who comment, thank you very much for taking the time to read to my question. God bless you all.
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No. You’re defining “good” according to what the world tells us is good. And perhaps there is true good, but you do not get to define what is a “good” person. Jesus is clear: no one is good but God alone.

The fact is, no one is good. The moment you said your first lie, stole your first paperclip, entertained the first impure thought, you ceased to be good and merited hell. It’s not because God loves to “punish” us. It’s because for as long as we have sin, we are incapable of living in God’s presence. We are not saved by our works; we are saved only by grace, and that grace was won by Jesus on the Cross. Only in the blood of Jesus does one find forgiveness, and therefore salvation.

Therefore, who goes to heaven are not “good” people. Those go to heaven who die in the state of God’s friendship and grace.
 
Shikomu said:
So, just to clarify. God will not punish those who are good, regardless of whether they believe in him. Yes?
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Yes, and to reiterate Agatha’s post, “tose 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.337”

The Church recognizes in man an innate good, as a consequence of man being created “in the image and likeness of God.”
 
It is something of an open theological question as to how wide or narrow the path of salvation may be for non-Christian believers and unbelievers. Here is JP2 on this topic:
However, as I wrote in the Encyclical Redemptoris missio, the gift of salvation cannot be limited “to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all”.
https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP950531.htm
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My opinion is that all human persons have ample opportunity to enter, remain in, and return to, the state of grace, so as to die in the state of grace. I think atheists can love God implicitly, by loving their neighbor, and can have faith implicitly by believing in love, truth, justice, etc. I also think the easiest path to Heaven is to be a believing and practicing Roman Catholic.
 
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It will not be shocking if there are countless natives, from before the world was so linked together, who have no knowledge of Jesus Christ at all. God is perfect in His goodness and justice. Everybody is given the opportunity, even the ones who had no knowledge of who Jesus was. I can only assume these people would be judged on their love…which God is the author of.

1 John 4:16
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them”
 
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Shikomu said:
Who gets into heaven?
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Well, me for one. Don’t mean to be presumptuous, but…

Look man, if you are not catholic just make sure your heart confesses. An honest heart that seeks the greater good and confesses of it’s sins is worth more than a Catholic that confesses nothing.

I would not believe in a religion whose god condemns non-Catholics for merely being what you might call spiritually short-sighted. We are all born into ignorance with nothing but our life experiences and what our families teach us. God forgives an honest heart. And i imagine there will be people in heaven who were atheists and gay and Buddhist in their lifetime. That being said, while God’s love stretches beyond the walls of the church, this does not mean that there is not any one path that we must follow. The correct path to salvation is through the catholic church. It is a grave matter. You could still go to hell if your heart is not open to God. And as far as that is concerned we are not allowed to be willfully ignorant. Only invincible ignorance can save a non-catholic…

Why did you ask? Thinking of becoming Catholic?
 
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I am considering becoming Catholic, and I wanted to know the details of eligibility into heaven in the Catholic faith. When you say willful ignorance, do you mean in this life?
 
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