It is obviously better to follow Christ’s teaching if possible but unbaptized infants wouldn’t be deprived of life in Heaven through no fault of their own. Jesus died for all of us regardless of age or any other factor.Uh huh, right. We’ve been down this road before. Just read the posts in this thread by “Pope_St_Leo.” He or she is exactly right about traditional Catholic understandings of this subject.
Ironically I grew up before 1960 and am very familiar with Catholic theology of that era. It has developed in other ways but it has the same fundamental teaching that** Jesus died for everyone without exception. **
Correct; and that only makes sense if it is man himself that brings the last judgment on to himself. It is man that destroys his path to heaven and locks the door on God. God doesn’t change his mind, he is forever seeking us.
The upshot is that only God knows who is in hell and it serves no useful purpose to speculate. It is significant that the OP looks on the black side. Why not ask "Will few men be damned?
The key words are “truly repentant.”
Isnt it doctrinal teaching that we are all born broken thanks to Adam and Eve? So yes, all of us are so diabolical we deserve eternal punishment. St. Faustina said if we only knew how even the smallest sins wound Jesus very deeply, and we are all sinners.
Right, and acceptance has to be proven by good works, or we are lost to Christ.
The Point i am making is that God’s will for your salvation is eternal. It is not God that closes the door. And therefore the number of sins as compared to the number of Good a man has produced in his life is really besides the point. True repentance is the key. The wound of sin may be very deep, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that man will close the door on God forever and it certainly does not mean that God will not embrace him with open arms for all eternity.The key words are “truly repentant.”
If the “wound of sin” is very deep, how many will be truly repentant?
It is perhaps injudicious to suppose that we can sin like hell so long as we plan to repent at the end?
Not a gamble I would make.
Goes back to the ancient Church, St. Cyprian (bishop of Carthage, died 258 A.D.):
:clapping: Farewell, prophets of doom and damnation!
Reading over all of the comments on this topic of how many or how few will be saved I felt compelled to register with the site and throw in my own 2 cents.
Arguing over who will be saved such as those who are baptized or have the desire for baptism or even if an infant w/o baptism can be saved, saves no one. Seems to me baptism is simply one of the graces bestowed on man from God. A gift that can’t be taken away only neglected. What good is baptism to the person who receives but doesn’t believe all their former sins are forgiven? Baptism is one of those 10 talents given to all the faithful. Don’t let us be caught in being ungrateful for such a massive gift. But surely baptism in itself does not do the full work of salvation.
Many saints have visited purgatory and they bring us back stories of baptized Catholics who are there some of them in the lower parts of purgatory bordering hell. Surely they are baptized, clearly baptism in itself is not enough. There must be that change of heart and conversion. Love of God and love of neighbor…
To me the whole of the question discussed here is summed up with these 2 parables, which I hope all who read this attain to it.
- The Parable of the Good Samaritan
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’**”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”- The Judgment of the Nations.*
f “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations* will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous* will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
i And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’God wants ALL men to be saved, even those who are outside the Catholic Church and one true faith. I do whole heartedly believe the catholic who receives all the sacraments but neglects those outside the church can not be saved. He is that servant who is bound and cast out for burieing the talent and not multpling it. If you convert one soul to the church and that soul receives forgiveness and peace with God how much great fullness will you receive from that immortal soul who was destined to perish? A friend threw eternity you have gained. If you have in your lifetime never thought to convert a soul or showed little concern for those outside you will be called that ungrateful lazy servant on that terrible day. Which God pray none of us hear**
- Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
This is talking about Baptism of Blood, aka being a martyr, which requires a conscious and reasoned decision. Infants cant be martyrs because they cannot reason. They also can’t accept Christ’s redemption as a result of being incapable of reasoning.
An infant can be a martyr. Holy Innocents Case