Posted by Christ_empowered on June 9, 2011, at 21:03:18
In reply to Re: CE, question.... » Christ_empowered, posted by floatingbridge on June 9, 2011, at 14:37:01
I doubt there's a quiz before they let you in the door for mass, but the Church's official teaching is that Christ is the way to Heaven (no man gets to the Father except by me--its in the Bible somewhere).
Personally, it took me a while to become convinced of Christ's claim to exclusivity. I mean, there are so many paths to salvation and enlightenment, how do we know? I came to the conclusion that if I became a Christian, I'd have to take Christ at His word. When He said He was the only way to the Father, I was obligated to believe it. When He said that He was God made flesh, I had to accept that.
Like I said, though, I think the Catholic Church's official teachings allow for more flexibility on salvation than your typical Protestant. Someone might not accept Christ because they've never been taught the Gospel, they might be afflicted with some sort of psychological issue that prevents them from seeing the truth, they may have been heavily indoctrinated into another faith, so on and so forth. I'm no expert on Catholic beliefs, but I think they tend to be a little more humane when it comes to the fate of the unbeliever than, say, the Pentecostals.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:985024
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20101230/msgs/987596.html