Dear CT —

Close But no cigar!

The Church does not teach that all who are good will go to Heaven. The Church says that Christ can save whom He wishes to save. The Church is limited to preaching the Gospel of faith in Christ and Baptism. However, God is not limited to anything!! God gives grace to whomever seeks it. Furthermore, St. Paul in the book of Romans spoke of those not having the Law, but doing the Law, being a Law unto themselves. (Romans 2:17-24)

The Bible says that God desires all men to be saved, therefore in the case of everyone's salvation, the Church puts that in the hands of God, relying on His Grace and Mercy. Finally, if a non-believer is saved, then it because of Christ's shed Blood, not because of their own righteousness or their own religion.

Having said that, it is sad that more Catholics don't share Christ. That does not mean the Church's doctrines are incorrect. It means we have lukewarm Catholics.

I hope this clears things up.

Under His Mercy,

John DiMascio

Dear CT —

I wanted reply to the second part of your comment.

You said:

• Why does the Church waste its time sending missionaries to other countries, if these people are going to Heaven anyway?

In fact, if a person was going to Heaven because of their ignorance, and someone then tells them about Jesus but they did not believe, they would go to Hell.

• Therefore, why would Jesus tell His Apostles and disciples to go and tell others about Him,
  (Matthew 28:18-20) if this would damn them, instead of allowing them to use a plea of ignorance which would get them to Heaven?

I believe Catholics do not go out and talk about Christ except to other Catholics, because they do not feel it is necessary.

Each of us has a personal culpability or responsibility for what we know, and all mankind, men and women, are culpable for developing their faith in a fuller measure than is it now.

• For the Catholic, this means studying more about the Church, knowing Her teachings, and living a complete, prayerful, and sacramental Christian life.
  
  
• For the Protestant, this means studying the Word of God more, and being open to the history:
  • of their own denomination
  • of the Scriptures from within the Catholic Church; where it was written and canonized by Catholic bishops, guided by the Holy Spirit, and
  • of the Early Church Fathers, the very first Catholic Christians, and
  • the history of the Church Herself, going back to Matthew 16:13-19 and Pentecost Acts 2:1-13.
    
    
• For the Jewish believer, this means:
  • studying the Old Testament and its teachings
  • being open to reading the New Testament of Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph; this is who Jesus is! and
  • being open to faith-sharing conversations with Christians, especially Catholic Christians who have so much in common with their divinely, chosen heritage.
    
    
• For those of other faiths or no faith, this means being open to the natural law that is written on their hearts. The natural law are those impulses that tell us inside,
  This is right. or This is wrong., without being told something is right or wrong by some other external organization or person.

In each situation, we cannot rationalize from what we should do!

Your asking such a question shows that your salvation will not depend on your ignorance but on how much you develop your love for the Truth (and the Church) and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Your brother in prayer, your brother in Christ,

Mike Humphrey