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Hi, Danielle —
Scripture tells us that salvation
is by faith in Jesus Christ:
"Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved, but whoever
does not believe will be condemned." (Mark
16:16)
"Whoever believes in him
is not condemned, but whoever
does not believe stands condemned
already because he has not believed
in the name of God's one and only
Son." (John 3:18)
There is a popular misconception
that people who do good, go to Heaven,
and people who do evil go to Hell,
and that's that. This is not what
the Bible teaches, and not what Catholicism
teaches. It's a heresy known as Pelagianism.
If this is what you believe, I challenge
you to identify where you got the
idea from, and how you know it is
true.
- Was it divinely revealed by God,
or is it just a myth you picked
up from the culture?
It is in fact true, according to
Catholic tradition, that someone
who does not know about Jesus through
no fault of their own can be saved
if they faithfully follow the dictates
of their conscience. But that is a big if, and it almost certainly
doesn't apply to someone who grew
up in the faith, having heard the
Gospel. To knowingly and freely reject
the Gospel, and that includes
believing in God, is certain
condemnation.
Think of it this way.
- Would you marry someone who doesn't
love you?
God's relationship to the Church
is as a groom to his bride.
- Why should He include you in
that marriage if you don't love
Him?
- For that matter, if you don't
love God, why would you want to
spend eternity with Him?
- Salvation is friendship
with God. If you refused to be
friends with him on earth, why
should He bring you to himself
in Heaven?
God ultimately is Our Judge; he knows
our conscience. I can't say whether
you will or will not go to Hell,
either as of now, or ultimately;
I can only lay down the principles.
I can conceive of a case where someone
mistakenly has a distorted view of
God that they simply can't believe
in, and quite rightly, because it
isn't true. So they reject a God
that doesn't exist and, through no
fault of their own, they never overcome
that misconception. Such a person
could be saved with great difficulty.
Just a few things to think about.
Eric
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