(January 30, 2018 at 10:16 am)SteveII Wrote:(January 29, 2018 at 7:13 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote:
So to clarify, everyone who does not die as a Christian is going to Hell, unless they have never heard of Jesus/gospels?
Yes. Even if they have never heard, they most respond to God on what has been revealed to them (which can be a lot). That's why I think ancient people almost universally believed in the supernatural. The Wise Men in the NT are a good example. They found evidence of God and followed it (literally!).
Quote:Do you think it is possible to do this after you die? Example: Ghandi died a Hindu because he sincerely believed it was the right religion. He dies, sees Jesus, and realizes he was wrong, and wants to be with Jesus. Is it too late? Is he really damned to Hell for an honest mistake?
My understanding of purgatory is that it is a place for Christians who need to work on a few things. It is not a place for people like Ghandi to change their mind about things (become a Christian). So it would seem that by both protestant and Catholic doctrine, Ghandi failed to make the cut because he was certainly aware of the message of salvation by Jesus yet chose not to believe it (at least as far as we know) and therefore died without having dealt with the basic human condition: sin separates us from God.
To clarify here, Catholicism certainly does not teach that people of other faiths are damned, and that only people who died Christian go to Purgatory. We make no such judgements on the state of souls that way. Though I wasn't referring to Purgatory specifically, since I know it's not part of your faith... just curious what your thoughts were on some sort of last chance after death, once the person realizes they were wrong.
Don't you think if you were born into the Muslim faith, for example, that's what you'd be? Impossible to say of course, but my point is that it seems like almost always it's a matter of luck that you were born into the "right" circumstances, if another circumstance would have led you to eternal damnation.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh