Posted on 05/12/2014 7:17:32 AM PDT by Welchie25
Before I started reading Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It, I wasn't sure what to expect. I am a regular reader of Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog, Conversion Diary, so I knew the author was an excellent writer with six children and an intense fear of scorpions.
I also knew she had made the journey from atheism to Catholicism.
As Jennifer raised questions about Christianity and then Catholicism, sometimes I found myself arguing with her. Other times I realized she was asking a question I couldn’t easily answer myself. Why does God answer some people’s prayers and not others? Why do people commit evil acts? Why don’t I ask myself these questions more often?
I knew Jennifer would end up becoming Catholic, but there were many pages when that conversion seemed unlikely, if not impossible. Then bit by bit, determined as she seemed to be not to become Christian—and then Catholic—she would inch a little bit closer. She’d find an answer to another question, or she’d open herself just a bit more to the possibilities she was being offered. Suddenly I’d realize she was a step closer to finding her faith home.
As a cradle Catholic, I can’t point to many specific “aha” faith moments in my life when I knew that God existed, when I fell in love with Jesus for the first time, or when I realized the Catholic Church was where I belonged. As much as my faith has deepened and grown over time, I have always felt certain that the Catholic Church is my home. I never hid in bathroom stalls to read a Bible or tossed faith questions into the blogosphere waiting and hoping for answers.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicreview.org ...
Do people that do not ever have that “aha” moment or just get that feeling, go to hell?
Does everybody get that chance, the chance to turn toward the Light and side with the Light? I would say, yes.
With so many persons throughout history that are/were not Christians, why would you say yes?
If one never gets that chance, do they go to hell?
Is there a non-Christian light available to those of other faiths, that makes them turn to that particular faith?
Because I do not think a person has to be a professing Christian to be saved. The Bible says that Jesus is "The Light who enlighteneth every man, who has come into the world." (John 1:9) That would be an indication that He doesn't just enlighten professed Christians.
As a reasonable inference from this, the Catholic Church teaches that there is something called "Baptism of Desire," which is that a person, assisted by God's grace, might sincerely desire to do whatever it is that the Good God intends for him (thought he does not know what that is.) This entails an implicit desire for baptism.
"If one never gets that chance, do they go to hell?"
No, that would be an injustice. God is so just that when the final judgments are know, every person --- ever one of us --- will say, "My God, that was exactly right." And His mercy desires that all be saved. "God desires that all men be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).
"Is there a non-Christian light available to those of other faiths, that makes them turn to that particular faith?"
I don't know how to answer that question, since it would entail people turning to some religion which is a mixture of truth and falsehood, or which is at best incomplete. I don't know how to sort that out, but God does.
I do know that God resists the proud, but is exceedingly generous to the humble. "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way." Psalm 25:9
The key seem to be a sincere appeal to God: "O Lord, teach me your way." It's a prayer He will not fail to hear, and His assistance is sure. You can count on that.
If they are not Christian, how would they know they need saving? Does God let everyone know this personally, or do they have to hear it from another person or book?
If God sorts things out for people of non-Christian faiths, what is the wrong with not being a Christian?
When a non-Christian prays and asks to be taught His way or needs help, does God hear them?
"If they are not Christian, how would they know they need saving? Does God let everyone know this personally, or do they have to hear it from another person or book?"
There's always a lot of close-cut defining and even sharp controversy about what is meant by "being saved," but my own thought is that at some point --- maybe it takes a stage of maturity, some hard life experience --- that makes people realize...
"Something just ain't right."
You realize it about yourself: "I do bad stuff that I said I'd never do." ... "The human race seems tawdry, corrupt, ignoble." ... "But I'm human too, and I can't claim to be above or aloof from that sort of thing." ... "Where am I going? Nowhere, it seems." .. "What am I here for? Nothing, it seems." ... "Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound fury, signifying noting." (Shakespeare)"
At that point, you've got an inkling that, "No, I'm not OK."
You realize that you were not just born into a life that's free and easy and satisfying in all its natural aspects. Actually, you were born into a predicament. Something is really uncomfortable, around you and IN you. And you can't really make it all "OK" on our own. And that's the beginning of wisdom.
"If God sorts things out for people of non-Christian faiths, what is the wrong with not being a Christian?"
One must not presume upon God, that all you need to do is coast along and He'll sort everything out. If that were the case, the Bible would not be full of imperative verbs like "Turn from your evil deeds." "Listen." "Choose life." "Repent and be baptized, every one of you." (Acts 2:38). And many other messages in a commanding tone: yes, this is imperative.
The fact is, every one of us in the human race is in a desperate position, as described above. If you just "go with the flow," you're going right over Niagara Falls to death --- an absurd death, and limitless personal destruction.
You come to realize this. You say, with St. Paul, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" (Romans 7:24)
God has provided for salvation through Jesus Christ, who is both God and Man, the only possible way to be rescued from corruption in every dimension of the word: moral corruption and the loss of your mind, death and rotting away. The only way to be safe is to be united with Him. I mean that literally: to become part of Him. To be incorporated in Him. To be joined to him, like a branch is joined to a Vine. He is Life. You need to be connected to Him as closely as ever you can.
"When a non-Christian prays and asks to be taught His way or needs help, does God hear them?"
((((Big grin))))) --- ABSOLUTELY. God is delighted to receive such prayers, at any time, from anyone. Anyone who approaches with sincerity of heart. He will supply everything.
Even if you think to yourself, "Can I even say I'm 'sincere'? I'm kind of a weaselly guy. Half the time I think I'm bullsh*tting myself. Maybe I'm just flattering myself with the thought that I'm 'seeking the truth'."
Even if that's so, OK, you can pray for sincerity. You can pray for God to show you how to pray because you don't know how to pray. You can pray that God will accept you even though you know you're somewhat of a phony. (Not that I'm accusing you or insulting you here. When you're honest with yourself these things come to mind.)
No matter. "Ask and it will be given unto you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened unto you."
That's a promise.
In response to your first para, I don’t think hard lives are just for Christians.
I don’t understand the rest.
I am sorry to have written so obscurely. But it seems to me that anyone who asks to find "the way, the truth, the life" will find it.
Ok
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