It is basically the same thing that many Protestants believe, that if you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, your sins will be forgiven and you will go to heaven (the difference being that many of these same Protestants believe that, after that point, once saved, always saved).
What we do know is that God desires all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). If a person sincerely repents of any and all of his past sins, God in his mercy will save him.
I think it would have if he could have and did, but I don’t think he could have, given the circumstances of his death.
As to his reception: how was the prodigal son received?
I donāt think thatās just a Catholic belief. I think itās a Christian believe.
John the Baptist talked about repentance. And Jesus said John was the greatest of all the prophets.
I take ārepentanceā to mean ask for forgiveness like you really mean it. Not just as an insurance policy, or to cover all your bases.
So if Hitler truly repented and accepted Christā¦well, Iāll let folks decide about that for themselves. But I suppose you can guess my opinion from what I said above.
I believe Hitler committed suicide by shooting himself. Hard to seek contrition between squeezing a round into your own brain and creating grey matter jello
That would not fall within your scenario-so- NO.
Hebrews 8:12-13
King James Version
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
People like Hitler, and many in the democrat party have hardened hearts. They do not have the capacity to repent. Even if they wanted to, they can’t.
Perhaps when they were younger it could have happened, but it didn’t.
The real problem is that we believe our sins are not as bad as Hitler’s - but to God, all sin is the same and is punishable by death! Only in Christ can this certain (and well deserved) death be avoided - but not by anything we can say or do. If Hitler asked for the forgiveness of Jesus, he would receive it the same as we would - - our sins are no worse than his.
https://www.gotquestions.org/hardened-heart.html
However, if we donāt confess our sins, they have a cumulative and desensitizing effect on the conscience, making it difficult to even distinguish right from wrong. And this sinful and hardened heart is tantamount to the āseared conscienceā Paul speaks of in 1 Timothy 4:1ā2. Scripture makes it clear that if we relentlessly continue to engage in sin, there will come a time when God will give us over to our ādebased mindā and let us have it our way.
Since Hitler was in a state of mortal sin, he would have to confess to a priest and be absolved of those sins. A simple act of contrition would not apply, that would be for venial sins. Also Hitler would not go to Heaven even if he had made a confession. He would go to Purgatory. Who knows for how long?
That is the greatness of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the perfect sacrifice. No sin is so great that his blood can't wash it away.
This might offend Jews and many others. But it's actually Good News. Because if even the worst sinners can be forgiven, then that improves our own chances of being forgiven.
And we ALL need to be forgiven, because NOBODY deserves salvation.
This is the uniqueness of Christianity. All other religions -- Judaism, Islam, paganism, Hinduism -- believe that if you lead a good life, you will be rewarded, and if you lead a bad life, you will be punished. They differ on the definition of Good, and the specific reward, but they agree on the basics.
Only Christianity says that it doesn't matter how "good" a life a person lives -- EVERYONE deserves to burn in Hell. Yet EVERYONE can be forgiven, not by their own acts, but by accepting Christ.
It's been said that you'll be surprised at who you meet in Heaven. And who didn't make it.
Thus, in Catholic theology, there are two types of contrition (i.e., sorrow for sins). There is imperfect contrition, and perfect contrition.
Imperfect contrition is sorrow for your sins because of less-than-perfect motives. They are still good motives, just less than perfect. Examples might be that you are sorry because you dread the loss of heaven or the pains of hell. Or it could be because you have a natural disgust for the sin itself, or because you're sorry for the harm you caused others. All of these are good motives, but they are not perfect.
Perfect contrition, on the other hand, is sorrow for your sins because they offend God, Who is the perfect Being, and to Whom we owe all our love.
So it's not an act of contrition that is done perfectly, which is impossible. Rather it is an act of perfect contrition, meaning that the primary motive for our sorrow is love of God, Who is all good, and deserving of all our love.
Of course, we should strive to make this Act of Perfect Contrition as perfectly as our human nature allows, because we love God above all things and want to express that sorrow as perfectly as we can. Also, because as humans we tend to do things poorly, it's good to get in the habit of praying for the grace from God to be sorry for our sins as sincerely, and perfectly as possible. We should examine our consciences every night, make a specific resolution for the next day, and make an Act of Perfect Contrition, relying on God's love, mercy and grace.
This is one common prayer used as an Act of Contrition. You will note that it contains both an act of imperfect contrition, as well as an act of perfect contrition.
I don't want to get in an argument about this. I'm just explaining what the Catholic theology is. So I will not respond to comments from Protestants who disagree with the teaching. It is what it is. Accept it or don't.
Two different ministers explained it this way:
1st Minister asked me ‘do you believe that Christ died for your sins. I said yes. She said so...only the little sins? Christ died for ALL sin, no conditions.
Second minister: we all die and sleep until the second coming. At that time, Christ will raise up the ‘just’ - the believers - into heaven. Then He will raise up the ‘unjust’ - those who didnt accept Him during their life - and they will be given a choice. Maybe at this point Hitler will choose to go south.
All souls return to the Maker that sent themā¦. However, according to the parable of the rich man a āgulfā separates those that overcome from the unbelievers. Nobody alive can say with a certainty that Hitler or Martin Luther have been judged to hell. The only named entity hell bound is Lucifer/Satan/the devil.. the unnamed fallen angels are judged to death. They get tossed out of heaven along with Satan to play like Jesus. As in the days of Noe.
What is ā a perfect act of contritionā?
"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"
Hitler would have NEVER made perfect Act of Contrition - he was incapable.
again dumb question
If such a one were to have perfect contrition and express it to a priest he might go to Heaven He would leave his shell of evil behind and it would not affect Heaven.