Outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation??

There is considerable confusion about the Catholic teaching of salvation. I found this on the internet. It was written by a former Presbyterian who became Catholic as an adult. It should be easy to understand he explains the docterine very well. .........

The phrase (in Latin, "Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus" or "Outside the Church there is no salvation") is a very ancient one, going back to the very early days of Christianity. It was originally meant to affirm the necessity of baptism and Christian faith at a time when

(a) A number of Christians were being tempted under torture to renounce their faith and deny Christ. (He's talking about the Roman Empire and Nero's persecution of Christians, throwing them to lions and such.) (b) Large groups of Christians were being led into "pseudo-Christian" cult-type groups, which were actually just a front for pagan philosophy and religion. (Such as the cult of Mithras which I think was practiced around the time after Jesus died.)

In response, bishops repeated that, if a person were to be aware of the meaning of Christ and then freely deny him or reject him, they had essentially turned away from God and the salvation he offers.

As Christians, we believe that we are saved only through Jesus. As St. Peter reminds his audience in Acts 4:12: "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved." In most cases, this means that we believe baptism in water, in the name of the Trinity, is the fundamental requirement for salvation.

However, even from the beginning, the great Christian writer and teacher St. Augustine said that the salvation imparted through baptism can also be imparted through other means: specifically, through the "baptism of blood" (a non-Christian who dies defending Christian beliefs or holy places) and "the baptism of desire" (a non-Christian who has expressed a firm desire to become a Christian, and who shows all the signs of living a Christian life, but who dies before baptism). In both of those cases, the Church has always recognized that the Holy Spirit leads people to God in ways which we cannot always explain or document.

God is able to save anyone he chooses. We trust that he often does this is ways that are not obvious to us, within the hearts of individuals who are sincerely seeking the truth. Otherwise, it would imply that all of humanity was excluded from salvation before Christ came, and that much of humanity (which has not had the opportunity to hear the Christian message until recently) was doomed to be eternally separated from God. This would imply a very cruel and elitist God. Our belief as Christians and Catholics is that God desires the salvation of all people … even those who are not Christian. How he achieves that, however, is a mystery. But we know that our God is a loving God who would not allow people to suffer on account of an ignorance that they were not responsible for.

The Church teaches that baptism, faith, and a life lived in Christ are necessary for salvation. However, Vatican II also taught that, within every human heart, God places the law of conscience. Everybody has a deep sense of right and wrong which ultimately comes from God, and which will lead people to God if they attempt to follow their conscience faithfully. Because Jesus is God, those who move in the direction of God (even non-Christians) are ultimately moving in the direction of Jesus. And if they are moving in the direction of Jesus and His truth, ultimately they are expressing a desire for the salvation that God gives. The Church teaches that, while it is certainly easier to receive salvation as a Christian, it is not impossible to receive salvation in other religions.

This is a challenging situation: on one hand, we must be respectful of the good things to be found in other faiths, and encourage people to live their faiths with sincerity and love.

On the other hand, this does not mean that all religions are the same. We believe that Christ is the ultimate revealing of God to the world, and that the more we know about his message, the greater the chance that we will accept his offer and be saved. We must therefore continue to preach the message of the Gospel, and encourage interested non-Catholics to examine the claims of our faith, without in any way coercing or intimidating them.

Father Feeney was an American priest who, back in the 1940s, taught that if a person was not a Roman Catholic, they were condemned to hell. This has never been the accepted teaching of Catholicism, and Father Feeney was reprimanded by the Vatican for his mistaken understanding.

Nevertheless, there are groups which continue to hold to this strict interpretation, even after the Pope and bishops have specifically rejected it.

The phrase "Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus" teaches us that salvation is only through Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. But God is able to save whomever he pleases, whether they are baptized in the Roman Catholic Church or not.

It is important to remember that "the Church" in this phrase does not refer exclusively to the Roman Catholic Church. Salvation is a great gift, and God is a loving Father who wants all of his children to receive it. How he works this out, however, we will only understand in heaven. That is why, whenever we quote "Outside the Church, there is no salvation", we should also remember that "God is in no way bound by the sacraments."

Until then, we continue to proclaim Jesus as Lord (evangelization) and engage in respectful dialogue with followers of other religions, to discover the truths that God had revealed to them to guide them toward salvation, and to share with them the truth as we have discovered it in Christ.

You can look it up yourself...and you're welcome! ;-D (*Did I address you?*)

Yes you did, indirectly, by replying to Theresa's reply to my reply. At any rate which passage are you referring to? There are several. I am not sure that this is an exhaustive list:

Matthew 11:15 - He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 13:9 - Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 13:43 - Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 4:9 - And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 4:23 - If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 7:16 - If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Luke 8:8 - And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Luke 14:35 - It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Revelation 2:7 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Revelation 2:11 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Revelation 2:17 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Revelation 2:29 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Revelation 3:6 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Revelation 3:13 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Revelation 3:22 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

"Thus, since perfection is the standard by which he judges us, salvation must originate with God, since we have no natural desire toward him."

I agree that salvation originates with God but disagree that we have no natural desire toward him. We do have a natural desire toward him but we are dragged down by original sin and by temptations toward adding to our imperfect state by actual sin.

"God's salvation is provided through the vicarious death of Christ and his subsequent resurrection, "

Of course.

"to shun this or to say that other ways are also valid is to say that Christ died in vain, and that God made a mockery of him."

See you just don't understand what I am saying. Never once have I written that anyone who is saved is saved by his own religion on his own merits or by his own works. Not once have I said that other ways are also valid in and of themselves. (I would say though that other ways are only valid insofar as they mirror Christianity.) Never once would I or have I asserted that anyone could get into heaven had not Jesus died on the cross to open the gates of heaven. And I have asserted that no one who is saved and in heaven is anything but a Christian believer, though they may not have been explicitly Christian in life.

And honestly I think your position is more likely to make it seem like Christ died in vain, at least for the millions of people who never heard of him, or others who having heard the good news, for some reason, (not thier fault) that only the searching perfect God can know where not able to come to see the good news for what it really is.

I just don't understand why you don't understand.

It seems that you are saying that man can fall farther than he did in the garden. I will maintain that man is totally depraved, and deserving of Hell from his birth, there is no need to fall farther. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this point.

"God's salvation is provided through the vicarious death of Christ and his subsequent resurrection, "

I'm glad we agree on this point.

I will maintain that Jesus died only for the elect (those that would come to know him), not for every man woman and child on the Earth. If he had died for the whole world, then we could, by our own will, render his sacrifice as worthless by shunning him. To say that he died only for the elect validates his sacrifice in that it accomplished what he meant for it to accomplish.

As for those who came before, it is said that Christ also descended into Hell to bring them into relationship with him.

As for those who "never heard", Romans Chapter 1 states that God reveals himself in his creation so that man is without excuse (my paraphrase).

We will perhaps never agree on this either.

Thank you for being patient with me.

As for your parenthetical statement (I would say though that other ways are only valid insofar as they mirror Christianity.). When you say mirror, do you mean approximate or directly reflect Christianity. What about LDS, and Jehovah's Witnesses, that deny the transcendent divinity of Christ?

You stated: "If he had died for the whole world, then we could, by our own will, render his sacrifice as worthless by shunning him. To say that he died only for the elect validates his sacrifice in that it accomplished what he meant for it to accomplish."

It's interesting you talk about the elect, I just reread this recently to be sure I remembered it correctly. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17 It certainly sounds to me as though Christ meant THE WORLD, when He said "THE WORLD." Perhaps you have a different idea...

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