Replies

"Roman Catholics believe devout Muslims are saved."

If that is true, then, sorry, but those Roman Catholics are wrong. I don't think it is true, however. My mother and father are both very devout RC's and I know that they don't believe that devout Muslims are saved. Muslims do not believe in salvation through Jesus Christ (who by His death paid the penalty for our sins that we could never pay) so to believe that they are saved by being devout Muslims is wrong doctrine. The Bible (God's Word) is very clear on that.

Catholicism does not teach the same doctrine of salvation that most Protestants believe in.

"Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed...a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ...for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Galations 1:8, 2:16

"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8,9

Compare and contrast that with the Roman Catholic Church's teaching:

"If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law [of the Roman Catholic Church] are not necessary for salvation but...that without them...men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification...let him be anathema." Council of Trent, 7, General, 4

God Himself declares that it is by faith alone, yet the Catholic Church feels they can countermand God.

But one of the many reasons I left the Catholic church.

"Those Roman Catholics are wrong. I don't think it is true, however. My mother and father are both very devout RC's and I know that they don't believe that devout Muslims are saved. Muslims do not believe in salvation through Jesus Christ (who by His death paid the penalty for our sins that we could never pay) so to believe that they are saved by being devout Muslims is wrong doctrine."

I guess this is an area where "devout RC's" aren't always in agreement! I imagine most of us would accept Mother Teresa as a devout Roman Catholic. Here's what she says about the conversion experience:

"What we are all trying to do by our work, by serving the people, is to come closer to God. If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are, and then by being better we come closer and closer to Him. If we accept Him fully in our lives, then that is conversion. What approach would I use? For me, naturally, it would be a Catholic one, for you it may be Hindu, for someone else, Buddhist, according to one's conscience. What God is in your mind you must accept." [Desmond Doig, "Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work."]

"Those Roman Catholics are wrong. I don't think it is true, however. My mother and father are both very devout RC's and I know that they don't believe that devout Muslims are saved. Muslims do not believe in salvation through Jesus Christ (who by His death paid the penalty for our sins that we could never pay) so to believe that they are saved by being devout Muslims is wrong doctrine."

I guess this is an area where "devout RC's" aren't always in agreement! I imagine most of us would accept Mother Teresa as a devout Roman Catholic. Here's what she says about the conversion experience:

"What we are all trying to do by our work, by serving the people, is to come closer to God. If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are, and then by being better we come closer and closer to Him. If we accept Him fully in our lives, then that is conversion. What approach would I use? For me, naturally, it would be a Catholic one, for you it may be Hindu, for someone else, Buddhist, according to one's conscience. What God is in your mind you must accept." [Desmond Doig, "Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work."]

But one of the many reasons I left the Catholic church.

You and I, as well -- and a veritable HOST of others -- I might add.

Pablo, you rejection of the Church that Christ founded is similar to the rejection by those in the 6th Chapter of St. John's Gospel. The very sacrament of the Holy Eucharist that the Catholic Church has preserved was being discussed by Christ Himself. Unfortunatly, Protestantism 1500 years later repeated the rejection of this 'hard' saying even though Christ said it was necessary for their salvation: Chapter 6 of John [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. [50] This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. [51] I am the living bread which came down from heaven. [52] If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. [53] The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? [54] Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. [55] He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. [56] For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. [57] He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. [58] As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. [59] This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever. [60] These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. [61] Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? [62] But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you? [63] If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? [64] It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. [65] But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him. [66] And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father. [67] After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him.

If that is true, then, sorry, but those Roman Catholics are wrong. I don't think it is true, however.

It's in the New Catechism.