Is Catholicism the ONLY true faith?

[Lybrah]

Recently, someone told me that Catholicism is the only true faith, and that Protestants are heretics and may go to hell. When I told him I didn't pray to Mary and the Saints, he got quiet and claimed that Jesus' disciples and the first Christians were really Catholics. He claimed that anyone who rejects any kind of doctrine is a heretic. Thoughts? I don't believe him, but part of me questions if he is right? It doesn't make sense that someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, rose from the dead, and keeps His commandments would not go to heaven because he was not a Catholic. It kind of upset me, actually.

BTW, not sure where to put this thread, so sorry if it is in the wrong place.

 

[Albion]

Recently, someone told me that Catholicism is the only true faith, and that Protestants are heretics and may go to hell. When I told him I didn't pray to Mary and the Saints, he got quiet and claimed that Jesus' disciples and the first Christians were really Catholics. He claimed that anyone who rejects any kind of doctrine is a heretic. Thoughts?

That's what they're taught, and they recite it all here on CF with regularity. The Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons will likewise argue forever that the original Christian church died and wasn't reborn until the 19th century and in the form of their respective churches.

So we take all these kinds of claims for granted, knowing that they are all intended to explain to the membership of whichever church that their denomination is the only real church and no one else's is valid. Most churches, however, do not feel the need to teach that the organization is more important than the faith.

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

No. The Orthodox is.

 

[Albion]

I apologize if you think I should have included your church in my earlier post.

 

[NothingIsImpossible]

They often believe they were the first church to exist and hence the only and true church. I can't get to into it due to rules but I can say they weren't actually the first church group. And they are not the only true one. Jesus leads to salvation, not a specific branch or denomination. The only difference with all these groups is how the interpret the bible, hence many ones have rules. One church may allow for casual clothes where as another more only allow long dresses on women. One church may teach tounges is a sign of salvation another church may teach tounges is irrelevant to salvation. So on and so forth.

 

[Soyeong]

Recently, someone told me that Catholicism is the only true faith, and that Protestants are heretics and may go to hell. When I told him I didn't pray to Mary and the Saints, he got quiet and claimed that Jesus' disciples and the first Christians were really Catholics. He claimed that anyone who rejects any kind of doctrine is a heretic. Thoughts? I don't believe him, but part of me questions if he is right? It doesn't make sense that someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, rose from the dead, and keeps His commandments would not go to heaven because he was not a Catholic. It kind of upset me, actually.

BTW, not sure where to put this thread, so sorry if it is in the wrong place.

There are Protestants who believe that Catholics are heretics and may go to hell, so it is tempting to view ourselves as the one true Church. It is also tempting to try to trace our roots back to the 1st century and say that the disciples and the first Christians were part of our denomination. I think a simple test of that would be to look at whether Jesus and his disciples followed commands that we do not and whether we follow commands that they did not, and speaking as a non-Catholic, it seems pretty clear that Catholics fail this test hands down. In Mark 7:6-9 and Matthew 15:1-9, Jesus criticized the Pharisees for being hypocrites for setting aside the commands of God in order to establish their own traditions, and this is precisely what Catholics have done, so we are by no means heretics accepting all the doctrine that Messiah taught by word and by example and for rejecting doctrine that goes against what he taught. Messiah, his disciples, and the first Christians were all Jews for roughly 7-15 years after Messiah's resurrection up until to the inclusion of Gentiles in Acts 10, so it clear to me that they do not trace back to the first Christians, but have fashioned them after their own image.

 

[JCFantasy23]

Recently, someone told me that Catholicism is the only true faith, and that Protestants are heretics and may go to hell. When I told him I didn't pray to Mary and the Saints, he got quiet and claimed that Jesus' disciples and the first Christians were really Catholics. He claimed that anyone who rejects any kind of doctrine is a heretic. Thoughts? I don't believe him, but part of me questions if he is right? It doesn't make sense that someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, rose from the dead, and keeps His commandments would not go to heaven because he was not a Catholic. It kind of upset me, actually.

BTW, not sure where to put this thread, so sorry if it is in the wrong place.

Your friends theology is incorrect to me. The original church was Orthodox before the split (some debate this, but it's what I believe). Protestantism was yet another split but it was done because of abuses in the church going on at the time. Your label isn't what saves you, your relationship with God is.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Recently, someone told me that Catholicism is the only true faith, and that Protestants are heretics and may go to hell. When I told him I didn't pray to Mary and the Saints, he got quiet and claimed that Jesus' disciples and the first Christians were really Catholics. He claimed that anyone who rejects any kind of doctrine is a heretic. Thoughts? I don't believe him, but part of me questions if he is right? It doesn't make sense that someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, rose from the dead, and keeps His commandments would not go to heaven because he was not a Catholic. It kind of upset me, actually.

I've had Protestants tell me straight up I'm going to hell because I'm Catholic. I've run into this a small handful of times. Of course the same sort of folks might say Billy Graham is damned to hell as well for not being the right kind of Baptist.

Individual Protestants and individual Catholics (and individual Orthodox) may go to hell. Being Catholic, by itself, is no guarantee of being saved. Even believing every doctrine is no guarantee of being saved, so he was technically right that Protestants (some of them anyhow) might go to hell. But to the extent that he intended that simply by being Protestant one might go to hell, he is wrong.

There was a firebrand priest associated with Boston College in the 1950's named Fr. Feeney. His thing was that all Protestants were going to hell. The Vatican examined his teaching and ended up excommunicating him for it. Fr. Feeney took the old Patristic saying that 'Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (There is no salvation outside of the Church)' and applied it that Protestants were damned. But he found himself outside of the Church as well, until he finally repented. Catholic teaching is that while Protestants are lacking some things, one is not damned simply for being Protestant. The glass is at least still half full.

Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus - Wikipedia
Leonard Feeney - Wikipedia

I believe the Catholic Church presents the true faith, or I wouldn't remain a Catholic. At the same time I reserve the term 'heretic' for those who are obstinate in their refusal to believe truths of the faith, not for people who grew up Protestant. You should dismiss this person's unsettling approach and instead concentrate on seeking the truth as best you can, following your Savior wherever He leads. You are not damned for growing up Protestant, and no less an authority than the Holy Office of the Vatican says so. But you do have, as we all do, the responsibility to come closer to our Lord. If we keep that responsibility we will eventually come out in the same place.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

Recently, someone told me that Catholicism is the only true faith, and that Protestants are heretics and may go to hell. When I told him I didn't pray to Mary and the Saints, he got quiet and claimed that Jesus' disciples and the first Christians were really Catholics. He claimed that anyone who rejects any kind of doctrine is a heretic. Thoughts? I don't believe him, but part of me questions if he is right? It doesn't make sense that someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, rose from the dead, and keeps His commandments would not go to heaven because he was not a Catholic. It kind of upset me, actually.

BTW, not sure where to put this thread, so sorry if it is in the wrong place.

Ask a Catholic such as me and I'll say yes, there's only one truth not many and part the truth is that Christ established only one church in which one must being in order to be saved.
Ask a protestants and he'll answer the opposite.

Thing is that while we have been told by Christ that there is this one church, his church that is the path to his kingdom we cannot know if or when Christ makes exceptions and save people outside the church.
I believe he does cause there are as many reasons why people don't find their way to the fullness of faith in the Catholic faith as there are people outside our ecclesiology.

We cant make theology based on the exceptions though and have to preach what we've been taught by Christ and Paul, but equally we cannot make individual judgement for persons who for some reason choose not to be part of the church.
Judgement is for God.

About heresy and heretics.
One has to be a apostate of the Catholic church to be considered a heretic, like as if I decided to turn my back on the church and leave it for a different faith or religion then as a former Catholic I'd be a heretic.

A person who have never been part of the Catholic church may very well suffer under heresy and heterodoxy, but one's not a heretic.
Such person haven't left the church.

 

[Phil 1:21]

Recently, someone told me that Catholicism is the only true faith, and that Protestants are heretics and may go to hell. When I told him I didn't pray to Mary and the Saints, he got quiet and claimed that Jesus' disciples and the first Christians were really Catholics. He claimed that anyone who rejects any kind of doctrine is a heretic. Thoughts? I don't believe him, but part of me questions if he is right? It doesn't make sense that someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, rose from the dead, and keeps His commandments would not go to heaven because he was not a Catholic. It kind of upset me, actually.

BTW, not sure where to put this thread, so sorry if it is in the wrong place.

Albion's response is spot on. I grew up in the RCC and was taught (or rather, they tried to teach me) that only Catholics go to heaven. Even as a little kid I knew it was bunk.

Is There Really "No Salvation Outside the Catholic Church?" | Catholic Answers

You asked if he was right, and the simple, scriptural answer is no, he is not right. If he wants to have a genuine Biblical discussion about the matter, welcome it. If he is simply looking to rain down condemnation, shake the dust from your feet and walk away.

 

[Lybrah]

I've had Protestants tell me straight up I'm going to hell because I'm Catholic. I've run into this a small handful of times. Of course the same sort of folks might say Billy Graham is damned to hell as well for not being the right kind of Baptist.

Individual Protestants and individual Catholics (and individual Orthodox) may go to hell. Being Catholic, by itself, is no guarantee of being saved. Even believing every doctrine is no guarantee of being saved, so he was technically right that Protestants (some of them anyhow) might go to hell. But to the extent that he intended that simply by being Protestant one might go to hell, he is wrong.

There was a firebrand priest associated with Boston College in the 1950's named Fr. Feeney. His thing was that all Protestants were going to hell. The Vatican examined his teaching and ended up excommunicating him for it. Fr. Feeney took the old Patristic saying that 'Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (There is no salvation outside of the Church)' and applied it that Protestants were damned. But he found himself outside of the Church as well, until he finally repented. Catholic teaching is that while Protestants are lacking some things, one is not damned simply for being Protestant. The glass is at least still half full.

Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus - Wikipedia
Leonard Feeney - Wikipedia

I believe the Catholic Church presents the true faith, or I wouldn't remain a Catholic. At the same time I reserve the term 'heretic' for those who are obstinate in their refusal to believe truths of the faith, not for people who grew up Protestant. You should dismiss this person's unsettling approach and instead concentrate on seeking the truth as best you can, following your Savior wherever He leads. You are not damned for growing up Protestant, and no less an authority than the Holy Office of the Vatican says so. But you do have, as we all do, the responsibility to come closer to our Lord. If we keep that responsibility we will eventually come out in the same place.

So what you're saying is that even if we believe on Christ and keep His commandments we still don't know if we'll be saved? So it's a wait and see thing?

 

[chevyontheriver]

So what you're saying is that even if we believe on Christ and keep His commandments we still don't know if we'll be saved? So it's a wait and see thing?

Not exactly.

I have had people tell me that I am going to hell even though I believe on Christ and keep the commandments (confessing my failures) simply because I'm Catholic. So for them they are sure I can't be believing on Christ if I'm Catholic.

What I was saying is that membership in any particular religious group guarantees nothing. Simply being Catholic does not save a person. Nor does simply being Baptist or whatever. Nobody should think they are saved by church membership. It's all about how one relates to Jesus and to His Father and to their Holy Spirit. That is more than believing every correct doctrine. Even Satan knows correct doctrine.

I said nothing at all about knowing you are saved. In another post recently I did though. I think the 'assurance of salvation' is mostly dangerous, giving many people a false hope. What good is it if I have talked myself into thinking I'm saved if I'm not? What good is it for me to 'know' I'm saved at age 20 and then never give God another thought in the next 50 years? Better to not be assured than to be falsely assured. Better to live a whole life of loving God than to have a brief fling.

 

[FutureTrophyWife]

Catholics say yes
Non-Catholics say no.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

So what you're saying is that even if we believe on Christ and keep His commandments we still don't know if we'll be saved? So it's a wait and see thing?

Matthew 25:31-46 NABRE

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, 32 and all the nations[a] will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ 44 [d]Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ 45 He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ 46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

This text proves that there will be people in hell that referred to Christ as Lord on this earth, but who failed to live for him.
OSAS is clearly unbiblical and an act of Satan cause it's telling people to chill when they're in fact heading for the judgement as a goat.

 

[Danthemailman]

This text proves that there will be people in hell that referred to Christ as Lord on this earth, but who failed to live for him.
OSAS is clearly unbiblical and an act of Satan cause it's telling people to chill when they're in fact heading for the judgement as a goat.

Matthew 7:22 points out that there are many people on that day who will refer to Jesus as Lord, yet Jesus NEVER knew them (vs. 23) which means they were NEVER saved, so there was no loss of salvation here. These many people are unbelievers who trusted in their works for salvation and not in Christ alone. They "practiced lawlessness" which is the mark of children of the devil. Children of God practice righteousness (1 John 3:10). Sheep represent believers and goats, unbelievers.

 

[Aseyesee]

Recently, someone told me that Catholicism is the only true faith, and that Protestants are heretics and may go to hell. When I told him I didn't pray to Mary and the Saints, he got quiet and claimed that Jesus' disciples and the first Christians were really Catholics. He claimed that anyone who rejects any kind of doctrine is a heretic. Thoughts? I don't believe him, but part of me questions if he is right? It doesn't make sense that someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, rose from the dead, and keeps His commandments would not go to heaven because he was not a Catholic. It kind of upset me, actually.

BTW, not sure where to put this thread, so sorry if it is in the wrong place.

Religion is a serpent ...

 

[toLiJC]

after so many years of seeking the true One i can say the true faith is in the hearts of those who are faithful to Him - i have found deviations from the true faith in many christian religions/denominations

Blessings

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

Matthew 7:22 points out that there are many people on that day who will refer to Jesus as Lord, yet Jesus NEVER knew them (vs. 23) which means they were NEVER saved, so there was no loss of salvation here. These many people are unbelievers who trusted in their works for salvation and not in Christ alone. They "practiced lawlessness" which is the mark of children of the devil. Children of God practice righteousness (1 John 3:10). Sheep represent believers and goats, unbelievers.

Yes, but what constitutes a unbeliever?
Is one really believing if one confess with ones mouth that Christ is Lord, but live a life far from him?
The answer is obvious, its no.

The question remains, how can you be sure your not one of those who only confess, but has no love?

Even Luther suffered anxiety due this very question. How can I be sure I'll be considered a sheep not a goat?

His answer about salvatory knowledge as in OSAS is an great example of trying to bend scripture to fit your own need and desire.
Sadly we cannot do that.
I believe Luther himself knew that this was what he had done and so the agony went on for the reminder of his life, the poor soul.

 

[Albion]

Even Luther suffered anxiety due this very question. How can I be sure I'll be considered a sheep not a goat?

His answer about salvatory knowledge as in OSAS is an great example of trying to bend scripture to fit your own need and desire..

Luther is famously associated with the concept of Sola Fide, and many people assume that this includes OSAS. It does not.

Likewise, it does not appear to be the case that Luther himself believed in OSAS.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

Luther is famously associated with the concept of Sola Fide, and many people assume that this includes OSAS. It does not.

Likewise, it does not appear to be the case that Luther himself believed in OSAS.

Well...
He did separate justification and fruit of the Spirit, that's pretty close to be saying that piety is add-on and not at all mandatory.

Some Lutherans a century or so after Luther actually went as far as to say that good deeds might be harmful to ones salvation.

Luther of course cannot be held responsible to their errors, but the seed had been planted by the reformer himself.