--- Roland Francis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dear Victor, > The last sentence "there's room for everybody who > lives a good life" is your > own interpretation. That is not part of the passage. > > The reading is : > In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were > not so, I would have told > you. I go to prepare a place for you (King James > version). > > Now my point is that however much I am loathe to say > this, Bhandare is > right. The bible does say that the only way to > salvation is through faith in > Jesus Christ. > > As to your "no longer the official view of the > church", the truth is always > the truth. The church cannot change it to suit the > times. In that Selma had > hit a bull's eye when she said that the church was > never enough of a leader > to rise above the moral temper of it's times. One > truth for yesterday > another for today. > > Dear Roland, You are well aware that what the Bible says in one book does not always correspond to what it says in another. You say it has been "tampered" with by Popes; but in a sense the bible was "tampered with" long before the time of Christ. To me, Christ's statement that "I go to prepare a way for you" means exactly that: He went to make it easier for us to go as well. Millions and now billions of people have existed on this earth who never heard of Christ, and therefore cannot possibly believe in him as the only path to salvation. What kind of God do we believe in that would deprive these good people of heaven, for something that was no fault of theirs? The harshly punitive God of the Old Testament? Or the loving God represented by Christ?
You say the truth is always the truth. But sometimes what we regard as the truth is only our perception of something as the truth. That perception can change as mankind becomes more enlightened. Let me repeat: It is no longer the official position of the Church that only Catholics will be saved. No doubt many ignorant parish priests still preach the doctrine that only Catholics can go to Heaven; on the other hand, very many Protestant preachers hold the view that all those same Catholics will just as surely go to hell. What nonsense is this? Countless wars have been waged, countless innocents have been victimised, and millions have been killed in religious wars caused by this type of pernicious, fanatical thinking. Let me phrase my position this way: you are free to believe that I will not be saved. I am free to believe that you will be. Best regards, Victor
