Dear Fr.Ivo, In your previous post, you introduced the concept of light. In your words, "God judges us according to our light. But we have to increase our light with God's Grace." The meaning/implication of the word was not specified, hence it's ambigious. You further said that "according to their lights, which they imbibe from their cultures, traditions and religions," thus validating all worldly religions.
You further said, "They may believe or not, that depends whether they came to know or not. But they are within God's saving plan." The first part of the sentence makes sense. The second is confusing. God's saving plan starts and stops with Jesus Christ. We don't know whether non-believers are included because we are not God ourselves, and nothing to that effect is mentioned in the Bible. You also mentioned the story of the magi who went to Bethlehem. Infact, almost none of the people who encountered Jesus previously knew Him. They had to first meet Him to know Him. Same with the disciple Peter. Peter was catching fish when Jesus came along. Everyone knows the stories of Jesus' kindness and miracles. The first time Peter met Jesus, he realized He was not only special but powerful. After not catching any fish, at Jesus' command, Peter and his friends filled their boat with a huge catch. Luke 5:9 says Peter was "astounded'. So much that he fell on His knees and called Jeses 'Lord'. You have to go from knowing that Jesus is someone special, to "Lord", confessing Jesus to be God. It's an understanding every person needs to experience in his conscience. Just going to Church doesn't make a person a Christian any more than going to a garage makes him a car. You say :> Vatican II says: "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation."(Lumen Gentium ยง16) The Bible doesn't confirm this. Infact this claim rejects the Biblical doctrine that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is the ONLY way to eternal life. On a personal note, my Catholic beliefs hold true only if they are consistent with Biblical teachings. You say :> Objectively, only God can save. Subjectively, we live in a culture and religion and have our 'saviours' and 'healers'. Jesus is the Way, Life, Truth. You and I acknowledge it and proclaim it. But what about those who did not reach this stage, yet are living in good faith in harmony with their conscience? In the first statement, you say that only God can save. But the Bible teaches that God has entrusted all Judgement to the Son. Which effectively means, only one God can save, and that is the Son in the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ. Then you say that we live in a culture and religion and have our 'saviors' and 'healers'. These kind of beliefs were prevalent among the masses even 2000 years ago in Jesus' time. There were 'saviors' and 'healers' there too. For eg, the sorcerer mentioned in Acts. You further state: But what about those who did not reach this stage, yet are living in good faith in harmony with their conscience? Is the conscience more infallible than the Word of God? Adolf Hitler acted according to the dictates of his conscience. He thought what he was doing was good. Same with Anton LaVey, Benito Mussolini, among others. The conscience can be corrupted. That is amply evident with the state of civilization today. Somebody's perception of what is right and wrong can change. But the Word of God doesn't change (Heb.13:8). You say :> Jesus is the Saviour, only he can save. No, because we are a 'little flock', those who do not know the Saviour explicitly can be saved. Those who live well according to the nature (dictates of conscience), cannot be condemned to hell by a God who is not a monster, but a loving Father. They can be innerly baptized by the Spirit of God (cf.Jn 3:3.5-6). The Church teaches about the threefold baptism: of water, of fire-desire and of blood-martyrdom. You refer to God as not being a monster, which is a rather harsh way of putting it. Of course God is not a monster, but God is God. And God is the epitome of justice. If God doesn't have justice, He wouldn't be God. God never said, "Sin isn't so bad, let it go." Instead He said, "Sin is so terrible it must be punished." And He went to the extent of sending His only Son, whom He loved, to suffer and die for your and my sins, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) Truth Liberates Nigel Britto
