Can a Muslim get into Heaven...........?

[mp15]

A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about this.

I told him I believed if a muslim understood the Catholic faith and rejected it that there was no way they could enter the kingdom of Heaven. He told me that I was incorrect. Was I?

He also said the same applied to the Jews.

He is a former seminarian if that matters?

Marcus

Edited December 28, 2004 by mp15

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='mp15' date='Dec 28 2004, 01:59 PM'] A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about this.

I told him I believed if a muslim understood the Catholic faith and rejected it that there was no way they could enter the kingdom of Heaven. He told me that I was incorrect. Was I?

He also said the same applied to the Jews.

He is a former seminarian if that matters?

Marcus [/quote]
Any man who knows that membership in the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation, and who then either fails to become Catholic, or if he is already a Catholic, fails to remain in communion with the Church, cannot be saved.

Now, if a man, through no fault of his own, is ignorant of the true religion, but still cooperates with the graces he is given, which necessarily flow to him from the Catholic Church, he may be saved. His salvation is still a gift of God in Christ and through the Catholic Church even though he is invincibly ignorant of this fact.

God bless,
Todd

[conservativecatholic]

All non-Catholics are be capable of being saved; however, if they are fully aware of the truth in Catholicism and disregard it, they are considered to be denying the Word of God and are condemned to hell. I have no right to judge other people, but from Sacred Scripture one can easily find the reasons why people are condemend to the firey hells below.

Edited December 28, 2004 by conservativecatholic

[Guest Aluigi]

are there muslims in heaven? nope. jews? nope. protestants? nope.

heaven is full of Catholics. we won't have to be politically correct about religions or anything. lol

are there some people who were muslims on earth that are now in heaven? perhaps. assuming they were inculpably ignorant of the Catholic Church AND they attempted to follow God's will through the dictates of their own conscience, then they might through the mercy of God reach heaven. in this scenario, they had an imperfect implicit union with the Catholic Church because they intended to follow the One True God. they are not punished for their ignorance (but they could still be punished for other sins, they just don't go to hell for not being in the Church they had no chance of entering) and may be rewarded for following the natural law written in their hearts and in their consciences. this is a slight possibility we can see in anyone who is not explicitly a member of the Catholic Church. however, we do not judge souls. We cannot say for sure that there is anyone out there who is implicitly imperfectly united to the Church who will become Catholic at the moment of death (or in purgatory some time after the time of their death)

anyway, that's the only scenario for a non-member of the Catholic Church in this life. if they be converted at the moment of death (because they are not burdened by any culpable mortal sin and at that moment realize the Truth of the Catholic Church (that everyone will realize at the moment of entering eternity))

Edited December 28, 2004 by Aluigi

[thessalonian]

[quote name='mp15' date='Dec 28 2004, 03:59 PM'] A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about this.

I told him I believed if a muslim understood the Catholic faith and rejected it that there was no way they could enter the kingdom of Heaven. He told me that I was incorrect. Was I?

He also said the same applied to the Jews.

He is a former seminarian if that matters?

Marcus [/quote]
I think the question has been answered pretty well thus far. I will only add that the key is WILLFUL rejection of the Catholic faith. For those whom do not know the truths of the faith, Romans 2:15 is the key. They must follow the law written on their hearts. Further it is not what is muslim in them that will save them but what is Christian/Catholic in them. Cornelius and the Good Samaritan are two examples of people whom did not know the fullness of the truth, yet were following God the best they can by his grace. The Good Samaritan was a product of the Assyrian captivity of the Jews. He was of mixed blood. The Assyrians were pagan, but accepted the Jewish God as one of the Gods.


Romans 2:13-15
for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves,
in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,

A priest and a levite were shown as poor examples of a Christian while a Samaritan who did not have the full teaching served God well.

It should also be noted that this does not give us license to ignore bringing them to Christ as indifferentism is a grave sin. First of all we cannot assume they are saved and Catholicism is the only sure path for them. Secondly we are denying them the wonders of God's grace in his Church which protect them from a serious fall.

Further we are to recognize that we are more culpable than the ignorant. "To the one who knows, he will be treated as the unbeliver, while the one who does not know will recieve but few lashes." Luke 12.

And it is true, there are only Catholics in heaven.

Blessings

Edited December 28, 2004 by thessalonian