A Catholic View of Other Religions

By Reese Currie & Harold Kemp, Compass Distributors

My personal (non-Roman Catholic) view of non-Christian religions is shaped by these statements from Scripture, among others.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:17-19).

It would seem pretty clear from just these two passages that the appropriate Christian view would be that the person rejecting Christ and denying that He is the only begotten Son of God also rejects salvation.

However, it would appear that this is not the Roman Catholic view. Look at these quotations from the Catholic book Christ Among Us by Anthony Wilhelm. This book is used in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) in many places and has been in publication since 1969.

On Jews, we read: “A mutually profitable dialogue has been progressing between Jewish and Roman Catholic scholars, a hopeful sign of a new era in world history... Noticeable progress in attitudes has emerged. Some Jews for instance, consider Jesus as the last of the prophets. And Catholics in the official dialogue reached a consensus that there should no longer be attempts to convert Jews to Christianity (obviously some Jews may have long since lost contact with Judaism's own special heritage and mission, are cut off from their Jewish spiritual roots, and will come on their own to the Church seeking a meaning to life, a spiritual home” (p. 64, Christ Among Us).

On others who do not believe in Christ, we read: “Many do not know Christ, but are united to him as 'anonymous Christians'” (p. 198, Christ Among Us).

Others are said by the author to come to God through non-Christian religions: “Also an unbaptized person who dies for his or her belief in God or some Christian teaching—though the person may not recognize it as Christian—is said to be 'baptized' in his or her own blood and thereby receives grace and salvation. People come to God in this way through other, non-Christian religions”(p. 233, Christ Among Us).

The author also contends that some atheists are saved: “So, too, one who cannot believe in a personal God but is committed to following one's conscience receives God's grace-presence. The basic orientation of one's life would be to some ideal outside oneself, such as the good of humankind or the welfare of those one loves. In seeking this, one is unknowingly seeking God—and God comes to such a one” (p. 233, Christ Among Us).

Some persecutors are saved, according to this book: “Some who sincerely seek truth oppose Christ and his Church, by harassment or even open persecution. Perhaps they have encountered believers whose behavior is blatantly un-Christian and who, as Vatican Council II says, 'conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion.' Perhaps they see glaring deficiencies in the Church's institutional practices. God lives within many of these unbelievers, thought they may oppose him or those who try to work for him” (p. 233-4, Christ Among Us).

So, according to Mr. Wilhelm, you can be in a non-Christian religion, or be an atheist, even a persecutor, and be saved! Is there anybody who is in danger of being unsaved, according to Wilhelm? Why, yes: there's a type of “born-again” Christian, the kind that takes the Bible as being literally true. These people are in great danger, according to this writer. We read:

The other type of 'born-again' Christian is the one that Catholics in general find hard to accept. Without judging the genuineness of these people's conversion experience (obviously something only God can and should do), it is especially their basic attitude toward the Bible and social issues that Catholics (as well as 'main-line' Protestants) object to. These are often contrary to the Church's teaching, especially as expressed by Vatican Council II, recent popes, the American bishops, and lay groups within the Catholic Church.

These people are more 'fundamentalist' than conservative: they take Scripture literally, regarding its every word as inerrant, and allow for no symbolism, mythology, and so on. Thus they reject modern Scripture scholarship, Protestant or Catholic, and emphasize the Old Testament's traditional strictness of the Law and Commandments more than Christ's forgiving, all-embracing love. They display a narrow, unshakable certitude about the truth of their beliefs and in the sinfulness and even damnation of those who violate their norms and refuse to 'repent'--and they seem driven to impose their beliefs on others. Usually little concerned with the poor and deprived, especially of other nations (except insofar as they can convert them), they seem overly concerned with combating 'godlessness,' 'tolerance,' and 'humanism.' Their stance on issues of social justice, peace, disarmament, and so on also seems totally opposite of Catholic teaching. (p. 235-6, Christ Among Us).

It must be said before proceeding that Wilhelm is very incorrect in saying that all born-again Christians “emphasize the Old Testament's traditional strictness of the Law and Commandments more than Christ's forgiving, all-embracing love.” A true “born again” Christian teaches that the ceremonial law is no longer required and that Jesus has summed up the remaining law in His statement, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). Also, a true “born again” Christian is extremely concerned with the poor and deprived of this world.

Rather than argue the details of Wilhelm's attack in any more detail, though, I'm going to focus on why Catholics and “main-line Protestants” find Bible-believing Christians so hard to accept. How is it that this Catholic writer believes atheists, those of other religions, and even persecutors might be saved but the salvation of Bible-believing Christians is doubtful?

I think Jesus explained it well: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).

Catholicism is a “world religion.” It always has been part of the world's system, from its start as a state religion under Constantine down to today, a time when Vatican City is a nation unto itself that is represented in the United Nations, and the pope is a worldly king. Of course they embrace those who embrace the world and its religions, and hate people who reject the world and its religions. They especially dislike people who reject Catholic teaching, and they hold people who preach the Bible's message of repentance in disdain—as the above passage demonstrates.

I think it is plain that Catholicism exists to lull people into a false sense of security that ceremonies like baptism, the eucharist, acts of penance, etc. confer forgiveness, but the Bible is extremely clear that only repentance toward God leads to God's forgiveness. Surely Catholicism is not the only religion that downplays repentance; the Biblical doctrine of repentance and its role in salvation is extremely rare among the churches of any denomination in the modern world. While once at least somewhat commonly preached, today this doctrine sadly seems to be downplayed and replaced with superstitious beliefs about forgiveness being attained through water, bread and wine, or in another extreme, by blindly accepting the notion that Christ exists without any action taken concerning sin in one's life.

The great temptation is to think we can add Christ to our lives without changing the way we live our lives. A person might add a few rituals some Sundays, but there's not much effect on their day-to-day living. But the fact is, before we know Christ, our direction in life is invariably leading us away from Him. We're seeking some other solution to our dilemma—for some, it might be drowning one's sorrows in alcohol or drugs, others might be distracted by fornication; still others seek solace in religious ritual, hoping that through good works or association with the “right” church their salvation might be earned, though never being quite sure. Although these are very different directions, they all lead away from Christ. They are all false directions.

When God grants us repentance, we experience a change of mind and heart that leads to a change of direction, from a false direction to the true direction, away from sin and all falseness, and back to Christ. No longer relying on our rituals to get us through life, whatever they may be, we realize that we can rely on nothing and no-one but Jesus; in this way, true repentance automatically brings us to faith in Jesus Christ.

The early church referred to this as “repentance unto life.” When the first Gentiles were saved, some other Christians didn't believe it at first. Peter testified to what he had seen, and the Bible records, “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18).

When we ask you to repent, we don't ask you in pride to do something we have not had to do. Both of the writers of this article had to repent to receive faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone must repent to receive spiritual life; as Scripture says, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).

All scripture quotations were taken from the King James Version

Wilhelm, Anthony J. Christ Among Us, Sixth Revised Edition. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996.

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