> From: breier@halcyon.com (Breier W. Scheetz)
> Subject: Where do the unbaptized go after death?
>
> This question has probably been answered dozens of times,
> but what is the Catholic Church's official teaching (if it
> has one) regarding the status of unbaptized individuals
> after their death? I know that it's trendy nowdays to say
> that "everyone" goes to heaven, but if that is explicitly
> the case, then aren't many of the sacraments, such as
> Baptism and Reconciliation, made irrelevant? After all, if
> everyone goes to heaven, regardless of their beliefs, then
> isn't everything relative? I'm heard some people talk about
> Limbo, does that play a role in this question? Thanks for
> your help.
> --------------------------------
> "Nothing except a battle lost Breier W. Scheetz is half as
> melancholy as a battle won"-Wellington
> breier@halcyon.com Seattle, WA USA
Dear Breier,
You remark that it is trendy nowadays to say that everyone
goes to heaven. Folks who think that are in for a rude
shock after death. The Bible teaches clearly that all have
sinned (Romans 3:23, 5:12), that there is no forgiveness of
sin without repentance of sin (Luke 24:47), and that God is
not mocked --- a man reaps only what he sows: corruption
from the flesh or eternal life from the spirit (Gal. 6:7-8).
In a recent newspaper column, Father Robert Smith writes:
"WORSHIPING A FALSE CHRIST"
"The Christ pictured in the minds of many people
today, particularly in the minds of those who get
themselves on television, is a Christ who is smiling at
everyone, telling everyone that whatever they do, they
are doing well, a Christ who never warns or threatens
anyone. This picture has nothing to do with the Christ
pictured in the Gospels. The Christ in the Gospels calls
all men to the Kingdom of God, to follow the laws of God,
but there is no promise of salvation to those who ignore
this call. Quite the contrary. He says many times that
such people will be cast into everlasting fire unless
they repent."
"How is it that after the Christ of the Gospels gave so
many strict warnings as to the absolute necessity of
repentance for salvation, there are so many people who
picture in their own hearts another Christ who never
gives any warnings at all? ... How can they be so blind?
Because of sin. Those who are advocating abortion,
advocating the use of contraceptive devices, advocating
freedom from the need to make restitution after theft,
advocating sodomy, advocating divorce and remarriage, and
so on, find themselves, after a while, unable to believe
in the Christ of the Gospels."
"But here, unwittingly, they convict themselves of their
own bad faith. Here is proof not just of their error,
but of their bad faith in their error. They generally,
almost universally, claim innocence, claim goodness in
themselves for their very enshrining of sin. But if they
really thought they were indeed innocent, they would be
unafraid of the real Christ's warnings that the
unrepentant will be damned. If they really believed in
their own innocence, they would not go to the trouble to
concoct for themselves a radically different Christ from
the Christ of the Gospels. If they really thought
themselves innocent, they would be able to continue to
believe in the Christ of the Gospels who demands
repentance. That they have made for themselves a false
Christ who does not demand repentance proves that they
do not really believe in their own innocence."
This is a perfect example of the way in which
Christianity is absolutely clear. Those who repent of
sin follow the real Christ, the Christ of the Gospels.
Those who remain unrepentant do not travel in merely
another kind of innocence, in another kind of hope in the
real Christ, but find themselves, in spite of themselves,
worshiping a radically different Christ from that of the
Gospels, a false Christ."
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
-- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit --
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