Who can be saved?

A friend from an atheistic background, but has recently rubbed shoulders with some of our more Calvinist-leaning brethren, has picked up some bad theology - that only Christians (according to this group's narrow definition of that term) can be "saved" & that everyone else, by default, will fry.

I sense an intense desire for God in this person, but they are absolutely scandalized in the proper sense of the word by the splintering of Christendom into thousands of different groups, each with their own beliefs & practices (& we should be, too). It is very difficult for such a person to see why the Catholic Faith holds any greater authority than any other.

Below is a written response that I made to their concern. It is written to someone who has virtually no proper catechesis & a very limited knowledge of Scripture. It has also been the subject of heated, passionate debate within Church throughout history, & continues to burn white-hot today. This is simply the best I can reckon of the God that wills not the death of any sinner, but also warns that few will find the narrow gate. I welcome your feedback.

The very heart of the Christian faith is God's unlimited love for every person. His law of love is written on the heart of every human being in every place & time. Some might call this one's conscience, but it is certainly something much deeper: a yearning that every person has for true love, true happiness, true joy, true beauty, true peace. Through this instinctive desire, he calls everyone on earth to know him & love him in return in an encounter (even a marriage!) that will never end.

The mission of the Church for the past 2,000 years has been to bring others to share in this encounter with God through Jesus, an encounter that happens within the Church, the people of God, a legacy inherited from our Jewish brothers who were the first people to whom God gave the gift of knowing him. God may be pleased with other peoples' & other faiths' desire to find him through what means they know & will surely not exclude from his presence those who truly seek him & to do his will. However, the way par excellance to know, love, & serve God is through the Church.

The only people who ultimately can not & will not be permitted to stand in God's light are those who willfully & obstinately refuse to acknowledge him, to repent of their sins, to ask for forgiveness, & to do good toward others; in essense, to refuse to love. God sentences no one to hell; people send themselves there. We see & experience it around us all the time. It lurks even in our own souls if we have the courage to look.

Therefore, ultimately, we cannot & must not ever presume who has obtained or who will obtain this unity with God & others in his presence we call "heaven" (including ourselves), & likewise we must not ever presume who has or will suffer the eternal separation from God & one another we call "hell." You have probably heard the famous, but often misquoted & misunderstood saying of Jesus, "Stop judging, that you may not be judged (Matthew 7:1)." This is what he is referring to: while we must be concerned with the souls of others, we must not ever presume to judge the state of another's soul; after all, we cannot even judge the state of our own soul, such masters of self-deception are we. There is nothing we can do ultimately to earn or deserve heaven; eternal life with God is his freely-given gift, & he gives it to whomever he pleases. But we can cooperate with him, repent of our sin, & try to live according to his law of love. This is called being a disciple of Jesus Christ & becoming a saint. Those who say they are "saved" deceive themselves & others. One is only saved when he breathes his last in God's good graces.

In the early 400's, one of the greatest intellects that has ever lived, St. Augustine, the bishop of Hippo in North Africa, wrote, "Christ has many that are not in the Church, & the Church has many who are not in Christ." It seems like a paradox, but with love comes freedom. It's the only way a God who is love would have it.