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Since You Asked

Since You Asked
Judgment
 
Q I've been really worried lately about what is going to happen to people who do not believe in JESUS. Some people were not as fortunate as people like me, to be born into a family that is Catholic, and to grow up in the faith. What about people, for example, in communist countries (if there are any still out there, as I'm not exactly sure on this subject) If these people live a life of good deeds- is there any way they can accept CHRIST after death? I found this statement at: http://www.catholic.com/library/Salvation_Outside_the_Church.asp ""We have been taught that Christ is the first-begotten of God, and we have declared him to be the Logos of which all mankind partakes [John 1:9]. Those, therefore, who lived according to reason [Greek, logos] were really Christians, even though they were thought to be atheists, such as, among the Greeks, Socrates, Heraclitus, and others like them. . . . Those who lived before Christ but did not live according to reason [logos] were wicked men, and enemies of Christ, and murderers of those who did live according to reason [logos], whereas those who lived then or who live now according to reason [logos] are Christians. Such as these can be confident and unafraid" (First Apology 46 [A.D. 151]). " Is this true?
- Doug
 
A

Wow, I'm impressed. I'm not totally confident I understand the statement you quoted, but I'm pretty sure I understand what concerns you. You have a good heart!

Our best missionary efforts don't seem to be able to reach everyone, so what about the others? The answer is reflected in both in your phrase "good deeds" and in the phrase "logos," which in this context, I take to mean people who wanted to know the truth, who were seeking Christ, even though they didn't know that Christ was the answer to all their questions. Honest seekers will indeed have the opportunity to choose Christ at their moment of death and judgment--and it would seem likely that they would make a good choice because they will clearly see that Christ is the answer. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #682, it says that Christ "will render to each person according to his (or her) works and according to his (or her) acceptance or refusal of grace." Rather than "logos," I think you and I might say of such people: They used their heads and their hearts. Not even Jesus can ask more.
- Carol Ann