Dear Nigel,
Your rejoinder has been quite long. The points that you are discussing are
vital for everybody. In these lines which I try to keep short, there can be
misunderstanding.
In my answer I shall tackle by taking the gist of what I said earlier.
You say: <<In your previous post, you introduced the concept of light. In
your words,
"God judges us according to our light. But we have to increase
our light with God's Grace."
*We have a conscience, which is God's voice (cf.St.Paul in Rm 2:14).
I am not speaking of a deformed conscience. That is why I said each one of
us has to put it in order. Hence, the role of the Decalogue and laws. Those
who
are not Christian will have lights from their own culture, tradition and
religion.
God will also enlighten them. They have to live acordingly. All these sound
elements of
other religions are "seeds of the Gospel".
You further said, <<"They may believe or not, that depends whether they came
to know or not. But they are within God's saving plan." The first part of
the sentence makes sense. The second is confusing. God's saving plan starts
and stops with Jesus Christ. We don't know whether non-believers are
included because we are not God ourselves, and nothing to that effect is
mentioned in the Bible.
*I mean: those who do not have explicit knowledge of Jesus will not have
explicit faith, but God's activity in them, to which they can positively
respond. God's
Grace is always there according to his saving plan. God wills salvation of
all humankind (cf.1 Tm 2:4).
<<You also mentioned the story of the magi who went to Bethlehem. In fact,
almost none of the people who encountered Jesus previously knew Him. They
had to first meet Him to know Him...
*The astrologers exemplify how the Gentiles came to Know the Saviour, namely
through the nature-star and Scriptures. They came to worship the Babe of
Bethlehem. Those who do not know Christ explicitly are also researching.
They may not reach him
in knowledge, but the Lord is always there for them.
*Vatican II says:
"Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ
or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and,
moved by grace, try in their actions to do his Will as they know it through
the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation."
(Lumen Gentium, no.16)
*This is the teaching of the Church and is rooted in the Word of God, which
is to be read in the light of the living Tradition. (Cf.Acts 10:34:"God is
not accepter of persons.
Whoever does the Will of God is accepted by God" (cf.v.35 and also Rm 2:11;
3:22). See also 1 Tm 2:4: "God wills all humankind to be saved
and have a clear knowledge of truth"). This is a traditional formula. If God
is one, he must be concerned with all peoples,
not just with this or that group or nation.
Cf.1 Tm 2:5: "Jesus is the only Mediator". This is placed in the Jewish
context. There is no doubt about it.
But it cannot be applied to those who do not know Christ explicitly.
As the Catechism of Catholic Church puts it: no.842: The Church's bond
with non-Christian religions is
in the first place the common origin and end of the human race: "All nations
form but one
community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created
to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny,
namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to
all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city".
no.843: The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among
shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life
and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church
considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as "a preparation
for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at
length have life."
#"Outside the Church there is no salvation"
no.846: How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the
Church
Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from
Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
"Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the
Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ
is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body
which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith
and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the
Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could
not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary
by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it."
no.847: This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of
their
own, do not know Christ and his Church (cf.LG 16).
no.848: "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through
no
fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which
it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also
the sacred right to evangelize all men."
*Although redemption/salvation is attributed as an appropriation to the Son,
the entire Trinity saves us, as when we say that God the Father has created
the world, the whole Trinity is there. Those who do not know Christ
explicitly may have other 'saviours', as known to them. But in the light of
Christian
Scriptures only God can save.
*His justice is saving justice. God is Love. He forgives sin.
Fr.Ivo
