Benedict and Billy

I mentioned in an earlier post that some of the preachers in my youth who did not automatically assign "the heathen", or more charitably, those who had no chance to hear the Gospel, to eternal punishment talked about such folks as being judged "according to the light they had."

These dear old Protestant fundamentalists would probably have had a heart attack if they knew that this is somewhat the Roman Catholic position. I quote from the Roman Catholic Universal Catechism (sorry, it's kind of long):

"Outside the Church there is no salvation"

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.

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church.

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.

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."

There are two avenues to membership in the Kingdom posited by Catholic theologians, then. One is through the R.C. Church, the other through some mysterious process of following the dictates of one's conscience. That leaves us Protestant and Orthodox Christians on shaky ground, it would appear, but it's good news for the unevangelized.

Speaking of Protestants, certainly one of the best known persons of this persuasion in the world is Dr. Billy Graham. Over his long career his original evangelical views have become somewhat modified. We'll look at him next.