The Gospel of Desire

In one area, the late pope was not traditional at all. By emphasizing that good works are the fruit of God's grace, he had many Lutherans and evangelicals thinking that Catholics now agree with them on justification by faith. But the pope applied this principle to other religions, as well. If Muslims and Hindus demonstrate good works, that must be a sign of God's grace. Now, Catholics are teaching that not just other Christians but believers in other religions can be saved, even apart from conscious faith in Jesus Christ. This ecumenical theology tallies well with relativism, making Catholicism palatable to our new polytheistic culture.

"All men, if they do not take care, go downhill to the animal's country; many men are actually, all their lives, going to be beasts. People knew it once, but it is long since they forgot it."

"I am not surprised to hear it, ma'am, when I think of some of our miners."

"Ah! But you must beware, Curdie, how you say of this man or that man that he is travelling beastward. There are not nearly so many going that way as at first sight you might think. When you met your father on the hill tonight, you stood and spoke together on the same spot; and although one of you was going up and the other coming down, at a little distance no one could have told which was bound in the one direction and which in the other. Just so two people may be at the same spot in manners and behaviour, and yet one may be getting better and the other worse, which is just the greatest of all differences that could possible exist between them."

The Catholic idea is that a sincere Protestant who is faithful to the truth of Scripture, will eventually come to embrace the full truth of the Catholic Church as he seeks after God. Many Protestants do come to that point in this life, but the new clarification concerns those who do not become visible members of the Catholic Church before they die. Prior to Vatican II, it was assumed that these poor Protestants were condemned to Hellfire. The clarification is that those Protestants, and others, who have begun the journey to Catholic faith, can be saved[4].

In the early church, many believers were martyred before they could be baptized. There was concern as to whether these souls were lost, since Christ commanded us to "believe and be baptized". The decision of the elders was that these martyrs had a "baptism of blood". Their sincere desire to obey the Lord in baptism counted as baptism in the face of their death. Hence, the "Gospel of Desire". Those who are seeking after God, and obey the light they receive, will be given more light, and on are their way to becoming Catholic - even if death intervenes.

This is indeed different from a typical Protestant formula, but Protestants such as George MacDonald C.S. Lewis had a view closer to the Catholics (the young Calormene in The Last Battle, The Great Divorce). The important point is that the Catholic teaching is the opposite of the Liberal idea that "all roads lead to heaven": there is but one Way and one Church that leads to Heaven. Be sure you are on that Way.