Expert: Brian Thompson - 3/6/2006

Question
I am not a Catholic, but I wondered if what I heard was true. I was told that Catholics don't go to heaven. Of course only Jesus knows, but is this a likely truth that Catholics go to hell? I have always admired many Catholics I know. I am Baptist myself and always will be.  

Answer
Hi Michael

There are many falacies circulating in Christianity. For example do you need to be full immersion baptised to be a Christian? I find it a little disconcerting that a Baptist would ask a Pentecostal whether Catholics are saved.

Catholics are Christians. The question is, as it is for other Christian denominations, how many are born again? In order to go to heaven you must be born again, this is basic Christian theology, but it seems it might have been lost in the RCC over the centuries.

Catholics believe that the committments made at the time of the first communion are the same as those made by other denominations which usher a believer into being born again. They also believe that the committments made at confirmation, a later cerimony, confer the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, declining numbers in many places would suggest the reality may be far from the rhetoric.

I have known many spirit filled catholics, but my observation suggests this may not be the norm. Those who exercise the gifts of the Spirit, as we do in a pentacostal church, may be in the minority in the RCC, but then that may also be so in your own denomination. I suggest you search the Scriptures for the truth and hold fast to that, share your faith openly with others and don't be too concerned about the perpheral beliefs of other denominations, we are all working for the same master.