Mortal Sin & Belief in Jesus

A caller’s son wonders: if unbelief in Jesus is a mortal sin, then what happens to those in remote areas who never have the chance to know Jesus? Joe Heschmeyer gives the Catholic Answer.

[spittyrides]

"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin." - John 15:22

[rosiegirl]

This situation always brings me back to St. Josephine Bahkita!
She was never taught the Gospel, or had encountered it in any way in her upbringing.
Though when she looked up at the sun and the moon, she knew who ever created them was a great entity!

[O_Rei]

Simple: as St.Thomas Aquinas said, no unbeliever who has not heard the Gospel is condemned for* not believing the Gospel: he is condemned for all his other sins, which he could only be saved from by believing in the Gospel and being baptised. So YES, a person in the age of reason HAS to confess Christ in this life in order to be saved.

[Catholicity-uwyb]

POPE BENEDICT XVI: “People should not fear God, thinking he is always ready to punish, but rather they should love him because he is always ready to forgive.
God is not a relentless sovereign who condemns the guilty, but a loving father whom we must love not out of fear of punishment, but because of his goodness.
The Lord is a God who is just, but always ready to reveal himself as merciful and compassionate.
God loves us in a way that we might call ‘obstinate’ and enfolds us in his inexhaustible tenderness. The anger and mercy of the Lord alternate in a dramatic sequence, but love triumphs in the end, for God is love.”
“God’s passionate love for his people – for humanity – is at the same time a forgiving love. It is so great that it turns God against himself, his love against his justice.”

[svvlcep]

I’m a new Christian and I feel very overwhelmed. Can someone give me some advice? I am told by my Church going family members and friends not to take the Genesis account of the Bible literal. If this is true why should I not take this part of the Bible as fact, and what other parts of the Bible should I not take literal? Thank you and God bless.

[MarieLikeTheMiddleName]

Amen. Now how do I answer the tricky question, "so why do you tell them?" (why do you tell those who don't know about God about the faith)

[bellatordei]

Only God knows if a non believer is searching or not.

[aljay]

"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." How God deals with levels of knowledge about him is up to him. No use in trying to figure that out because it's between them and God.

[zacharyahearn]

Not a theologically masterful approach, but I’d say if there is a clear path made for you to follow so you don’t get lost then you should follow the path even if straying from the path and using a compass and having a helicopter rescue you through extraordinary means is available.

[orangemanbad]

Are all sins forgiven through one confession? I’ve gone 2 times now in total.. so in my life there have been many sins. Too many to recount. Does the act of confession wash all of them

[MementoMori]

What if he committed a mortal sin but at the same time, he never heard of Jesus? Example he murdered someone. What's the ruling for this case?

[marountayar]

Saint Thomas Aquinas said: a) Unbelief by way of pure negation ( infidelitas secundum negationem puram ) in case a man may be called an unbeliever merely because he has not the faith, in those who have heard nothing about the faith; this unbelief is not a sin.
And b) unbelief by way of opposition to the faith ( infidelitas secundum contrarietatem ad fidem ) when a man refuses to hear the faith ; this unbelief is a sin.
c) the fact that unbelief by way of pure negation is not a sin, is not only a Thomist concept, but it`s also a verity of faith: St: Pius V condemned the proposition infidelitas pure negativa in his quibus Christus non est predicatus peccatum est ( purely negative unbelief, in those whom Christ was not preached to, is a sin.

[vinnyv]

Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, “Cantate Domino, ” 1441-1442, ex cathedra: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives; that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia productive of eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”

[catholicdoomer]

The thing that makes sense to me is that these people are more likely to commit all sort of sins because it’s part of their culture, or it’s harder for them to make a perfect act of contrition because they don’t know how grave their sins are, even if they feel there’s something wrong with something they’ve done.
What should make sense is: it’s easier to be saved if you’re a Catholic, and it grows in difficulty if you are: Orthodox (because of valid sacraments); Protestant (because at least you have baptism); any non-Christian whatever.
I say this because the revelation of God Himself in Jesus, the creation of the Holy Mother Church by Him and the institution of the sacraments HAVE TO IMPROVE RADICALLY the chances of salvation, otherwise being “ignorant” of these realities or not would make no difference.

[matthewdennion]

I find the concepts of “choosing to believe” and “full Knowledge” to be problematic with this explanation

When it comes to choosing to believe. There are
1.2 Billion Hindus who believe in Krishna. They have sacred texts just like Catholics do, they have felt the spirit of Krishna, and have personal experiences that relate to him.

In short they have the same amount of knowledge regarding Krishna than any Catholic does of Jesus.

Now put that in regard to “full knowledge.” If you read this text you now have “full knowledge” of Krishna or at least as was brought up in the video the ability to seek Krishna out.

Would you be wrong to not believe in Krishna and be subjected to not being reincarnated in better position than your current life?

Or is that we can’t choose what to believe and are either convinced or not convinced or something.

For instance try choosing to believe in Krishna. Not hypothetically but really believe. Or choose to believe that the Angel Moroni gave us the Mormon religion. Can you just to believe that?

I find that the standards an adherent applies to their religion to consider it worth believing are inconsistent when applied to other religions with the same manner of arguments to support it.

[fantasia]

Voting for taxpayer-funded abortion is a sin, so every Democrat goes to hell?

[johnkilfoil]

Universalism is the only reasonable belief concerning salvation

[HillbillyBlack]

There is no mortal sin.

allow me to make the case

John 5:24 - Jesus
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and BELIEVES him who sent me HAS eternal life. He DOES NOT come into judgment, but HAS PASSED from death to life.

Notice the finality of this statement. “Has eternal life”. Can someone have eternal life then lose it? “Does not come into judgment but - has passed - from DEATH to LIFE”. Can one pass to life then retrace back and pass back into death? All of scripture shows we are dead in sin, hostile to God and then “made alive”. So then can we be made “dead” again in sin and return to hostility with God? Scripture says NO.

John 14:15
"If you love me, you WILL keep my commandments.

Did he say you can keep? Is it optional? No, he said you WILL keep. Look further…

John 14:23
Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he WILL keep my word, and my Father WILL love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Christ reconciles us to the Father for this benefit. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ-For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is NOT YOUR own doing; it is the GIFT of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast.


What saves? Through what??? Are these related to you in any way??? Its a GIFT so that we cannot Boast. Meaning we cannot claim cooperative works as credit for salvation. Its ALL God through Faith alone and as demonstrates above, faith alone produces saving faith which produced compelled behavior. Works are a result, not “with”.

There is very little human willed ability to lose this gift because the genuine nature of the regenerate is so bold and contrasted to the world. Those truly born again of the spirit are radicals. They are personified radical changes. Sin can NEVER separate them from the Father.

Salvation validity can be measured. Unsaved live unrepentant sinful lives. The redeemed do not keep sinning. They live a spirit filled walk of compelled action of intentional holiness. When they sin they regret with great struggle. They don’t just feel bad. They cry on their knees for help. Even from struggled mortal sin like lustful thoughts.

The journey cannot be undone from the struggle. And the complacent who claim christ never had him. As one who struggled with Porn after salvation, am i to understand i lost my salvation 500 times a day until i Got a handle on my sin? NO. thats why the fruit of the regenerate is so vital. Its how we determine the sheep from the Goats. Its essential to remember the ungodly are justified by Faith for believing. The repentant still struggles because we must learn by the spirit to obey. And only those saved HAVE the spirit.

If you could lose salvation then you lose the spirit and Therefore the ABILITY to choose God again or even understand him. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

If salvation were predicated upon holiness, then this would not be Grace, but basically what you can do for God to keep your salvation. Not even the historic ancient church fathers believe that.

Eternal security, once saved always saved, these were concepts, not pondered, or disputed in the early church, because you could know who was for and against Christ by their fruit.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

If the old passing away is an action of the transformative nature of the spirit who is the power of God then Can the old that passed away be resurrected by the power of human will??? This would mean human will has “blocking interference power” of the spirit and power of God. This is why the idea of losing such a transformative nature is illogical.

A butterfly does not Dee evolve by choice back into a caterpillar.

[taowroland]

Yeah im sure the creator of the universe will condemn me for not believing in a pack of beliefs related through a lens of habitually lying jewish schemers. If he wanted me to believe, maybe don't come as the most untrustworthy type of people.