Is It The Catholics Or The Protestants Who Go To Hell? (April 17, 2005)

I met with some pastors yesterday, and one of them said that an elder in his church recently began his adult Sunday School class with, "I'm going to open a can of worms. Is Pope John Paul II in heaven?"

We laughed at the elder's audaciousness, but I could not resist asking the pastor the follow-up question: "So what was the answer?"

Apparently the answer was no! That surprised me, as did today's report in the Chicago Tribune that the new Pope, Benedict XVI, says that the Roman Catholic Church is the "only instrument of salvation," essentially leaving damned those outside Catholicism. But if the current Pope believes all us Protestants are going to hell, at least some of ours retaliate by saying, "Your predecessor is there already!"

Gentlemen, gentlemen. Please.

The Bible describes the doctrinal qualification for heaven very simply. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). I'm sure that Pope John Paul II believed in Jesus, called him Lord, and believed in his heart that God raised him from the dead. So on the surface it appears that Saint Paul would say that John Paul is saved.

Of course, beneath the surface, a fundamentalist-evangelical might say, "But the Pope also believed in works-righteousness!" or, "He regarded Mary as a co-mediatrix!" And this is just what I find so instructive. If you ask a conservative Protestant why some Catholic is in hell (or a conservative Catholic why some Protestant is in hell), the answer is always about doctrine and never about behavior. That is, they never say, "He was a drunk!" or "He was fornicator!" or "He did not provide for his family!" Instead they point to a doctrinal issue that divides Catholics from Protestants and note that the individual fell on the wrong side of the line.

But in the Scriptures, the line that separates damned from saved believers concerns their behavior. Here are some passages that I wish would receive much more attention in both Catholic and Protestant fellowships:

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. I Corinthians 6:9-10.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord,jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8.

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Revelation 21:8

I don't think these passages are hard to understand. Unrepentant cowards and liars and deadbeats and thieves and adulterers and witches and drag queens and rage-aholics are all going to hell - even if they once went forward at a Billy Graham crusade to receive Jesus into their hearts, even if they go to Mass every day. Behavior matters. It reveals what's in the heart. That is why Jesus said, "By their fruit [not by their words, not by their sectarian affiliation] you shall know them" (Matthew 7:20). Though I could write a book about my disagreements with Pope John Paul II, I can't deny that he believed in Jesus, and I certainly can't accuse him of being a bad man. Biblically, that computes to a heavenly destination. Hopefully, Ratzinger and those who succeed him will be able to say the same about non-Catholic Christians whom Pope John XXIII graciously called "our separated brethren."

And no matter what we think of each other, may God in heaven be merciful to us all.