peterotto said:
Please, put it in context. I read LG13-16 and it still says Mohamadians are part of salvation. Could you explain how the Catholic Church came up with this?
Blessings peterotto, I'd be happy to elaborate further.
If you noticed in LG 13, it starts by stating:
All men are called to belong to the new people of God—i.e., to the Church. Section 13 ends by stating:
All men are called to be part of this catholic unity of the people of God. . . . And in different ways to it belong, or are related: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, for all men are called by the grace of God to salvation.
What I take this to mean is that all mankind is called to the
Catholic unity of the people of God, in other words, to become Catholics. Some have done so, and so LG 13 states that some
belong to the Catholic Church while others are related to in
in different ways. Those who belong to it are
the Catholic faithful, while those who are related in various ways include
others who believe in Christ (who are related to the Church in one way) and
all mankind (who are related to the Church in a different way).
LG sections 14-16, deals with these three groups. LG 14 concerns itself with Catholics and a very careful reading of LG 14 will in itself repudiate the idea that Islam or any other religions are as good as the Catholic Church.
LG 15 turns to non-Catholics Christians and states:
The Church recognizes that in many ways she is linked with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety [e.g., Protestants]
or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter [e.g., Orthodox].
You should notice here that it does not say that these Christians are part of the Church, only that they are
linked to it many ways, some of which it then goes on to name (Scripture, faith in Christ, baptism). While noting that God works among them, LG does not say that it is okay for them to remain where they are:
In all of Christ's disciples the Spirit arouses the desire to be peacefully united, in the manner determined by Christ, as one flock under one shepherd, and he prompts them to pursue this end. In other words, God’s grace leads them toward becoming Catholics too.
LG section 16 now turns to non-Christians, and this is where special attention is needed to properly understand the context. LG 16 begins by stating:
Finally, those who have not yet received the gospel are related in various ways to the people of God. This section speaks of the Jewish people in the first place, for they are more closely related to the Church than any other non-Christian religion. It is only after this that the text states,
But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims. Note that the subject under discussion is not everyone who is saved. The overarching theme of the passage is how various people are related to the Catholic Church, not how many paths to salvation there are. The Council has been describing people who are progressively more distant from the Church. The Council has already stated that the Church is necessary for salvation. And since it expressly places non-Jewish theists in a distant position from the Church, when we encounter the statement that
the plan of salvation also includes, we should not understand it as saying that non-Jewish theists are saved.
It means that God desires their salvation and has made plans for their salvation—plans that include giving them graces that lead in the direction of salvation and the Church. But that doesn’t mean that they can be saved by being nothing more than non-Jewish theists.
Within the category of non-Jewish theists, Muslims today hold the first place in that they are the largest such group and have a number of commonalities with Judaism and Christianity, several of which the council goes on to note:
1) They
profess to hold the faith of Abraham. The operative word here is
profess—they claim to hold the faith of Abraham. In reality, their faith is an imperfect version of the faith that comes from Abraham, but they are trying to follow in the footsteps of Abraham, and the Council gives them credit for that.
2)
Together with us they adore the one, merciful God. This statement seems to be the hang-up for many, but look at it in this context. God is aware of and acknowledges all that is good and true in the worship offered to him, however imperfect an understanding of him a worshiper may have. While Muslims, like Jews, do not accept the Trinity, they do acknowledge that God is the only true God and that he is merciful. This means that they honor things that are true about God but have a limited understanding of him.
Christians have a fuller understanding of God because he has revealed more to us about himself: specifically, that he is a Trinity. This doctrine cannot be deduced by human reason; it can only be known by revelation.
Failure to accept this revelation of the Christian age does not stop Muslims from worshiping God any more than it stops Jews. It means only that they know less about God and that they have erroneous corollary ideas (for instance, that Jesus is not the Son of God).
To make clear how this works, allow me to take an example from pop culture: Suppose that you and I both knew Peter Parker. I might know, because he revealed it to me, that he is also Spiderman. You may hear this claim and reject it, in which case you adopt the false corollary belief
Spiderman is not Peter Parker. That does not mean that you don’t know and relate to either Peter Parker or Spiderman, it means only that you misunderstand the relationship between them.
In the same way, one may worship God and honor Jesus as a prophet (which he was) without understanding that Jesus is God. Indeed, many people in his own day did that: They knew the historical Jesus but had a false understanding of his identity.
3) Muslims recognize that God is
mankind’s judge on the last day. This is another link they have to biblical faith. Muslims may have erroneous ideas about some of the things that will occur before, after, or around this event, but that much they have right.
Some in these religions can be saved, but not because of their religions. This is underlined in the document
Dominus Jesus that was released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2000.
According to the document,
It would be contrary to the faith to consider the Church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by the other religions, seen as complementary to the Church or substantially equivalent to her (DJ 21).
Further,
If it is true that the followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of salvation (DJ 22).
There should be no doubt that the Church recognizes that followers of Islam have elements of truth. But while it is possible for them—as for all men—to be saved if they live up to the light God has given them, it cannot be said that Islam is a path of salvation or that Muslims do not need to become Christians.
Hope this helps.
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