Posted on 04/20/2018 7:54:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Pope Francis was tasked on Sunday with answering a challenging question by a little boy, who asked whether his late atheist father, described as a "good" person, is in Heaven.
According to Catholic news site Aleteia, the encounter took place when the Vatican leader was meeting with parishioners of St. Paul of the Cross before celebrating Mass.
A boy identified only by the name Emanuele was invited to whisper a question he had for Francis, which he did, but was too overcome with emotion to repeat it in public.
The pontiff then shared with the parishioners what Emanuele had whispered to him:
"A short time ago, my dad died. He was an atheist, but he had all four of his children baptized. He was a good man. Is Dad in heaven?"
Francis said that it is a "beautiful" thing for a son to call his father "good."
"That man gave a beautiful testimony to his children, for his children to be able to say, 'He was a good man.' It's a beautiful testimony on the part of the son that he has inherited his dad's strength, and also, that he has had the courage to cry before all of us. If that man was capable of raising children like this, it's true, he was a good man."
Getting to the heart of the question, the pope remarked:
"That man didn't have the gift of faith, he wasn't a believer, but he had his children baptized. He had a good heart. And [Emanuele] is doubting whether or not his dad, not having been a believer, is in Heaven. God is the one who decides who goes to heaven. But how does God's heart react to a Dad like that? How? What do you think? ... A dad's heart! God has the heart of a father.
"And faced with a dad, a nonbeliever, who was able to have his children baptized and to give them that courage, do you think that God would be capable of leaving him far from Him?"
Pope Francis then asked the audience whether God abandons His children, to which the public answered, "No."
The pope then told the boy:
"There you go, Emanuele, this is your answer. God surely was proud of your dad, because it's easier to have your children baptized when you are a believer, than to have them baptized when you are not a believer. Surely, this pleased God greatly. Talk with your father, pray to your father."
Most evangelical leaders, including Greg Laurie, have stated that one must believe in Jesus Christ in order to go to Heaven and that good deeds (without Christ) are not enough to get to Heaven.
Pope Francis has made a number of controversial musings, particularly on the question of Heaven and Hell throughout his papacy. In September 2014, he appeared to suggest to atheist Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari that nonbelievers can indeed go to Heaven as long as they do good.
"I start by saying — and this is the fundamental thing — that God's mercy has no limits if you go to Him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience," the pontiff said at the time.
The Vatican pushed back against the wording of the quoted text a couple of months later, however, arguing that there were mistakes in how it was written up.
"The information in the interview is reliable on a general level but not on the level of each individual point analyzed: this is why it was decided the text should not be available for consultation on the Holy See website," the Vatican said.
More recently, the pope stirred controversy last month when atheist philosopher Eugenio Scalfari claimed that Francis had told that "Hell does not exist" and that "those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear."
The Vatican denied that the pope made such a statement, arguing that the quotes reported by Scalfari was his own "reconstruction" and not the exact words of Francis.
"What is reported by the author in today's article is the result of his reconstruction, in which the literal words pronounced by the Pope are not quoted," said the Holy See, as quoted by the Catholic News Agency.
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:9-13
Unless, that is, your child calls you “a good person”. Never mind What the Apostles of Jesus said. Nevermind what Jesus Himself said:
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. Mark 10:18
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles[a] off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[b] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
John 11:17-24
I don’t answer to or obey heretics, whether they be Bergoglio you.
bttt
So you are your own little luther.
You are officially a heretic then as you will not submit to your pope. I imagine that's a mortal sin in some capacity in Roman Catholicism.
Imagine that ebb....you're committing a mortal sin and you show no sign of repenting.
Should have taken him to 1 Timothy 2:4. Then reminded him of the thief on the cross who was saved at the last minute. Your father had you baptized. It may be that your father called on Gods Salvation as he was dying and in that case he will be in heaven.
What should he have told a little boy grieving for the recent loss of his father?
"I'm sorry, but your father is damned to Hell for all eternity"?
Of course that sounds harsh, but how much more harsh is the reality of Scripture? The Church’s sugar coating of God’s Word has gotten us to where we are today.
I get a kick of heretics lecturing me about mortal sin when they don’t even believe in it.
It’s like a muslim terrorist lecturing me about their false prophet.
Or Pope Hagar:
You don’t have to die to go to heaven
Or hang around to be born again
Just tune into what this place has got to offer
Cause we may never be here again
I want the best of both worlds
And baby I know what it’s worth
We can have have the best of both worlds a little
Heaven right here on earth
Just using your own terminology to illustrate your mortal sins.
Consider, ebb....you are now without salvation until you can get to a priest.
You also have the mortal sin of bearing a false witness on another thread.
You've racked up two today.
You better get to see the priest.
They remind me so much of the libtards who think we should let them run the world because they have such good intentions even though their actual track record in governance produces misery for the masses they claim to love.
Child molesters claim to love children, too.
Of course that sounds harsh, but how much more harsh is the reality of Scripture?
So that, or words to that effect, is what you would have said to the little boy?
I'm a Fried-Chicken-eatin, KJV-readin, baptized-by-dunkin Baptist.
I wouldn’t know what to say to this child.
Kind of like if they ask if Santa Claus is real.
And in a larger sense, I thought Popes believed in Catholicism.
Pope Francis is in deep into the project of either deforming doctrine beyond recognition, or abrogating it, day by day, line by line, 24/7/365.
It’s painfully disorienting to have a non-Catholic, NO, an ANTI-Catholic, Pope.
I understand the difficulty of the circumstances, I really do, but the pope does the boy, and the world, no favors by using false transactions.
As you know, Hell is real and is a horrible place of eternal suffering. To this fact the Author of life Himself said, “It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
Exactly. I’m not sure that I could tell a young child that his father just might be receiving abominable gifts from Satan Claus.
“Jesus died for him too” and “Only God knows a man’s heart.”
Take the chance to tell the boy how much Jesus loves him.
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