"Are Protestants Going to Hell?": Assumptions and Misunderstandings

Why Poke the Bear?

The reality is, if you’re a former Protestant, you’re probably going to get hit with this question by a close friend or family member who is still wondering why you became Catholic in the first place: “If I don’t become Catholic, do you think I’m going to Hell?”

Some people will address the question to you directly, and others will discuss it without you in the room. All of this is completely normal, since it’s a sensitive topic.

At the same time, it’s also not good for Protestants to consume anti-Catholic content and avoid a proper understanding of the facts. They often presume they know more than they do about the Church and Scripture; I say this speaking from experience. So it seemed to me that an online essay would be a good way to allow people to engage with these questions at their own pace in their own time.

My intent is not to poke the Protestant bears or Catholic tigers in my life. But to demonstrate my current understanding of the issues, so that those who are currently wrestling with the same topic can share their thoughts on the issues as well. Whether you're Catholic or Protestant, I welcome your comments.

I make no claim that what I’m about to present is free of error in its content or its presentation. I’m very much open to criticism from those more knowledgeable about the topic than me.

That’s why I decided to write this essay. It was to give those people who are curious about my current understanding a window into my thinking, without the awkwardness of having to say those infamous words, “Hey, can we talk?” But also for me to put my thoughts out there so that they could be critiqued and refined.

With that massive qualification out of the way, let’s talk about “The Question.”

Are Protestants Going to Hell?: A Different Approach

As I was reading books and consuming podcasts on the doctrine, “No salvation outside the Church,” much of the content focused on showing the viewer/reader that it was possible that Protestants and non-Christians could still enter heaven even if they remained outside the Church. This article is not a contradiction to their answers, but rather it aims to show the other side of the preverbial coin, so to speak.

Their responses typically had two principles: First, God wants all people to be Catholic, and second, that it was possible to be saved even if you never became Catholic. This is true. But since Catholics can’t be presumptuous about their own salvation, they certainly should not be presumptuous about another’s, let alone a Protestant or an atheist who rejects the Church, even if they can be saved in ways known only to God.

To be clear, I’m not the smartest or most qualified person to answer this question, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to answer the question. After all, if you’re Catholic, especially if you’re a former Protestant turned Catholic, you’re guaranteed to be asked this question in one of two forms:

1. “If I don’t become Catholic, am I going to hell?”

2. “If a Protestant does not become Catholic, are they going to hell?”

Obviously, the first question is much harder to answer because the questioner has made their inquiry at a far deeper and more personal level. In these situations, it always seems to me that the person is asking you to give your opinion, which isn’t worth much in the grand scheme of things. These individuals always strike me as being more interested in what I think, not what the Church teaches.

That does not mean you compromise the truth to accommodate the relationship. But it does mean that you need to be prudent in how you engage the question and the person. This is much harder to do in a written format, and so we will not seek to answer this form of the question here. After all, who the “I” is in that question is very important in considering our answer.

For that reason, we will address the easier form of the question: “If a Protestant does not become Catholic, are they going to hell?”

Salvation by Affiliation?

First, Protestants, especially older ones, need to understand that Catholics do not believe you are saved by virtue of your membership in the Catholic Church. This is a common Protestant misunderstanding. Some Protestants believe that Catholics think that instead of praying a prayer to be saved, you just need the Catholic VIP card to get to heaven. The Church teaches the exact opposite,

All the Church’s children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged.

Lumen Gentium, 14.

When Protestants say that Catholics are proposing a “salvation by association” theology, they are revealing that they have been reading too many anti-Catholic authors and not engaging with the actual teachings of the Church. We are not saved by “affiliation” with the Catholic Church. We are saved by faith in and obedience to Christ. That is why it’s important to be in the one Church, because it is only within the true Church that one can fully follow Christ.

The Assumption

Returning to the actual question, “Will Protestants be saved if they remain outside the Church?”, there is an implicit assumption in it. The questioner doesn’t realize it, but the assumption their question makes is that the Church’s teachings are true.

If the Church is automatically false, then her teachings have no bearing on their salvation, and they do not need an answer. But on the other hand, if there is a possibility that the Church’s teachings and claims are true, then obviously there is an eternal risk for rejecting those teachings.

This is why the question is clearer when it’s rephrased: “If the Catholic Church is true, are Protestants going to Hell?”

Now, as we have already covered and will see in future articles, our answer varies significantly from person to person. There is a big difference between an unrepentant abortion doctor who hates the Church asking this question, a 21st-century Protestant who follows Jesus sincerely, even if sincerely in error, asking this question, and Martin Luther asking this question.

When a Protestant asks about their salvation from a Catholic perspective, we have to presume the teachings of the Church are true. Where it gets complicated is in the specific examples and scenarios that people bring up in these conversations. We can’t possibly account for every single human experience out there, let alone the internal spiritual state of every person in a given scenario, which is one of the reasons Catholics often speak in terms of “risk” to one’s soul.

We use this language, not because Catholics don’t know how to go to heaven, or that they have no assurance of their own salvation. Instead, they use this language to highlight that they are not your judge; they are sinners just like you. They can only judge an action as moral or immoral; they cannot judge the heart. That is reserved for God. Humans can know and judge whether an action is eternally risky, but God is the one who judges the person.

Judging vs Judgment

When a Catholic or Protestant is baptized, they have “entered the Church as though through a door.” Scripture and Church teaching are clear that belief, baptism, Christ’s body and blood, obedience, and perseverance are all required for eternal life.

According to the Church, when a person is baptized, whether Catholic or not, “…All sins are forgiven, original sin and personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.” In this sense, the Catholic and the Protestant can say, “We are saved.” But neither has entered into heaven yet, so there is still sanctification and perseverance that must be accomplished.

Therefore, the only way that a Protestant or a Catholic would be in danger of hell is if they committed a mortal sin and they never repented of it. According to the Catechism,

If [mortal sin] is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and eternal death of hell… — CCC, 1861

A sin is mortal if the following criteria are met.

1. The sin is a “grave matter” (e.g., taking an innocent life, adultery, blasphemy, etc).

2. The sinner had “full knowledge” of the sin.

3. The sinner deliberately consented to the sin.

Knowing whether a sinful action is a grave matter is not difficult. It is also not the case that someone can just say, “Well, I don’t think that’s a grave sin, so it doesn’t apply to me.” Feigning ignorance about a moral truth is also considered a mortal sin,

Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin. — CCC, 1859; emphasis mine.

This is actually a shared point between Catholics and many Protestants. They would agree that certain sins either remove a person from grace or, as some Protestants say, “The sin reveals that the person was never saved to begin with.”

Being Catholic is not a prerequisite for knowing whether a sin is gravely sinful. Some sins are actually intrinsically evil. Meaning, they are never morally permissible. This means that whether an action is a grave matter or not is knowable by both Protestants and Catholics. But knowing whether a person is guilty of mortal sin with certainty is only known to God and the individual committing the sin.

The Catechism states,

Although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgement of persons to the justice and mercy of God. — CCC, 1861; emphasis mine.

As we proceed on this topic, Catholics must understand that our role is merely to know our faith and to make it known to others. What they decide to do with that information is between them and God. But, again, presuming that a Protestant has been warned that they are committing mortal sin, either by a Catholic, by study of the Church, or the scriptures, they are risking mortal culpability for their actions if they continue to commit them.

Over the next couple of weeks, there will be articles posted here discussing various scenarios and examples that apply these principles. So make sure to subscribe. Moving on.

Misconceptions about Truth and Ignorance

It should be clear now that the Church is not teaching that a Protestant is just as likely to be saved as a Catholic, nor do they believe in “once saved always saved” for Catholics, but not for Protestants.

The Church is merely saying that it is possible for those outside the Church to be saved. It also should be stated that the Church is not saying that “ignorance” is just as good as the truth.

The Catechism and scripture both affirm that “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), and that “Salvation is found in the truth,” not in ignorance.¹ If the Catholic Church is, as Scripture teaches, “the pillar and foundation of all truth…” (1 Tim. 3:15), then it simply follows that rejecting the Church is a decision of eternal consequence.

When the Church speaks about exceptions to God’s plan of salvation, she is merely telling the world that God is perfectly capable of making exceptions and remaining merciful, just, loving, and true. She is not teaching that there are many roads to God, but instead that God has the power and knowledge to know who will be exempt and who will not. Recall what Jesus said to his disciples,

“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” — Jn. 10:16

While the thief on the cross is a beautiful and hopeful picture of God’s mercy, we must also account for Judas Iscariot in our discussions about salvation. Remember, there is one thief on the cross that was saved, but there were many disciples who, “from that time on…went back, and walked no more with [Jesus]” (Jn. 6:66).

To be clear, the number of those entering heaven by exceptional ignorance (a.k.a, “invincible ignorance”) cannot be greater than those who enter by way of the knowledge of the truth; otherwise, ignorance would be superior to faith, and Jesus would have come, not to save the world, but to “condemn the world.” For the record, this would also completely contradict Jesus’ own words in scripture,

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him will not be condemned…¹⁹ And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil…But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God. — Jn. 3:17-21

To Be Continued

With all of these qualifications out of the way, we are now in a position to apply them to specific scenarios where a person might ask, “Are Protestants going to Hell if they don’t become Catholic?”

I plan to have four articles, each addressing the question as it pertains to the “type” of Protestants below:

1. The Ignorant: Protestants who know of the Catholic Church by name, but are completely ignorant of her actual teachings.

2. The Blasphemous: Protestants who know the teachings of the Church, reject them, and blaspheme them.

3. The Indifferent: Protestants who know the teachings of the Church but are indifferent to them.

4. The Resistant: Protestants who know the teachings of the Church and love them, but refuse to submit to them.

Since the non-Catholic’s salvific status is only certainly uncertain, then it follows that an equally valid answer, in some cases, is “Some Protestants won’t be saved.” In the upcoming article series titled “Are They Going to Hell?” I want to focus on the actions these Protestants are taking that increase their chances of eternal damnation. This is not to be judgmental, but will hopefully help educate Catholics and Protestants so that we can ensure that we avoid sin and help others do the same.

After all, if the Church is what she claims to be, and some refuse, for whatever reason, to remain outside of her protection, they are, logically speaking, taking a risk. A risk that we Catholics are obligated to, with love and truth, inform them of,

“Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has an obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”

— Ad Gentes (AG), 7.

If you’re interested in joining this conversation, feel free to subscribe so you get notified when the next essay in the series drops. I’ll also be doing some podcasts on this and addressing any questions or comments in the comments section below.

If you want to watch some great content addressing how a Protestant could be saved despite being outside the Church, check out these great resources in the following footnote.²

— DR —

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 851.

2. Joe Heschmeyer on “Are Protestants Condemned to Hell?”

Fr. Gregory Pine on Pints with Aquinas, “Do you have to be Catholic to be saved?”

Michael Knowles “Yes or No - w/ Read Choi” - “Will you see me in Heaven?” begins at the 20:30 mark.

Do You Need to Be Baptized to Be Saved? — Aquinas 101