Do I have to be a Christian to go to heaven?I f so, what does that mean for people of other faiths or those who don’t believe in God?

Catholics believe the purpose of life is to seek and serve God and each other as best we can, and we believe that Jesus is God. So we believe the best way to live is as a Christian and that if we do that, we will be with God in heaven after we die. However, only God knows what is in a person’s heart and so only God can judge if they have searched for and served God in life and if they should go to heaven.

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Catholics believe that all people are made in the image and likeness of God and that God wants everyone to be with God in heaven after they die. We don’t put limits on who God loves and what God can do. We believe God created the whole world and that God is alive in the world. So, the Church respects people of other faiths as they too are searching for God. We believe that God could speak to them indifferent ways (as God could do anything) but we do not know for certain that God is doing this. We also believe that in places (and times) where the Church does not exist or has had no success, God finds ways to bring people to him and to heaven.

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However, we do not believe that all faiths/religions are the same and we respect the differences between religious traditions.· We understand that people of other faiths, (and people of no faith who live as moral life as they can) are searching for and serving God in their own ways. It is thus possible that God may bring them to heaven after death, but we do not know this for certain. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) and so we can only be certain of going to heaven if we love and follow Jesus. That said, we believe the Jews are still God’s chosen people, and we remain close to the Jews because Jesus was a Jew and we have inherited many Jewish beliefs.