- I think it inclines millions of people toward irrational inference, many more than would make the correct inference.
Lionel:
I do not mean it in this vague way.
Analyse Ad Gentes 7.
Therefore, all must be converted to Him, made known by the Church's preaching, and all must be incorporated into Him by baptism and into the Church which is His body. For Christ Himself "by stressing in express language the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:5), at the same time confirmed the necessity of the Church, into which men enter by baptism, as by a door. -Ad Gentes 7,Vatican Council II
In this passage above Ad Gentes 7,Vatican Council II is saying all need to enter the Church for salvation. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
Then (AG 7) it could be inferred wrongly that there are known exceptions.This would be true if it is assumed that the dead- saved in invincible ignorance are visible on earth.
Therefore though God in ways known to Himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel to find that faith without which it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11:6)...
We know that those saved in invincible ignorance are not visible to us on earth. These INVISIBLE cases are not an exception to Ad Gentes 7, when it states earlier, that all need 'faith and baptism'.
So Vatican Council II does not contradiict itself. The text does not contradict itself unless you infer that what is INVISIBLE for us is VISIBLE. This would be irrational. Yet this is the precise irrational inference that very one is using.
LG 16 ( invincible ignorance) and LG 8 ( elements of sanctification and truth) are considered to be VISIBLE exceptions to Ad Gentes 7 ( all need faith and baptism) and the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.-Lionel Andrades
Posts
