It’s either that or Catholics have just been around long enough and gone through the “predict a date, be wrong, lose believers” cycle enough times to know better
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Ha, fair points, I never thought about that part of it. There are certainly some religious orders that see the world as irredeemably corrupt, and withdraw from it (cloistered monks and nuns most famously), but this is more the exception than the norm, at least today.
Non-practicing former Catholic here:
In my parochial school, we were taught that because Jews were the “chosen people”, no Christian conversion was needed for them to attain Heaven. I don’t know if this is an American Catholic thing or something taught specifically in my parish/region.
This was also the implied teaching at my Roman Catholic parish in Alabama in the aughts: Jewish people were and still are God's Chosen People. I learned about supersession (sp?) this year and was bowled over.
The other thing to note here is that my religious teachings barely ever touched upon Revelations and was focused on performing “good works” in the present to ensure that you made the nice list and not the naughty list. Faith alone does not save you. Faith plus good works is the key.
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In my parochial school, we were taught that because Jews were the “chosen people”, no Christian conversion was needed for them to attain Heaven. I don’t know if this is an American Catholic thing or something taught specifically in my parish/region.
In this corner we have James.
In the other corner the challenger, Brother Martin Luther …
Faith alone isn’t enough for Heaven. If you’re also an asshole, no amount of faith keeps you out of Hell.
With that, I can at least concur.