Thanks, Doug. That's exactly what I meant. Athiests and non-Christians do feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, etc., and also obey the Commandments (do not bear false witness, do not kill, do not steal) and so on. And they can love their neighbor as they love themselves just as well as we can - and it's a constant struggle for us.

There are a couple of commands they can't follow, like keeping holy the Lord's Day (since athiests, at least, don't acknowledge a Lord in any form), or committing idolatry (their idol is all the worldly things that take the place of God), and athiests at least certainly can't love God with their whole heart, soul, mind and strength, since they don't acknowledge that there is a God. So are they condemned on that basis?

Paul answers that question in Romans 2:1-16:
Quote:
1 Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. 2 You say, "We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth." 3 Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 For he will repay according to each one's deeds: 7 to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

12 All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. 15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.
Notice this goes along exactly with what the Catholic Church teaches. The bottom line is, God knows the hearts of all His creatures, and He is the one Who will judge based on the appropriate standards for each person. Notice what he says in verses 1-3. He's criticizing the very type of judgment we see from those who rely on carefully selected verses to determine that no one who doesn't say the equivalent of the Sinners Prayer will be condemned. Notice also verses 6-8, in which Paul states how God will judge us all upon our deeds, not just on whether we've come close enough to reciting the Sinners Prayer once in our lives.

Paul was totally Catholic, no doubt about that! And he was the Catholic Church's first missionary!

Radar