Is Mother Teresa in Hell?

     Recently, wild mindlessly skimming through my Facebook News Feed I came across a link one of my “Friends” had shared entitled “Roman Catholics: Canonizing the Damned” attached to a picture of Mother Teresa. 

     Obviously, this got my attention.  The writer begins by stating that Mother Teresa was “the damned follower of an apostate religion!”  I then began to read about all the things Mother Teresa did wrong.  But according to this article her biggest problem was theological.  The writer then proceeds to lay out all of her false beliefs and contends that because of her false beliefs she was damned to hell!

      Several years ago as I was starting out in ministry, I was given the difficult task of performing a funeral for someone whom I didn’t know while they were alive.  Almost every funeral I had every attended the minister spoke with confidence that the person whose life they were celebrating was in heaven. 

     Because of my lack of knowledge of the deceased person’s faith or lack of faith, I wasn’t sure how to approach the funeral service and so I asked my Pastor for advice.  I will never forget what he said.

“Don’t preach them into Heaven or Hell!” 

“They are where they are, and nothing you can say or do will change that fact.”

“Leave that up to God.”

It some of the best advice I have ever heard. 

     I don’t fully understand anyone (such as the above mentioned writer) who will emphatically state that another human being is in hell!  God is the Judge of the world and I feel completely inadequate to sit in that chair.   

     It also intrigued me that the writer of this article (Who writes for a website who seems to think almost every human being is going to hell!) was so against doing good things to earn a place to heaven.  Even though I agree with the writer on this issue, it seems like they were proposing that our theology must be perfect to earn a place in heaven!  

Whether we think its good works or perfect theology will get you God’s approval, we are dead wrong.

God says there is only one way for a human being to be in right relationship with him. 

“If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you will be saved.” 

This kind of faith is all about Jesus and what he did for me.  What he is asking of me is that I trust him.

I am relieved to know that God hasn’t called me to be the world’s judge. 

I know I would be quite stingy with Grace and Mercy towards everyone else, except towards myself of course!