before Jesus

before Jesus Question from on 05-20-2007:

What happend to people, specificly Jews, who commited a mortal sin. Could they be forgiven? If so, how without confession, if they can't why? PS. What happens to Protestants who commit mortal sins?

Answer by Richard Geraghty on 06-02-2007:

Dear Trevor, God holds people only to what they can do. Those outside the Church do not accept the Catholic teaching on confession and so have to repent of their sins more on their own. Of course, God is there to help them. If this were not so, they would never be forgiven. This would have been the case millions of people who lived before the coming of Christ when confession was not available. Hearing this some object, saying that if they don't have to go to confession, why do Catholics have to go? The answer is that, since they are Catholics, they already know what they should do. They are really blessed with this knowledge. But sometimes Catholics react as if they were cursed or burdened with this knowledge. God deals with people according to what they already know. Dr. Geraghty