What's particularly interesting about the responses is that there is very little about what Mother Teresa actually believed or wrote. Being a critic of the "I believe X about Mother Teresa's beliefs without any support, I did a little hunting. I promptly discovered why few of her beliefs were directly quoted. I was a little surprised, actually, how little a Google search on her turned up on her theologically: A plethora of classic quotes and a few critics - pretty much par for the course of a world icon. (It is, of course, far too easy to make a legend fit one's world view.)
Here's a few excepts catching my attention and my thoughts:
Yes, she met the royal law of love--love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.Huh? I'm pretty sure Mother Teresa wouldn't claim to have met the law; I'm almost certain I've read some of her quotes to the contrary. It's a powerful claim that we can fully love God heart, mind, soul, and strength.
If she did not repent of her sins and place her faith in Jesus Christ alone for her salvation, she went to hell. If she worshipped Mary, she went to hell. It doesn't matter how many "good" things someone does, if they have sin in their life they will go to hell.Mostly a fascinating quote because of the juxtaposition of two concepts. Concept A: If she repented and placed her faith in Jesus alone, she goes to heaven. (I think that is what the author meant. It is what I hope they meant. The strict converse of the first statement is 'If she is in heaven, then she repented of her sins and placed her faith alone in Jesus (plus possible additional conditions.)
Concept B: If a person has any sin in their life, they will go to hell. I'm not quite clear what good repentance and faith are if utter elimination of sin is necessary to avoid hell. I would guess the commenter is coming from a Wesleyan holiness perspective, but that is still a little rough for the Christian converts who haven't quite mastered not sinning.
I don't know the final answer, but if she believed Jesus was the Messiah that could save her from her sins, and if she lived her life in obedience to His teachings, then she very well may be in Heaven.I like this quote. (Note the word 'like', which is very different than 'agree'.) It begs the question: Is obedience necessary for salvation? If so, how much?
Is there a point at which we can look at someone's life and say "They have lived such a good life that they must have been a Christ follower?" What happens if that person openly claims to be a Muslim, or an atheist? Is our belief system invalidated if the next Mother Teresa figure is a Hindu?
I'm very uncomfortable with the premise in many of the comments that if one lives a good enough life, one 'must' be a Christian. It sounds good - we want to think that Christians can live a notch 'better' than non-Christians. But I'm not clear it is theologically sound. I'm not sure I'm prepared to qualify certain people as Christians if they live a good enough life. I'm not sure I'm prepared to disqualify people for living too bad a life. And I'm very fuzzy on where I'd start drawing lines.
Here's a parting thought: It is perhaps unfortunate that Mother Teresa didn't leave behind a clearer theological picture for us to attach to her deeds - or at least, that I'm not aware of it. The doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, at least in America, seems varied. Good deeds say a great deal, but there are some ideas they simply cannot communicate.
(And the corollary is that I need to blog less and do more.)
3 comments:
Here's a thought: Mother Theresa was a nun in the Catholic Church. And while yes, the Catholic beliefs may vary from person to person (just as they do in many other denominations), we might assume that if one would have asked Mother Theresa a bit more about her theology, she would have pointed them in the direction of the Vatican. For many people, identifying with a religion says a lot about their theology.
My point is that I don't believe that it's Mother Theresa (with her lack of googlable theological quotes) that is creating the issue here. For those who believe that both Catholics and Protestants can be freely welcomed into heaven by God, in fact, there isn't really an issue at hand. Sure, perhaps she could have been faking her whole faith, but the most parsimonious explanation for her charitable behavior (and continued identification with the Catholic Church) is a great belief in God.
Oh, and I meant "Teresa" of course. I really need to wake up. :)
I think I'd be happier if the Catholic church managed to communicate a more consistent message, at least in the US. The fact that (# takes on what Catholicism teachs) / (# Catholics I've talked to) does not rapidly approach zero is disappointing.
Given that many Catholics I know feel the freedom to consciousientally object to various teachings of the Church make me curious if Teresa held to all of them.
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