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There're lots of Christian denominations out there. I'm wondering if each of them have an official answer to "if the Second Coming were today, believers of [other denomination] will/will not be saved". I'm interested in both the bigger denominations (Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism ...) and the smaller ones (Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses ...). A full list is likely impractical, but partial tables are also good.

I haven't been able to find anything about this except scattered statements such as "[Jehovah's Witnesses] consider secular society to be morally corrupt and under the influence of Satan, and most limit their social interaction with non-Witnesses" which implies that this denomination will say answer the question with "no" for every other denomination. It's possible I am searching for the wrong terms though, so I am asking this question.

Edit: some clarifications per the comments. I'm only interested in the official doctrine, not the beliefs of individuals. A denomination thinks the other will be "saved" if members of the other denomination are treated the same as members of the original denomination at the Second Coming. It is "not saved" if they are treated the same as unbelievers (i.e. non-Christians). For everything else in between, it's "partial" (i.e. part yes, part no).

Related: Do non-Christians go to hell?, however this question is about people who also identify as Christian.

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    I hope whoever answers this question supplies a machine readable format that I can use for a graph algorithm to find the denomination least likely to go to Hell! – Peter Turner♦ Jun 9 '20 at 0:45
  • this is such a broad question, you might want to narrow it down to just one or two denominations – depperm Jun 9 '20 at 1:02
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    I think the general answer is that the Trinitarians generally consider each other to be truly saved, but not the non-Trinitarians, while the non-Trinitarians don't consider anyone other than those in their own theological camp to be saved (not necessarily only their own denomination, there are breakaway LDS denominations for example and they may consider each other saved.) – curiousdannii♦ Jun 9 '20 at 1:42
  • @curiousdannii the beginning of a overview style of answer? – KorvinStarmast Jun 9 '20 at 14:43
  • VTC:NMF, traditionally questions like this were closed very quickly because they can only be efficiently answered from a single denominational or traditional perspective. The biggest problem is what does it mean to be "saved?" I assure you, there's a very different meaning between, e.g., Baptists, Catholics, and Mormons. And speaking from the LDS perspective it's very important to know what you mean because from one perspective we believe everyone is saved but those who follow the Devil and from another we believe only Latter-day Saints are saved. So, which perspective are you asking from? – JBH Jun 10 '20 at 0:35
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From a conservative Baptist perspective, which I no longer am but with which I am very familiar, the only people who are 'saved' are those who, in acknowledgement of their sin, have relinquished faith in any and every other thing including good works and religious activity and personally assign their entire hope to the sacrificial death of Christ for the atonement of their sin and to the resurrection of Christ for the imputation of Christ's righteousness to their account.

CB's believe that 'salvation' is an intensely personal and not a corporate affair and is not imparted by a creed or a baptism, nor conferred by a priest or any ritual.

CB's believe that this is what constitutes being 'born again' or 'born from above' and that it is a permanent translation from death to life. CB's believe that sitting under accurate biblical teaching (especially about the person of Christ) certainly increases the likelihood that a person might respond (and most Baptist churches seem to believe that they teach the most accurately...or maybe that's just all churches) but that church attendance, bible reading, denominational adherence, sacramental participation, and theological training guarantee nothing.

In short, CB's believe that only those who are born again are actually Christian and are saved, regardless of denomination or self-designation.

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From the Seventh-day Adventist perspective, yes, people of other faiths will be saved. Jesus said clearly that he has his sheep in other folds.

It is wrong for any Bible believer to judge any other human, as we are expressly admonished not to. Judgement belongs to God, and it is not for us to include or exclude anyone. Any attempting to do so need to be very careful to rather point to the peril to which sin exposes you and to do so in as non-judgemental a fashion as possible. This can be rather difficult in practice, but it helps to think of all souls as infinitely valuable.

It is only in the light of eternity that the true value of a human soul can be appreciated.

I suspect most Protestant faiths hold this position as it is almost a defining point of Protestantism which rose against the Papal claim to hold the keys to heaven and that only through her could salvation be granted.

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  • Thanks for answer. By "other faiths", are you referring to all faiths (so Buddhists, Hindus etc will also be saved), or just those of other Christian denominations? – Allure Jun 16 '20 at 11:15
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    Jesus did not define. We are not to judge either inclusively or exclusively to any man. Judgement as to who will or will not be in the kingdom is the exclusive domain of Jesus. The direct answer is to reiterate that it us not for any human to declare any faith excluded. Note that individuals will be saved, not faiths. It is a well known teaching of Adventists that being a SDA is not a guarantee of salvation. That extends across all humanity without borders or boundaries. Salvation is an intimately personal experience and issue. – Ian Macintosh Jun 16 '20 at 11:25

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