Slide 2:
14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.
16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Slide 3:
Notice that Jesus didn’t upbraid or scold the disciples for denying him, for running away or for their fear of persecution.
He scolded them for only two things, their unbelief and their hardness of heart.
He now tells them to tell the whole world about him.
Keep in mind that people in Israel knew about Jesus but the rest of the world lived in darkness. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (v. 16).
In the first portion of this verse it would seem that there are two requirements for salvation, to be baptized and to believe but the second portion emphasizes belief with no mention of baptism.
Turning to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official teachings of the Church we read:
Slide 4:
CCC1260 - "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the
Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.
"Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved.
It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.”
The central issue in verses 14-16 is faith and living out the principles of faith.
Can unbaptized Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews etc. be found in heaven?
Yes, if they have lived up to the principles of their faith.
Slide 5:
Because of Jesus’ response to the criminal on the cross who died with him, we know it is possible to be saved without being baptized (Luke 23:43).
Baptism alone, without faith, does not guarantee that a person will go to heaven.
Religion is like a sandwich. If you haven’t eaten for days and someone offered you a quarter of a sandwich, you would gladly accept it even if it didn’t fulfill your need for food.
Now let us suppose someone offered you the whole sandwich, would you turn it down?
Of course not, why then would you choose to nibble at the sandwich of faith when the whole sandwich of Christianity can be yours for the asking?