[Greapyjeory]

Dear Theophilus,
You wrote:

Thank you! So, then, a man "outside" the Church was gifted a faith greater than any "inside" the Church. Glory be to Christ the Almighty! I don't think that someone outside of the Church has either a greater or even equal faith to someone in the Church.
We are talking here rather about intention and God works with a good intention (or even bad actually)to draw people to Him. This is still not identical to the Church even though it may lead to it.
Beyond this it is difficult to speak. The intention or desire is not entirely free of sin & confusion. And it is very difficult for us to distinguish in others between conscious rejection of God and ignorance due to circumstances. In the Lives of the Saints there are examples of how God judges these two differently.
So we are taught and know that salvation in its full & proper sense only comes from within the Church. And yet God leads those outside the Church towards His salvation according to their means. This is a mystery of God's providence & difficult for us to understand. But it is more comprehensible when we understand that by salvation we mean ultimately the Church. Teleologically this is where the teaching of the Church about One Truth heads. The present world of multiple 'truths' is only the result of sin and will be healed one day in Christ.
Christ in the parable of the wheat & the tares explains why He leaves it so for now. Before the final healing from death the complete destruction of sin & confusion would also result in the destruction of good intentions. Wheat would be torn up with tares. So we know there is One Church but at the other pole God ultimately leads other sheep to His One fold. And this is why we say sooner or later, now or after death or at the Second Coming, all will be in the Church for all will be Church. Except for those who consciously reject Christ.
In Christ- Fr Raphael