Who to believe about mortal sin: Our Lady or Jimmy Akin?

La Salette Journey ^ | June 25, 2013 | Paul Melanson

[cleghornboy]

Father Joseph Pelletier, A.A., was a native of Winchendon, Massachusetts. And he served the Church at a time when most priests were still reminding the souls entrusted to their care about the reality of hell and that mortal sins, unrepented of, render a soul incapable of eternal life.

Back then, most Catholics knew and accepted God's Holy Word: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6: 9, 10).

Although the Catechism of the Catholic Church assures us that, "Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the 'eternal punishment' of sin," (CCC, 1472), many today - priests, religious and laity - would have us believe that mortal sin is rare. For example, James Akin makes that case here. But if all, or most souls, are saved, how do we explain the Scriptures? When the Son of Man began His public ministry, He did so with the word "repent" (Matthew 4:17). And He advised the woman caught in adultery to "sin no more" (John 8:11). Likewise, in the case of the man cured at the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus advised him to "sin no more lest something worse befall thee" (John 5:14). When queried on the subject of how many would be saved, Jesus replied "few" because the "gate" to Heaven is "narrow" (Matthew 7:13-14). And while no one can pinpoint the precise meaning of the word "few," still, it is sobering that Jesus chose the image of a narrow gate.

[Psalm 73]

Verse 11 is critical to the meaning of 1 Corinthians 6:9 & 10:

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."
11: And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Conviction without Grace is futility.

[jobim]

In case you don't know of it, Will Many Be Saved? by Regis Martin addresses this precise issue. Using counciliar documents, in particular Lumen Gentium, and the writings of the fathers, and of course Scripture, Martin makes a soberingly strong case that supports the good father of this article.

[vladimir998]

Perhaps the person who wrote this blog article simply doesn’t understand what Akin wrote. I looked at Akin’s original article and it seems obvious to me he is saying there will be many grave sins objectively speaking but not everyone will be held to be blameworthy because of their ignorance.

[cleghornboy]

Perhaps you should reflect carefully on what I have written. Sacred Scripture refers repeatedly to the Day of Judgment as a Day of Wrath.

Reflect very carefully on that fact.

And consider Our Lord’s warning: ‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7: 21).

I’m sorry you find this Scripture to be “inconvenient.” Reflect too on Our Lord’s warning that the way to perdition is broad and MANY there are who travel on it. But narrow is the way to salvation and FEW there are who find it.

Meditate carefully as well on the warning found in James 2: 14: “What good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”

And then we have the warning found in Lumen Gentium, No. 14: “All the Church’s children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail, moreover, to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, NOT ONLY SHALL THEY NOT BE SAVED BUT THEY WILL BE THE MORE SEVERELY JUDGED.”

[vladimir998]

you wrote:

“I’m sorry you find this Scripture to be “inconvenient.””

Please show me where I ever claimed any verse in the Bible was “inconvenient”. And when you fail to do that - and you will fail to do that - I want you to reflect on the irony of the fact that the thread is about mortal sin and that bearing false witness (as you just did against me) is a mortal sin. You need to repent. If you don’t repent, then you’re also a terrible hypocrite. People who lie and don’t repent should not hypocritically post threads about mortal sin and salvation.