How to Go to Heaven

CatholicAnswers ^ | May 12, 2015 | Jimmy Akin

[Salvation]

How to Go to Heaven

Jimmy Akin

May 12, 2015 |

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Sometimes people make it sound like the Catholic understanding of how to get to heaven is really complex.

It’s not.

While you can go into any of Christ’s teachings in a lot of very rich detail, he made sure that this one can be understood even by a child.

I can summarize it in two sentences.

The two sentences are these: To come to God and be saved, you need to repent, have faith, and be baptized. If you commit mortal sin, you need to repent, have faith, and go to confession.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. And we can show each of these things from the Bible.

The need to repent is shown by the fact that, right at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus began preaching the gospel, saying “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).

The need for faith is shown when the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes that “Without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb. 11:6).

And the need for baptism is shown when St. Peter flatly tells us: “Baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21).

So that’s what you need to do if you want to come to God and be saved: Repent, have faith, and be baptized.

If you do these things, you’ll be in a state of grace, and as long as you remain in a state of grace, you’ll go to heaven.

But we still have free will, and we can still turn our backs on God and fall from grace, to use St. Paul’s phrase (Galatians 5:4).

St. Paul is very clear about the possibility of us committing mortal sin. He tells us: “Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

To turn away from God and commit mortal sin is the opposite of repenting. So when we fall into mortal sin, we need to turn back to God—to repent again.

We also need to have faith.

And then we need to go to confession. This is something Jesus indicated just after he rose from the dead. He came to his disciples, breathed on them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23)

So Jesus empowered his ministers to forgive or retain sins. In order for a priest to know whether he is to forgive or retain a sin, he needs to know about the sin and whether we have repented of it. That means we need to go and tell him these things, and so we have the sacrament of confession.

So that’s what you need to do. To come to God and be saved, you need to repent, have faith, and be baptized. If you commit mortal sin, you need to repent, have faith, and go to confession.

It’s all thoroughly biblical.

[Iscool]

also have you ever prayed over someone while laying hands on them? It is very powerful and moving.

Yes I have, and I agree...

[terycarl]

Cheating people is an "opportunity to make a living"? God approves of that?

I have no idea of what these people were doing, nor do you. They were an everyday occurance wherever they were and I doubt that they could have survived very long if all they did was cheat people. Jesus was upset with them because they were conducting whatever they were doing in the Temple. Why the local religious authorities hadn't done anything about it for years, I don't know.

[metmom]

It’s the same Jesus in Revelation as in Acts and the gospels.

[asyouwish]

Thank you, Campion.
I appreciate your posts,BTW.

[metmom]

How can you say you don’t know what they were doing and then in the very next sentence, inform us of what they were doing and why?

[terycarl]

breaking a man made law is not a sin. Breaking God’s law most definitely is

Unless, of course, God gave man the authority to make laws (He did)

[Mad Dawg]

I guess my “argument” at the initial stage of discussion would be that, while your interpretation is interesting and worthy of consideration, certainly there is room for reasonable people of good will to find another intepretation in these words.

I didn’t say I was “proving” anything. The question to which I responded was about what texts we might be thinking of.

It’s a different, and far more vexatious, question to see if we have understood the texts correctly.

Can we agree that there is no shortge of people who will tell us with insistent confidence that their interpretation of this or that text is “obvious”? So firmness and confidence cannot be considerations which a reasonable and pious person can allow to sway him.

[terycarl]

And if you look at this thread, there is plenty of hostility on both sides. I don't see any hostility on the non Catholic side...

I don't see "hostility" on either side...disagreements are not Hostile.

[saradippity]

Yep, I think Boogieman and quite a few others may be playing the same game.

As a Catholic I am ashamed of duplicitous liars and suggest they stop the silly game and go to confession.

At least I hope they are Catholic,I would hate to think that some of these inane comments actually reflect the beliefs of non Catholics.

[kosciusko51]

They can be, and there have been hostile accusations flying around on this thread.

[asyouwish]

When I made the decision to become a Catholic, my Protestant friends of many years told me that I was going to go to hell for becoming Catholic.

It can go both ways.

[Crim]

A simple review of their posting history shows they are non catholics.

[terycarl]

How can you say you don’t know what they were doing and then in the very next sentence, inform us of what they were doing and why?

Good grief, the Bible (Catholic reference book) calls them money changers....I have no idea of what they were doing nor do you....Christ was upset because whatever they were doing, they were doing it in the house of worship....He tossed them out!!

[Iscool]

And never during his earthly life. Never in all of his preaching. Yet, during his earthly life, in repeated discourses to the apostles, he enjoined them to baptize, celebrate the Eucharist, and to forgive sins. All functions still carried out in the Catholic Church, and not carried out in other Christian bodies.

That's because other Christian bodies continue to learn after Jesus' Crucifixion...The temple was destroyed...There hasn't been any temple worship that the Catholic religion tries to mimic since 70 AD...

Although Jesus mentioned the church to those Jews the church wasn't really revealed till after Jesus died...The main theme of the church wasn't revealed by Jesus until Paul...

We are now baptized with the Holy Spirit...We go straight to the throne without a priest since the veil has been destroyed...We don't have to do works for repentance since we are now under Grace...

[Morgana]

“When I made the decision to become a Catholic, my Protestant friends of many years told me that I was going to go to hell for becoming Catholic.”

You too eh? I was told that by my Baptist youth pastor! Not sure why I ever told him but keep in mind I was 15 at the time.

[asyouwish]

I see we are survivors. ;-)

I am blessed.

[caww]

....” Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”....

Almost right....just need to write what the Fathers will is....

Jesus said.......”For THIS IS is the will of My Father,.... that everyone who beholds the Son and believes ‘in Him’ will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”..........And again....”Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”...”For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD....as is written... For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world ‘through him’. ....For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast......

John 6:40,John 17:3 ,Proverbs 8:35,Ephesians 2;8,John 3:17.

[Mom MD]

OK. My point is that is still not persecution. Bad manners maybe, persecution no.

[daniel1212]

Sometimes people make it sound like the Catholic understanding of how to get to heaven is really complex. It’s not. While you can go into any of Christ’s teachings in a lot of very rich detail, he made sure that this one can be understood even by a child. I can summarize it in two sentences. The two sentences are these: To come to God and be saved, you need to repent, have faith, and be baptized. If you commit mortal sin, you need to repent, have faith, and go to confession.

That is simply not true according to Catholic teaching, besides being contrary to Scripture. Catholic teaching requires the baptized to practically become good enough in order to go to Heaven (except for just after baptism, as that act is said to leave one formally justified by their "infused" holiness).

Either one cooperates with grace (such as dispensed from Rome's treasury of merit) enough so that they are not only accounted to have merited eternal life but can enter Heaven directly, or they must suffer postmortem purifying torments in Rome's (EO's differ on this somewhat) "purgatory,"

In Scripture, Peter taught that God purified hearts by faith before baptism, (Acts 10:43, 47; 15:7-9) as well as promising souls forgiveness and the Spirit if they would repent and believe (which infants, which the Spirit never manifests as being baptized, cannot and need not do), since baptism both requires and expresses faith.

Thus to confess the Lord Jesus in baptism in identification with Christ, signifies faith in Him, and thus the promise that whosoever believes and confesses/calls upon/is baptized shall be saved, (Rm. 10:9-13; Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38) as such requires and confesses faith, which is counted for righteousness. (Rm. 4:1-7)

And since believers are forgiven on account of Christ, on His merit, and all true believers presently are “accepted in the Beloved,” and made to sit together with Christ in the heavenly, (Eph. 1:6;2:6) then whenever and wherever NT Scriptures clearly speak about the next spiritual place of man after death then it is always with the Lord. Lk. 23:43 [cf. 2Cor. 12:4; Rv. 2:7]; Phil 1:23; 2Cor. 5:8 [“we”]; 1Cor. 15:51ff'; 1Thess. 4:17) Note in the latter case all believers were assured that if the Lord returned, which they expected in their lifetime, so would they “ever be with the Lord.” (1Thes. 4:17) though they were still undergoing growth in grace, as was Paul. (Phil. 3;2)

And the only suffering is that of losing of rewards at the judgment seat of Christ, which awaits the Lord's coming, and this loss does not enable going to Heaven, but one is saved despite building material being burnt up. (1Co. 3:8ff) .

“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23)

Nothing new here, as the OT mag. had power to bind in guilt or loose one innocence. Disobedience to which was a capital crime. (Dt. 17:8-13) But which did not require or infer ensured infallibility.

So Jesus empowered his ministers to forgive or retain sins. In order for a priest to know whether he is to forgive or retain a sin, he needs to know about the sin and whether we have repented of it.

The Fact is that nowhere in the NT church was there any separate class of believers distinctively titled "priests" "hierus" GK), which word is only used for Jewish or pagan priests. Nor are they shown to engage in any distinctive sacerdotal function, or having souls come to them to confess sins and to obtain forgiveness on a regular basis, which is not what Ja., 5 teaches.

Too late tonight to get into this more.

[caww]

...”I see we are survivors”....

As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil....Let another praise you, and not your own mouth..For who sees anything different in you?.... What do you have that you did not receive?.... But when you measure yourself by one another and compare yourself with one another, you are without understanding...... After all what is your life?... For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes..... Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ...Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?...As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!... For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled...but let him who boasts boast in this,... that he understands and knows me,... that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

James 4:16..Proverbs 27:2...2 Corinthians 10:12-18...James 4:13-16...Isaiah 10:15...Luke 18:14...Jeremiah 9:23-24