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.

[af_vet_1981]

Only Christ can truly forgive sins if I have repented of a sin and run to Christs mercy no one can hold it against me no matter who they are ...

The Messiah delegated the power to forgive or retain sins to these disciples. There is authority in these words, whether you recognize it now, or later.

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
John, Catholic chapter twenty, Protestant verses nineteen to twenty three,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James

[Crim]

It just goes on and on....

[af_vet_1981]

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.

A practical demonstration of the cognitive dissonance in the once saved, always saved doctrine.

[asyouwish]

I am a survivor. I am still here; that’s surviving.
It is simply a fact.
I also said I am blessed.
I am blessed to be the adoptive son of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I am eternally grateful, as the man who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation. The Almighty has done great things for me. He has called me out of darkness into his own marvelous light. I count it all joy.

May God bless you, caww

[MHGinTN]

So when do catholics expect to obtain eternal life? When did the believers at Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius receive eternal life?

[Boogieman]

“was it O.K. for Him to deny these people the opportunity to make a living....to feed their children, perhaps giving their customers whatever benefits they were offering??”

That sounds like a pretty liberal argument to me. Should we worry about how the thief is going to make his living if we put him in prison and then just not punish him?

“Unbridled anger, to me, is a weakness....did Christ have weaknesses?????”

If we are talking spiritual weaknesses, well he had temptation, but he was sinless, so he didn’t succumb to them like we do. So I think it’s obvious that what he did at the temple can’t be considered a sin. The temple is God’s house, and those men were the equivalent of trespassers. Tossing trespassers out of your Father’s house is not a sin.

[Syncro]

Sin is sin Any deviation from Gods perfect will and law is enough to bring eternal death no matter how small.

When Christ was angered and threw the money changers out of the temple, was He guilty of a sin worth eternal punishment????

So your are ASSUMEING that Jesus was guilty of that "deviation"?

Sorry, the Jesus of the Bible was perfect and did not sin.

I could start a nice fire from all the straw in your question.

[redleghunter]

>> A practical demonstration of the cognitive dissonance in the once saved, always saved doctrine.<<

The parable of the soils and the wheat and tares solves much of man’s doctrinal terms.

The seed that falls on good soil produces and is not choked, or scorched nor picked up by the birds.

In the parable of the wheat and tares both grow side by side until the tares are removed for burning. The tares never become wheat, and the wheat does not become tares. Nor is there a third
crop mentioned which is “refined” to become wheat.

The wheat remains wheat and the tares remain tares.

Once wheat always wheat.

[onedoug]

Deuteronomy 4:19 and Malachi 1:11

[Crim]

“So when do catholics expect to obtain eternal life?”

I cant speak for catholics in general but I for one dont “expect” anything.

I do hope by the grace of God I am worthy when I am judged.

Isaiah 33:22

What is it that you expect?..to avoid judgement?

[caww]

No,... in all these things we are ‘more than conquerors’ through him who loved us.... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...But thanks be to God! ..”He gives us the victory” through our Lord Jesus Christ...For whosever is born of God overcomes the world.. and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.....

Survivor is a position of victimhood...not conqueror nor victory.

Romans 8:35-37..1 Corinthians 15:57..1 John 5:4..

[MHGinTN]

I want to first commend your honest answer and sincerity. And now to your excellent question: "What is it that you expect?..to avoid judgment?"

The Gospel of the New Covenant which is hallmark of this Church Age since the crucifixion is that God puts His life in us when we are born from above. In John 3 we hear Jesus opening this new orientation of man toward God and God toward man, where believing on Whom God has sent results in being born from above. As one who was born from above more than forty years ago, I have experienced the Life of God in me by the spark of the Holy Spirit, raising me up in the WAY that I should go as a member of His family, in Christ a new Creation. My expectation is that very soon The Lord Himself --not some angel or angels, the Lord HIM Self-- shall descend from Heaven in the air above this planet and the voice of God heard as a trumpet will raise all whom have died believing in Jesus, from their graves and be reunited with their souls which God brings with The Son, and then we who are alive and here at that moment shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, into incorruptible beings and meet the Lord in the air to return to Heaven while the seventieth week of Daniel 9 prophecy is running.

The most asked question when I offer this expectation is, "So you don't think you ever sin anymore?" To which I answer that I am still occupying the body and sin nature that I inherited from Adam, BUT my orientation to God is very different in Christ: His blood upon the Mercy Seat on my behalf means that I am no longer under the orientation of the laws of sin and death. When I fail to live like a member of His family should, He reproves me, sometimes even chastens me! It is not a pleasant experience being slapped by the Lord from within. I know, I've had it happen to me personally. BUT as a member of His family He does not throw me out of His family for making a fool of myself and dishonoring the family, He chastens then embraces and re-establishes family fellowship.

When I was born from above in 1973 He sealed me, my human spirit which was dead before this new birth, with His Holy Spirit. He took me out of the orientation of sin and death and put me in the orientation of a son by the work of His Son Jesus, not through any work that I could have ever accomplished. As such I am part of the mortals who will be transformed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor 15:51-53 a span of time = 10^-43 sec)

I avoid judgment because my adamic nature was judged and dealt with on the Cross of Jesus Christ, to which I am connected by my faith in Him and Him alone, not any works I do or could do. To Him is due ALL the glory for His mercy and His great Grace. In Romans Paul tells us, 'There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For we are a new Creation, old things have passed away. Being In Christ His Life dwells in us to raise us up in the WAY that we should go.

The Holy Spirit seal in my human spirit means I right now have eternal life in me. I await the coming of the Lord in the Air to call me out from this wickedness growing around us. The Spirit in me restrains my behavior patterns AND acts to restrain the lawlessness that pollutes the earth without the Hly Spirit restraining (2 Thess 2).

Am I, are we who are born from above little mini me Jesuses? No, we are sinners saved by His Grace toward us. To Him be the glory, all of it. Once born from above there is no sin I could commit which would take God by surprise because He knows the end fromt he beginning. When He put His Spirit spark in me He already knew and accounted for every sin I hd committed and would commit. The blood of Jesus cleanses from ALL unrighteousness, past, present, and future, because born from above creates a new man no longer oriented tot he laws of sin and death. I have The Great High Priest in the Heavenlies interceding on my behalf 24/7/365.

[asyouwish]

I don’t want to continue with you, caww.
I sincerely regret responding to your first post to me (which I did not solicit).
I ask you not to post to me anymore.

[Crim]

I avoid judgment No...you wont. There is no "get out of judgment free" card. 2 Corinthians 5:10 Matthew 16:27

[caww]

....”I can’t even fight the abortion war here in my town because I can’t get churches to unite!!!...when they find out I’m Catholic oh that ends it right there! They are afraid I’d pull a Hail Mary on them or something. They treat me like I’m a retard”.....

Jesus said.....”I am the vine, ye are the branches He that abideth in me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth “much fruit”, for without me, ye can do nothing.”...By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciple...But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.... love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.

John 15:5..John 15:8...Matthew 7:20..Rev 2;4..1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Perhaps you’re in the wrong field.

[MHGinTN]

as a member of the wedding party who are leaving soon, I will stand or kneel (in my case it will be kneel) before the Bema Seat of Christ IN HEAVEN. Those in Christ are not scheduled for judgment at the Great White Throne. That is one of the most astonishing things about the Age of Grace: 'God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain Salvation in Christ Jesus.'

Men and women can choose to be judged according to their works. But it is not a good idea because without God in you as the life generating the works, you cannot do works of the quality which meets His Righteousness. As james taught, the works show what life is in the man. The works don't put the life in the man, they are the evidence of the life in the man.

[MHGinTN]

2 Cor 5: 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

The Ministry of Reconciliation is Christ in us, The Hope of Glory. The passage is explaining that believers will be judged in Heaven, then cleansed for the wedding. The cleansing is described as by fire, trying every believer's works. Some will have nothing but the spark left, as their works in the body since being born from above will be wood, hay, and stubble. But others will have gold, silver, and precious tones. These are what decorates the New Jerusalem showing up in Revelation, when Jesus returns with His Bride..

[kinsman redeemer]

So, you're saying what?

Are you saying Mt 5:9 teaches us that Jesus classifies sins into different categories, some lead to spiritual death and some "which do NOT cut them off from 'the kingdom of Heaven.'"

MY Matt 5:9 says this:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Or maybe you were just trying to help us learn how to look up verses and Mt 5:9 was just an example you used as a random scripture reference.

So, what WERE you saying?

Personally, Arthur, I hope you meant to raise Matthew 12:31-32 as your proof text, because THEN we'd have something to discuss.

Good night!

[caww]

...."The Bible...... the book that the Catholics originated, copied , preserved for 2,000 years and presented to us so that we might know that Jesus even existed.....No one else was there to do it"......

You might want to check with these Jewish Scribes on that note...and still going at it today

[caww]

....”The Bible the Catholics “originated” ...presented to us so that we might know that Jesus even existed.....No one else was there to do it”....

There are over 300 verses referring to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament....handed to us through the writings of the Jewish Scribes...and Moses.....