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.

[caww]

...”Prophecies....O.K.....but the life and times of Jesus the man are in the new testament”...

Let me just put it this simply..

The ‘entire’ Bible is about Jesus....the Old Testament tells us and prepare for His Coming....The Gospels tell us He’s Here...all the rest ells us He’s coming again.

The Trinity is operating in the very first three verses of the Bible....and though it is a Historical and Prophetic work throughout...it is not just another book of the ages by any means at all...it is God breathed and therefore “works” to us, for us and within us as His Spirit determines.

[Zuriel]

**The context simply is not what was happening at that moment,**

That’s a common error in other ‘interpretations’, such as people quoting Romans 4:3 (which is from Gen. 15:6), to pronounce that one doesn’t perform works to prove faith. Gen. 15:6 is God’s testimony about Abraham’s faith; which was proven BEFORE that was said, by Abraham’s:

moving himself, his family and hired help, tents and other hardware, untold head of livestock, a few hundred miles (the hard way),

building an altar upon arrival in Sichem,

building another altar near Bethel,

escaped famine while in Egypt, then returned to the promised land (over 400 miles round trip the hard wa)y,

building another altar in the plain of Mamre,

kicking serious butt almost all the way to Damascus (the hard way, nearly 400 miles round trip,...and returning with the spoil, which he didn’t keep),

was blessed by Melchizedek, king of Salem.

THEN, we finally get to Gen 15:6

[MHGinTN]

Are you familiar with the ‘church’, the ekkelsia, which Jesus Christ founded with His resurrection? It is older than the catholic church.

[daniel1212]

No, I don' t believe he did. He called for an end to Catholic *bashing*. When asked about *Protestant bashing* I don't recall seeing any answer.

True, which was conspicuous, leaving RCs to (wrongly i think) see themselves as a specially favored class who alone can daily post flame baiting (which making any exclusive claim is) threads.

But what was excluded was daily attacks in response to a series of such against Catholics, in the interest of unity among evangelicals. Dialog concerning this was hard to have, and what i tried to point out was that the same convictions that resulted in these debates are also those which promote strong conservative convictions and contentions.

It is those who cannot tolerate seeing their beliefs challenged and want a monopoly on posting that hinder both debate and unity in conservative debate. No matter how much conservative Caths and evangels debate, i do not see a weakening in conservative

[terycarl]

The one who went last year, I could smell him before he got out of the leader’s car. This year’s boy wasn’t as stinky: he claims he took a shower once, and brushed his teeth!

What a wimp!!!!!:>))

[caww]

Perhaps this will enlarge your understanding of how we got our Bible....

Since ancient times, ever since the Scripture began to be given to the church, the Jewish nation was committed to take care of Scripture, preserving it and disseminating it further. According to the Bible, the Hebrews were given charge to keep and copy God’s Word......Because unto them were committed the oracles of God.....

Historically, when the covenant people of God were anticipating their Messiah, the great and awesome advantage they had was the ‘reception’ of the inspired prophetical Word.......The Jews knew this and celebrated the fact as is written:.... “He shows his word unto Jacob, his statues and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord”

Further more.... the Jews were instructed not to add to or take away from the Word of God.... “Ye shall not add the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you”...Even the New Testament was authored by Jewish men! Jesus himself is Jewish, and we have received this rich heritage ‘from them’.

Additionally...The apostles and authors of the New Testament quoted from almost all books of the Old Testament, and never implied that some parts are of higher worth than others.....
The Bible is to be rejected or upheld ‘as a whole’..... If one part goes down, the rest goes down. ...It’s an integral whole, ‘one message’... ‘from the one true and living God’.

Man therefore cannot preside over the Bible and dictate what’s fine for me and what not; rather the Bible is supreme and must shape our life, our beliefs and our conduct.

Romans 3;2...Psalms 147:19,20...Deuteronomy 4:2; cf. Proverbs 30:5,6

[caww]

Thank you...good post and read...and it does appear you’re right in saying...”it’s only hard to see if one has been given ‘other ideas’, to put it nicely”.

[daniel1212]

I'm sure you meant well. :-)

Indeed, as actually I was only confirming that there is no book, chapter and verse where the propaganda referred to was stated?

[Zuriel]

**Romans 10:9 (NIV)
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.**

The epistles to the Romans (as were all of the epistles) was written to people that had already been born again:

“To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Rms 1:7

Paul still writing to the church in Rome:

“..How shall we, that are DEAD TO SIN live any longer therein? Know ye not, that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Rms 6:2-4

Paul continues:

“But God be thanked, that ye WERE the servants of sin, but ye have OBEYED from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being THEN made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Rms 6:17,18

The SUBJECT of Romans chapter 10 is Israel, for Paul is making it clear that God can save them just as he can save anyone else. But they need to hear the gospel preached by a preacher sent by God.

The keeper of the prison in Philippi was given an very brief intro to the gospel when Paul spoke the much quoted Acts 16:31. It’s the following verses that show that he was fully preached the Word and baptized.

[daniel1212]

Pelagianism is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special Divine aid. - Wikipedia

What you are responding was not in the post you responded to (post 329 ) nor did i elsewhere say that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special Divine aid, but i have said just the opposite.

[caww]

Yes it is a common error in other “interpretations”......

Glad you wrote of Abraham....which could easily slips into this conversation. I always am amazed how the scriptures interpret themselves throughout the Bible.....I’ve had far more than a few moments of “Awe” in how God’s Spirit moves throughout as the author. ...it’s humbling .

[caww]

Yes it is a common error in other “interpretations”......

Glad you wrote of Abraham....which could easily slips into this conversation. I always am amazed how the scriptures interpret themselves throughout the Bible.....I’ve had far more than a few moments of “Awe” in how God’s Spirit moves throughout as the author. ...it’s humbling .

[daniel1212]

Ops, correction: I have said and hold that man can choose evil without Divine aid. I do not even think he necessarily needs the devil.

[terycarl]

I’ve also played 48,407 games of FREEcell; winning 48,374 of them.

My current longest winning streak on Free cell is 78 games.About 2 years ago.

[usconservative]

Echo your reply and add a very well stated.

I've no doubt that daniel1212 had nothing but the best of intentions in posting his quite lengthy and thorough reply.

I think you hit the nail firmly on the head that these types of discussions are really intended to be more lengthy and detailed, thereby requiring exponentially more time to read, comprehend and process in order to thoughtfully reply in kind.

Let's face it: we live in a world that's driven by sound bites and misleading headlines which we attempt to consume as quickly as possible in order to move onto other things. I'm probably as guilty of having A.D.D. as the next guy too.

I did bookmark daniel1212's post and I do intend to come back and read it as time permits over the next few days. When someone spends that amount of time directly responding in good faith (no pun intended...ha!) to a direct question I do want to take the time to read their response and understand their point of view. My time being what it is I have limited availability to do that on a sustained basis so I can't read 'em all. daniel1212's is one I do want to read however.

It is said that those who seek will find. It would be awesome to seek together.

Agree with that statement.

Matthew 7:13-14 states:
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14"For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

At the end of the day, I wish we could all just agree on a few basic points and move together in community with the Holy Spirit. For me, those points would be:

1. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.
2. Anyone who accepts Him into their hearts shall be saved.
3. Because we are saved, and because we love Jesus, we willingly and joyfully work together in community to carry out his command in Matthew 28:16-20, "The Great Commission" to the best of our ability. If that means standing outside the gates of hell to save others, then so be it.

I often read these types of threads however I refrain from commenting much. What I've noticed is that so many get caught up in whatever their religious doctrine and dogma is and spend so much time and effort defending it, I think they lose sight of why we're all here in the first place and what Jesus commands us to do. Then again, when I do engage in these conversations I often find I'm as guilty as the rest. ;-)

[usconservative]

Indeed, as actually I was only confirming that there is no book, chapter and verse where the propaganda referred to was stated?

I promise you that I've bookmarked your response and will be reading it in the next day or two. I'll reach out to you via Freepmail when I have.

[Zuriel]

**The RF has been drowning in victimhood lately.**

Yes. Even here at the RF, the outside world can impact our mindset. The political correctness steamroller has added many avenues of victimhood, such as the hyper use of the words ‘hate’, ‘hater’.

Also, the current society is loaded down with a bunch of spoiled brats, that don’t know how good the U.S. has had it (thanks to the blessings of God). So, when something, even miniscule, goes wrong, then there is someone else to blame.

Just go to the yellow pages of your phone book and see how many attorneys there are in your locale. (I call them ‘pro blamers’. Paid professionals at applying blame. Many are nice folks. Even have one in the family.)

[caww]

....”You describe exactly how I felt (feel) when I finally woke up and KNEW what had been right there all along. Thank you for your testimony. Hit home for me”.....

Well thank you for saying that.....and your welcome. perhaps God intended you to relate as I had not intended to go on as I did.

Yes, ...I do think of the years when I was studying all the other religions I could have otherwise been curled up with Him and His Word and not wasted that time without Him.... though God certainly has used that time in relating to those encountered along the way, after I was saved, for His Glory and purposes...still...and perhaps selfish of me to have rather spent it with Him.

There’s a verse that comes to mind from a Hymn, but I..... cannot recall the hymn.....it says...”Give me that old time religion, it’s good enough for me”.... The Gospel message...what amazing Grace!

[Zuriel]

**moments of “Awe” in how God’s Spirit moves throughout as the author. ...it’s humbling .**

Praise God!!

[caww]

...”It should be obvious to you that I feel Tim can answer your question better than I could”....

Well if that means you cannot then that’s alright.... but reading a linked article by another isn’t dialogue with you so I’ll pass on that..... After all this thread is where the action on the topic is taking place. However, perhaps you could reconsider giving it a try in defending your position at another time.