Will only Catholics get to Heaven?

Egads!  :NOTSURE: This has come out in small size font. This is my first blog since JU changed the format and I'm at a loss as to how to change the font size.

If someone will give me some simple directions how to edit this, I'll be very happy to do so.

 

 

It's perfectly readable. Please don't make it ugly by changing the font size to something bigger!

 

Glad to see you didn't ignore my question Lula, I was wondering about that.

If I were to sum it up in a few lines would this be correct?

1.  Catholics go to heaven

2.  Catholics who don't want to be involved but sill associate themselves with the Catholic church, don't get to go. 

I am still not clear though.  Lets bring it down to a bite size level.

You know KFC, do you think she's going to heaven?

A rare venture into religion, but I will answer for myself. Yes, she will.

The key here is "Those who are convinced, yet do not embrace...". Many are not convinced, and KFC is one of them from what I know.

Yes, yes it is.


As for who goes to heaven? Eh...I don't know. I'll tell you when and if I get there.

~Zoo

Dumb dumb dumb dumb. :p 

There is no such thing as an afterlife. What matters is what you do while you're here on this earth.  :HOT:

Oh, it's on now.


~Zoo

I'm a bit confused.  You say this:

I cannot conscientiously say that one religion is as good as another.

Then you say this: 

I believe that those who labor under ignorance of the true religion........I believe that those will be lost who are convinced that the Catholic religion is the true religion and yet refuse to embrace it.

So which is it?  Is one religion REALLY better than all the rest?

Why is there mentioned 22 churches in scripture before the inception of the CC?  There was the Church of Corinth, the Church of Ephesus, The Church at Philipi, The Church Thesalonica, etc.  22 Churches were mentioned.  They were not the RCC as it had not been formed yet. 

Can you show me in scripture Lula where our church attendance is mandatory for Salvation.  Because I know of no scripture that mandates this. 

The only thing that keeps us out of church, is not sin, is not church attendance, is not being good, is not being baptized.  The only thing keeping us out of church is unbelief.  For that there is no cure.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved..."Acts 16:31

 

I cannot edit so let me rephrase...."the only thing keeping us out of HEAVEN is unbelief."  All sin is forgveable.....all but the sin of unbelief. 

 

 

So basically, the only way we're getting into heaven is subscribing to an institution. That's lovely.

I sincerely hope you get into heaven, author. That way god can smack the living bajeezus out of you for such a narrow-minded view.

Thanks, Leauki.

I consider myself a practical Catholic (yes, I go to church, not every Sunday though , and I'm a minister/lector and active in my community), and I wholeheartedly disagree with this viewpoint. There are many paths to salvation in my opinion, and we Catholics have chosen just one. To completely disregard all other faiths is utterly irrational and very close-minded. I encourage you to perhaps look into some of the belief systems in the world and familiarize yourself with them, be it Judaism, Buddhism, Islam...anything will help you gain a bigger picture of the world that surrounds you. Be open...please.

Tova7 posts:

As to your #1, No one who has the stain of mortal or venial upon their soul at the time of death will enter into Heaven. Therefore, Catholics who die with no sin upon their soul go to Heaven. "For the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23 "There shall not enter into it (Heaven)anything defiled," Apoc. 21:27. I believe immediately after death the eternal destiny of each separated soul is decided by the just judgment of God. Our soul will be illuminated as to its own innocence or guilt. Those who are found unfit as a result in their death in the state of mortal sin, will go to Hell. THose who are not quite fit, owing to the presence of venial sin or some spiritual debt still due the justice of God, will go to Purgatory. And those who are quite fit, having so stain of sins upon their soul, will be admitted at once to Heaven.



As to your #2, would you be more specific about "not wanting to be involved"?



It's not for me to say who will go to Heaven. Only God can judge hearts and the state of souls.

Benmeister,

Obviously, I disagree...the "afterlife" is either Heaven or Hell. I believe God created us in His Image and Likeness and therefore we are created as eternal beings...and as eternal beings will spending eternity in either Heaven or Hell.

On what basis do you say there is no such thing as an afterlife?

DoctorNick POSTS #16



DoctorNick, I'm pleased to meet you. Thank you for your comments.

"Practical" Catholic, hmmmm....interesting self-definition. First time I ever heard that.

Why not assist at Holy Mass every Sunday? I ask only since you brought it up, but if this is too personal, feel free not to comment.

I don't accept anything without proof. Or at least a preponderance of evidence. Or at least a little evidence.

Heaven or hell occurs during your lifetime. If you lead a good, honorable life, you'll experience heaven while you're alive. If you do bad things, you'll experience hell. The Buddha called it Khamma (or Kharma): the things you do will have an effect. Blind faith without proof results in suffering.

Protestantism should be allowed too.

I don't find much evidence for Catholicism (forgive me if I spelled it wrong) in the scriptures.

Sure, when I want to be.

~Zoo

Hey Folks,

I've decided to keep the thread as close to the topic as possible and so, as you can see, the video and all comments that pertained to it have been removed.

Hope you understand.

 

KFC POSTS:

This may be a good time for me to define religion as I meant it in the quote you cited.

By "religion" I mean that voluntary subjection of oneself to God by rendering acts of worship and homage, both privately as individuals and publicly as social beings, the honor, gratitude and obedience due Him and in the way prescribed by Him.

My answer to your question is Yes, absolutely yes. God has given only one supernatural religion to mankind and Christianity which is Judaism fulfilled is that religion, so that’s why I maintain that one religion is not as good as another. Christianity rightly signifies only the religion of Christ correctly and completely presented in the way prescribed by Him. That can only be the Catholic religion instituted by Christ Himself.

Christ founded a Church that the forces of evil would never prevail against and also that He would be with it until the end of the world. His Church therefore, must still be in the world and it must have been in the world all days since His time. That rules out all the other Churches except the Catholic Church for all the other Churches came into existence long after Christ and would not have been in the world all days since Christ.

Those who say that one religion is as good as another are practicing indifferentism. Indifferentists maintain there are many roads leading to Heaven and an honest, good person may travel anyone of them with the conviction that he is pleasing God. The indifferentist praises all religions for the good men they have produced and while they call for toleration towards all belief, creeds and churches, they denounce the Catholic Church (CC) as bigoted, intolerant and autocratic because she claims to be the infallible teacher and guide of a Divine Revelation.

Indifferentists declare God is indifferent to truth simply because he himself is indifferent to truth. From this man-made religion is born free of all obligation and restraint. Modern indifferentism can be traced to the inevitable reaction from the Reformation’s false teaching regarding Luther’s formula “faith alone without works will save”. The saying was “Believe right and care not what you do.” That has led to the modern indifferentists formula, “Do right and I care not what you believe.”

God is Essential, Absolute and Eternal Truth. He cannot be equally pleased with religions that contain truth and error. A person indifferent to truth is a liar. To declare all religions equally true or that their differences are immaterial is to deny objective truth. The assertion that one religion is as good as another is irrational. It is a first principle of reason that two contradictory statements cannot both be true. If one is true the other is undoubtedly false. Either there are many gods or One God….either Jesus Christ is God or He is not….Mohammed is either a prophet or an imposter…the Holy Eucharist is the living Jesus Christ or it is mere bread.

Oral and written Revelation is a divine message which no one can reject without sin. God a God of Truth, who cannot deceive or be deceived, could not possibly have revealed a plurality of religions or a multitude of varying Christianities. He founded one Church, one Kingdom of God, one Sheepfold, under the perpetual and infallible guidance of Himself and the Holy Spirit.

DoctorNick posts: #13

I agree there are many paths....but they don't all necessarily lead to salvation. Please read post #21 for my reasoning on this.

I am SO screwed. You know, bein' a frisbeetarian and all...  :NOTSURE: 

WWW Link

I am SO screwed.

KFC POSTS #9

All these churches mentioned are part of the early Catholic Church that started as a mustard seed and grew into the Church that is here today. For example regarding the early Corinthian Church….Acts 18 records the founding of the Church in Corinth by St.Paul and his companions Timothy and Silas (Silvanus)toward the end of 50AD or early 51. The beginnings were very difficult.

But let’s follow Scripture through that shows that Christ established a Church that is the Catholic Church of today.

One of the titles of the Church is “the bride of Christ.” No institution was ever joined so closely to one man as the Church is with her Founder.” Like Him, she has the universal mission to teach all men and guide them to their eternal destiny.


First, Christ predicted the advent of His Chruch saying, “I must preach the kingdom of God, for therefore am I sent.” St.Luke 4:43. He called the Apostles and appointed them as teachers and rulers in His Church. “Teach men to observe all things whosoever I have commanded you. Behold I am with you all days even to the end of the world.” St.Matt.28:20. He constituted St.Peter as head, “thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church." St. Peter could not have been the rock-foundation of Christ’s Church unless he was given authority to teach and rule. This authority was promised in the words “I will give to thee the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.” The kingdom was to be a visible kingdom as a city set on a hill. Christ taught and trained them not for their benefit only, but that they might be teachers of others. They were the seed of the Church.

When Christ warned this little society unto themselves about their obligation of correcting the brethren, He said, “If he (the erring one) refuses to hear them, appeal to the Church, but if he refuses to hear even the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven and whatever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in Heaven.” St.Matt. 18: 17-18. The spiritual power of the Apostles had extended to loosing and binding…”Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and those sins you shall retain, they are retained." St.John 20:23. In these words of commission, the distinctive marks of the Catholic Church already stand out. Man’s relations with God are not left to the individual, but are under the control of authority. This authority was established by the will of God and those who hold it are not all men, but only a few, namely the Apostles. And since the Apostles could not live forever, this authority was to descend to their successors.

Here is the first mention of the word “Church” in the NT, a word that means an assembly and in the OT was applied to the entire people of God. Christ intended the Church to be the new Israel whose authority was to endure forever.

Christ was crucified and rose from the dead. Before He ascended into Heaven, He commanded them to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, teaching them to observe ALL that he had commanded telling them He would be with them all days until the end of the world. He conferred on St.Peter the power that He had promised. “Feed My sheep. Feed My lambs.” Through this preaching and hearing of the Word, and its acceptance by the nations, the Kingdom of God was to be established, developed and perpetuated.

The Lord ascended into Heaven and for a time His initial group of followers remained in Jerusalem awaiting the event Christ said would take place. On Pentecost Day, the Holy Spirit came upon them in what Acts 2:3 calls “tongues of fire”. After Pentecost the Apostles acted collectively as officers of the newly formed religious society. Throughout Acts we read how they exercised their God-given authority to teach, govern and sanctify. Over both Jewish and Gentile converts, their authority was accepted as from the divine, and they claimed such 1Cor. 2:1-5; or in judging 1Cor. 5 or in rebuking, 1Cor. 6, or in making laws or giving precepts 1Cor. 11, 12 and 14.

Under the Apostles inferior ministers already began called deacons and presbyters and bishops, who together with the Apostles formed a true hierarchy. 1St.Peter 2:9, 12, 25; 5. St.Paul through "the laying on of hands" ordained the fullness of the priesthood upon Timothy and Titus whom he sent to organize churches.

Christ said I will be with My Church all days until the end of the world. Now the only Church that has been all days in the world since Christ is the Catholic Church and if He did not establish that Church, He established none. If that Church failed, then the gates of Hell have prevailed against Christ's Church and He has not been with her all days since His time until now. The Catholic Church alone has the essential constitution prescribed by Christ and alone behaves as possessing the magisterial, sanctifying (7 Sacraments) and diciplinary authority He conferred upon His Church as per the Gospel accounts. Yes, now there are external differences insofar as the grown tree differs from the seed, but the development is in full accordance with the nature and principle of the seed. And Christ knew that just a tree as the Catholic Church is today would develop from the seed He planted.