Will Catholics Go to Heaven if They re Not Born Again

My wife Jane died in 1978. She was built-in a Roman Cosmic and died i. A few months before her death something happened in her life that bodacious her that when she left this world she would go immediately into the welcoming presence of Jesus.

Every bit a event, she departed in keen peace. And I was just as sure equally she of her destination. It is hoped that in reading this episode, the reader volition be moved to turn a profit from Jane'due south experience.

    A few years ago, a Catholic bishop was dying of final cancer. Each day for a number of months, his chauffeur would drive him virtually his diocese. Afterwards the bishop's decease, a statement by that chauffeur appeared in the press which seemed quite pregnant. He said that the bishop during his illness was constantly worrying about what would happen to him upon his death. He hoped that God would remember that he had devoted his whole life to His service.

The bishop, obviously, was non at all certain of his eternal destination.

I recall a statement made to me 1 day by a Catholic priest. He said that he would exist satisfied to clasp into purgatory when he died, and piece of work his fashion up from there to sky, presumably by suffering. I wonder how surprised that priest might be one day to discover that there is no purgatory except in human-fabricated tradition. There is no mention of one in the Bible. What the Bible does say in this connexion is this: And it is appointed unto men one time to die, merely after this the judgment {Hebrews 9:27). It volition then exist either victory or defeat. No "overtime" period every bit in basketball game.

The term "purgatory" was coined on March 6, 1254 by Pope Innocent IV in a letter of the alphabet to the churchly delegate in Greece, twelve centuries after the expiry of Jesus and His apostles.

In that location is zip in the Bible, the Give-and-take of God, that says that a human can better his spiritual status after death either by suffering in another identify, past the prayers and intercession of others or past whatever other ways. We can believe that if these things were possible the Bible would not be then thunderously silent regarding them. The Bible is, after all, the inspired Word of God written for our instruction, admonition and comfort. It is the plenary record of God'southward dealings with mankind, and we may exist quite sure that it does non omit annihilation important.

Indeed, whatsoever precept not gear up forth in the Bible, particularly if not even mentioned, is nothing more a man-made regulation or tradition. And Jesus took a very negative view of man-made regulations and traditions. (See Matthew 15:7,9; Mark 7:13 and Colossians ii:8)

It is noteworthy that the news detail mentioned to a higher place appeared in the bishop's ain diocesan paper. This would seem to indicate a prevalence of fright and uncertainty regarding death.

This should not be! The Bible speaks often and clearly on conservancy and eternal life, and how it may be secured here on earth. 1 can depart this life knowing that he is heaven-leap.

Holy Scripture is the vox of God reduced to writing, and the Catholic Church fully recognizes that. Thus, in 1965, when all of the bishops were assembled together at the Vatican II Quango, they issued a Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation which independent the following: "Sacred Scripture is the Give-and-take of God" and stated that all parts of the Bible, "have God equally their writer."

In 1943, Pope Pius XII in his Encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, speaking of the Bible, said that "the faithful.. .have a serious duty to make continual and holy employ of this treasure." The church was saying that Catholics are obliged to read the Word of God, as the Bible is commonly called. Earlier Pope Bridegroom Xv had said, "The responsibleness of our apostolic office impels me ... to promote the study of Holy Scripture ... We shall ... never desist from urging the faithful to read daily the Gospels, the Acts and the Epistles and so as to gather thence food for their souls ... Ignorance of the Bible means ignorance of Christ."

The Living Bible paraphrases the Gospel of St. Luke, chapter xi, verse 52, in the following pungent, Significant language:

Woe to you lot experts in religion! For you hide the truth
from the people. You won't accept it for yourselves, and
yous foreclose others from having a gamble to believe it.

Why, then, do such Papal exhortations to read the Bible fail to reach down to the rank and file and evidently go unheeded in seminaries? They apparently exercise not travel below the bishop.

When I became interested in the Bible in 1976 and went to my pastor for counsel, he threw upward his hands and said, "I tin can't aid you lot. They didn't teach united states the Bible in seminary." It was quite a surprise. The shepherd of the flock was not taught the Give-and-take of God. Still Jesus said that homo shall not alive by bread alone, but past every word of God   Luke 4:4.

A few years ago while speaking to a patient in a Fort Lauderdale nursing abode, I got into conversation with a woman visiting at the side by side bed. She was an intelligent-looking adult female of about 40. I institute myself request her if she read the Bible. Instant indignation ensued. With a touch of acrimony in her voice she said, "I am a Cosmic! I don't read the Bible!" It grieved my spirit. With my Catholic background I was sure that the woman was speaking for many millions of Catholics.

Just permit me get back to our personal history. In 1969, I retired from a New York City constabulary firm, and we moved to Florida to begin a life of leisure and relaxation. A twelvemonth later, while we were visiting in Washington, D.C., I felt that my life was in need of new management and that without meaning modify I was on course to hell.

So moved was I that I immediately went to confession to square myself with God. And on that occasion, equally all-time I knew how, I tried to turn my life over to Him with a real commitment of the centre.

Indeed I promised God that I would become to Mass and receive communion every day the rest of my life. And for about six years I did just that, faithfully, seven days a calendar week, ordinarily serving the Mass as an acolyte.

In the years following this renewed commitment I spent much of my time studying Cosmic theology, liturgy, the lives of saints, etc., guided past reading lists obtained from seminaries. Merely these led me no closer to knowing God. In fact the study but frustrated my search for the existent significance of what was needed to alter my life.

In 1976, I became interested in the Bible for the starting time time. My initial study of the Bible began to open my optics. I started to understand what Jesus meant when He told Nicodemus that we have to be built-in once more, and That which is built-in of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the (Holy) Spirit is spirit (John three:half-dozen). It was at this time, having understood the truth of God for the first time, that I turned my life over to Him. The Bible told me that in doing this I would be made a new creature in Christ... all things become new( II Corinthians 5:17). I acknowledged God as my Male parent. I became heaven-leap according to Scripture.

I also discovered how very unproblematic and certain it is to achieve eternal life while still on earth, and that information technology is a free souvenir from God. Jesus purchased it for us when He died on the cross, The Bible states this truth in Ephesians 2:8,9:

For past grace are y'all saved through
religion and that not of yourselves: information technology is the gift
of God. Non of works, lest any man should avowal.

John L. McKenzie, Southward.J., perhaps one of American Catholicism's ablest biblical scholars, in his Dictionary of the Bible, says it this fashion: "It is a principle of New Testament theology that the works of man are totally ineffective to accomplish the righteousness which saves" (folio 942).

What the Word of God and Begetter McKenzie are telling usa is that the things we do (going to church building, confession, communion, prayer) are works, and that our works were never meant to bring us to God, or go us to heaven.

Mayhap my most exciting discovery was that the Bible assures us of our salvation, here and at present. As the Apostle John said in his first epistle:

These things have I written unto y'all that believe
on the proper name of the Son of God, that you lot may
know that you have eternal life I John v: thirteen.

This poesy clearly gives us that assurance.

Jane had always been a meticulously loyal Cosmic. She never missed a Mass on Sundays or on holy days of obligation, she confessed and communicated frequently, she read out of her prayer volume each day for deceased friends and relatives. She never doubted what she learned from the cradle: that hers was the true church.

In the terminal three years of her life, Jane was partially paralyzed and bedridden. Oftentimes in the morning we would watch the "700 Club" together on television, and on several occasions we recited the salvation prayer with Pat Robertson, the host.

The Bible tells us that if anyone prays such a prayer, from his center, and confesses that he believes and has accepted Jesus as Lord, he becomes spiritually reborn. He is "built-in once more."

The experience is commonly referred to as the new birth. Upward to that point, ane cannot exist considered a Christian by biblical standards no affair how much church-going, or how many so� called proficient works he does.

Jane repeated the salvation prayer, but seemed reluctant or unable to declare that she had accepted Jesus as her Lord. God gives the religion to believe but He too requires each of us to make a positive response to His offer and that is done by declaring Jesus equally our Lord. Presumably she feared that she might be taking herself out of the Catholic Church.

One mean solar day she volunteered to make the proclamation to her son the next time he called. To help her, I wrote out a elementary statement of organized religion and when her son called, I placed the paper on her lap.

With no prior explanation, she blurted out, "I have accepted Jesus in my heart as my Lord." And immediately she began to cry. Subsequently a few minutes she said, "I can't talk any longer, I'm crying" and hung upwards. That simple statement of her new faith had so moved her to tears that she was unable to continue her conversation.

    Virtually Catholics believe that they merit conservancy or God's favor when they receive baptism or confirmation. Like other Catholic children Jane was baptized and confirmed just it obviously did non work a regeneration of her middle. She had to follow the biblical way to salvation, and when she did, she knew that she had experienced the new birth. It was the Give-and-take of God, witnessed to past the Holy Spirit, that bodacious her of God'southward acceptance through Jesus Christ and that as a consequence she would get to sky.

The accented necessity of the new birth is beyond doubt. Jesus said in Affiliate three verses 3-seven of the Gospel of John:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a human
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God ... except a man be born of h2o and
of the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. That which is built-in of the flesh
is mankind and that which is born of the Spirit (Holy Spirit)
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you,
y'all must exist born again.

Jesus' statement is clear. It is unconditional . Information technology admits of no exception or modification. To interpose an alternative is to signify that Jesus didn't mean what He said and it was necessary for men to right Him. Whatever church which does not teach the new nascency (considered then vital in the New Attestation) may well be leading its unsuspecting people into eternal damnation.

Jesus warned against ..... making the word of God of none effect through your tradition (church-made laws and regulations) (Mark 7: 13). He besides said that those who were teaching for doctrines the commandments of men were hypocrites and they worshiped Him in vain   Matthew 15:7,9.

How absurd information technology is to tamper with the Word of God. In Isaiah 40:8 the Holy Spirit moved the prophet to say that the Give-and-take of our God shall stand up forever. And Jesus said that Sky and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not laissez passer away (Matthew 24:35).

How lacking in wisdom, how foolish, how tragic, to reject God'due south sure way when eternal life is at pale!

The salvation method is gear up along in Romans 10:ix-ten:

.. .if yous confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
yous will exist saved. For man believes with his heart and so
is justified, and he confesses with his lips and and so is saved.
(Catholic edition of the Revised -Standard Version).

How simple and easy God has fabricated salvation for usa. How tragic that and so few are being taught to avail themselves of it.

How practice nosotros obtain this eternal life? By believing in Christ. God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but take everlasting life   John 3:16.

But what does the New Testament mean by "believing?" It means more than mere mental assent, more than lip service. Ane must believe in 1's eye and without doubt, and one must act upon such-belief by trusting God for salvation. Organized religion is acting on 1's intellectual belief and trusting Christ as one's Savior.

Every bit the late Bible instructor Due east. West. Kenyon put it:

"Assertive demands action, creates activeness. Mental
assent admires, admits, but does non act."

If the airline schedule says your flight goes to Tulsa, y'all have no doubt well-nigh information technology. You believe it in your heart, you accept faith in the schedule, and you act upon that faith past boarding the plane.

Thus, one has to do more than just believe in his caput. He must trust Christ.

Jesus said (John xvi:vii-9) that after His death the Holy Spirit would captive or convince the world of three things, and one of them was "sin." What sin? The sin of not believing in Jesus. Co-ordinate to the Discussion of God, information technology is the sin of unbelief in Christ that sends man to hell. No thing how good and exemplary a life a homo may lead, he will still miss heaven if he does not make Jesus the Lord of his life.

Let us always remember 1 vital, all-important truth: Christianity is a belief in and commitment to Christ. It is not a church, information technology is not a creed, it is not in a religion. Religion is concerned with the outward acts and forms of worship.

Christianity is a way of life. It is knowing Jesus and having a personal encounter and relationship with Him. He� is the only fashion to heaven. The Bible says that He is the just mediator betwixt God and man( I Timothy 2:5). No ane else, not even a saint, tin make full this part.

Jesus made it clear when He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no human being comes unto the Father but by me (John 14::6).

If your church building doesn't teach the new birth enunciated past Jesus Himself, and so it would seem to be incumbent upon you as a rational homo being to examine the Scriptures for yourself.

It is very clear that baptism and confirmation past themselves practise not constitute spiritual rebirth. If you have non committed your life to Christ by believing in Him and confessing Him as Lord, the rituals are meaningless.

What a divergence it makes when Jesus enters one's life, equally so many can bear witness. In some cases, a married woman or husband has observed a alter in the other and wants to have what the other has. Empty lives have been filled. Many accept discovered that alcohol; drugs, striving for worldly success provide no lasting satisfaction. Jesus has been called the answer to all problems. Indeed i could safely venture to say that in that location is no man or woman living who has not experienced a void that just Jesus can make full.

Are y'all tempted to think that you lot are neat plenty to get to hell? That is one of the cleverest and most deceptive thoughts ever planted in the homo listen by the devil. Merely the Bible supplies the correct respond. For Jesus said it will non be He who will judge us on the concluding day just His Word. In brusque, if we disobey His axiom that we must be born once more, there will be no need for Him to judge us. His Give-and-take will practice the judging and the judgment will of course be automatic. Nosotros would be sending ourselves to hell. Meet John 12:48.

And let us remember the alert from Jesus that strait (narrow) is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there be that notice it (Matthew 7.:14).

Should one not be concerned to notice that one's ain church is not instruction the salvation doctrine which Jesus Christ Himself said was an absolute necessity? And that in the face of warnings in the Word of God such as this one: ... how shall we escape if we neglect such a slap-up salvation? It was declared at first to united states by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God as well bore witness past signs and wonders and diverse miracles .. Hebrews 2:3,four

Can there be any doubt that we are flirting with eternal death when nosotros reject to adopt the Discussion of God over the discussion of men, especially on and then important a doctrine every bit the Gospel message itself which Jesus Christ taught. When God directs us so clearly, dare we follow any other? The foregoing Scriptures are not the words of a human or of a church. The author is God. Incidentally, the reading of this booklet is ample warning to yous, if any were needed. You cannot exist considered to be in ignorance. The pertinent scriptures have been set before you. Surely yous will not permit unscriptural, anti-scriptural, tradition have you to hell.

In any effect, what does one stand to lose past heeding God'southward Word and making Jesus Lord of i'southward life?

Permit me pause here to inquire you two important questions:

No. ane. Take yous come to the identify in your spiritual life where you lot can say you know for certain that if you were to die today y'all would go to sky?

No. 2. Suppose that you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you, 'Why should I let you into my heaven?" What would you lot say?

How did y'all respond these questions?

Specially the second one? What would y'all say if God asked you that question? If you are non certain of your respond or would like to make a sincere confession of your own sin, end what you are doing, ask the Lord to forgive you and grant you His gift of eternal life. I invite you to pray to God with these words:

God. your Word (Romans 10:13) says that whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Accordingly, I at present call upon You in Jesus' proper noun as my Lord and Savior.

Your Word states: if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your center that God raised Him from the dead, y'all will exist saved. For human being believes with his middle and so is justified. and he confesses with his lips and and then is saved Romans x:9,10.

I believe in my eye that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cantankerous for my sins and was cached. I believe in my heart that on the third day God raised Him from the dead for my justification.

Love God, I repent of all my sins, and I ask your
forgiveness in Jesus' proper name. And, here and at present, I receive
and admit Jesus as my personal Savior, and I ask
you to come into my eye and be the Lord of my life. Amen.

If you have just prayed to the Lord and were sincere in your confession of your sin and want that Jesus be your Savior and Lord, you have just taken the about of import step in your life.

Still, this first step needs to be followed by other steps. God wants you lot to abound in your walk with Him. What yous have just done means that y'all have been born once again, an event never to be repeated. Your spiritual growth however is a procedure - the process of becoming the person God has designed y'all to be. Your spiritual maturity continues until you lot are fully formed in Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote (Philippians two:12) that we are to go along to work out your conservancy with fearfulness and trembling. He was not talking about entering the Kingdom of God by good works. The Bible never tells the states that by good works we tin can piece of work our way into the good graces of God. He does talk almost the process through which each of us moves equally we grow in Christ.

In that location are several bones steps which you must take to grow equally a Christian.

ane) Pray daily and pray regularly. This is to be the most basic expression of your life, a conversation with your Heavenly Male parent. It might not be natural at first, but will become so equally you get in a part of your life.

2) Bible reading. This goes hand in mitt with your times of personal prayer. Bible reading is absolutely central to our lives. Inasmuch equally it is the Discussion of God, we know that by reading God's Discussion our faith in Him will grow and, in time, establish the standard for our lives. You can just know of God'south desire for your life by reading His Discussion.

three) Steps one and 2 will have no meaning unless you begin to put into effect those things almost which the Lord speaks to you. The term "in Christ" is used His times in the New Testament. Why and then ofttimes? The writers of the Bible are telling u.s. that to be in Christ means substantially to "be" with Him, to walk with Him, and perhaps more importantly, to "obey" Him. Living a life of obedience to Him insures our growth every bit a Christian. Jesus said so in so many words, If you honey me, you volition obey what I command John fourteen:15.

four) The three steps outlined above will begin to produce something more. If y'all are at all true-blue in praying, reading your Bible and obeying the words of our Lord, your life will begin to reflect the life of Jesus, your Savior and Lord. In John 15:one Jesus refers to Himself as the vine and those who follow Him every bit the branches. If nosotros stay attached we volition bear fruit and our lives volition exist a testimony to those who run into and know us.

Another discussion must be added here. As important as information technology is for you to give witness to your Lord through your actions and beliefs, you also need to support that witness with your conversation. Actions can too hands be misinterpreted. Speaking most Jesus should come up equally naturally as telling others about a person you love. God will give yous the correct words and will direct yous to the right people as you lot commit yourself to Him.

F i north a l l y, if yous are serious about assertive in God and identifying yourself equally His follower, you will demand to begin one of the most hard parts of a Christian life: trusting God for every detail of your life. This will take some doing because until at present you have trusted almost everyone else, including yourself, just not the Lord. The Bible is full of illustrations of people who trusted (or failed to trust) God with their lives. This does non mean that you put your listen into neutral and never call up for yourself. It means that since you have placed your life in the hands of your creator, you need to live out that commitment daily past trusting Him with your life and all its details.

The Bible contains many examples of how God blesses and helps those who put their trust in Him and who obey His commandments. While we do not earn eternal life through obedience, we please and honour. God by living co-ordinate to His Word. Growth and obedience are perfect partners in the spiritual maturing experience.

These are the basic steps you need to accept to begin to abound as a Christian. There is much to learn, and much to enjoy as you first your new life in Christ. Your growth, however, almost presupposes other Christians will help you grow. We're talking about those who know and beloved Jesus Christ, and are themselves growing. God has made information technology clear that nosotros need other believers to assist us mature. If you are not in such a relationship with other believers, you demand to notice i. If you have no such friends, ask the Lord to aid you and start looking. God answers prayer.

    May God richly bless yous.

THE PROLOGUE TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

In the kickoff was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Give-and-take was God.  He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was non anything made

that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the

light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. . He came

for a witness, to bear witness of the Calorie-free, that all men through him

might believe. He was not that Light, simply was sent to comport witness

of that Light. That was the true Light, which Iighteth every human that

cometh into the earth. He was in the world, and the globe was made

by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own

received him not. Simply as many every bit received him, to them gave he power to

become the sons of God, fifty-fifty to them that believe on his proper noun. Which

were built-in, non of blood, nor of the volition of the flesh, nor of the volition of man,

simply of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and nosotros

beheld his celebrity, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,

total of grace and truth.

About the writer:
Mr. Monacelli practiced police in New York City until 1969 when he retired and moved to Florida. He now lives in New Jersey. He holds degrees from the University of Norte Dame and from the Georgetown University Constabulary School. He served two terms equally president of the Norte Dame Clan.

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