2 Judgements? Catholic take?

[CatholicMom1907]

I have another question. When discussing different views with a non-denominational protestant friend. She mentioned that we have 2 judgements and I do believe Catholics agree with this, correct? But she mentioned in the first judgement that because of Jesus, we are saved and positionally can enter into heaven if we are “marked” - so pretty much if you are a believer, you go to heaven and that is the first judgement. The second judgement comes later. Can anyone help shed some light as to what Catholics believe. I should know this but when it came down to it, I didn’t know how to discuss this statement in alignment with the Catholic faith. Can someone please help?

Janet

 

[marymary1975]

My understanding is that yes there are two judgments, one is your individual judgment, which happens when you die and Jesus will judge you personally and the second judgment is the final judgment in which you are going to be judged with the entire world and everyone will be present in front of Jesus Christ. Basically that IS what I’ve heard from catholic priests. As to the markings and that, I have never heard of that within the catholic church. Maybe someone else can chime in regarding that but I have never heard of that from a priest and o don’t remember seeing anything similar in the cathecism

 

[PaulfromIowa]

From the Catechism:

I. THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

1021 Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ.592 The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. The parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul–a destiny which can be different for some and for others.593

1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification594 or immediately,595 – or immediate and everlasting damnation.596

At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.597

V. THE LAST JUDGMENT

1038 The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust,"623 will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man’s] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."624 Then Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him. . . . Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. . . . And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."625

1039 In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare.626 The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life:

All that the wicked do is recorded, and they do not know. When "our God comes, he does not keep silence.". . . he will turn towards those at his left hand: . . . "I placed my poor little ones on earth for you. I as their head was seated in heaven at the right hand of my Father - but on earth my members were suffering, my members on earth were in need. If you gave anything to my members, what you gave would reach their Head. Would that you had known that my little ones were in need when I placed them on earth for you and appointed them your stewards to bring your good works into my treasury. But you have placed nothing in their hands; therefore you have found nothing in my presence."627

1040 The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.628

1041 The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them "the acceptable time, . . . the day of salvation."629 It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God. It proclaims the “blessed hope” of the Lord’s return, when he will come "to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed."630

 

[CatholicMom1907]

Thanks again everyone for all of your help. I’m just so thankful for your assistance and all of these resources. It’s hard sometimes to know where to find the answers specifically.

 

[Spencerian]

I have another question. When discussing different views with a non-denominational protestant friend. She mentioned that we have 2 judgements and I do believe Catholics agree with this, correct? But she mentioned in the first judgement that because of Jesus, we are saved and positionally can enter into heaven if we are “marked” - so pretty much if you are a believer, you go to heaven and that is the first judgement. The second judgement comes later. Can anyone help shed some light as to what Catholics believe. I should know this but when it came down to it, I didn’t know how to discuss this statement in alignment with the Catholic faith. Can someone please help?

Janet

There are two judgments, but not in the way your friend describes.

The first judgment: Catholic teaching tells us that there is one judgment for a person immediately on death: the particular judgement. On death, we are committed to the choices and acts we made in life to accept Christ or reject him. There are only two destinations: Heaven or hell.

If we have been found worthy, we enter Heaven immediately. If we are worthy of Heaven but still have the effects of our forgiven sins or attachments to sin that make us unclean, then our soul enters the state of purgatory, where the saved are cleansed of what impurities of sin we had in life before we enter heaven.

This section of the Catechism explains it in more detail. Many Protestants believe that a simply declaration to accept Christ is a guarantee of salvation, but there are many scriptural references that thoroughly reject this possibility.

Protestants and other non-Catholics will not be held liable for what they do not know. In this case, God judges them according to what they do know of Christ, their acts are assessed accordingly. This is why we say that “no salvation except through the Church.” It’s not that only Catholics can enter into heaven, but Christ is the *mechanism *for all who do–God tends to how this is done for non-Christians in His own way.

No one, Catholics or otherwise, can “earn” our way into Heaven through our earthly actions, but through the grace granted by God to all who are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, using the Sacraments and participation in Christ by behaving as Christ would do if on earth (through acts of charity, devotions, prayer, etc.) give us an assurance that all will be right in the end. Faith *and *acts (“works”) are needed, not “either/or.”

The second judgment is the General Judgment, which occurs at the end of time. The Church’s mission will be over and then, Christ returns to make a final judgment of all living and dead. Those who are found worthy are bodily resurrected to a glorified state, just as Christ had returned from the tomb, and will enter a new world.