Yes. But paying for your sins isn’t a work of mercy. Perfect repentance does involve sorrow. But not mercy.You could say that about the thief but isn’t it possible for someone to repent immediately before dying with no one else around?
Remember, though, the parable of the sheep and goats at the end of the world. I take that parable to mean that there are going to be people who are surprised by their salvation (or damnation), which is why I don’t think a person needs to intend to gain merit for an action to be meritorious.See the 7 corporal works and 7 spiritual works of mercy.
These works must be performed with the intention of gaining merit in order for them to be meritorious.
Remember that a hierarchy exists in heaven and is a function of merit.
How hard will you work to do the Father’s will?
Read the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The oil for the lamps is symbolic of works.
Who is teaching false doctrine?Yes. But paying for your sins isn’t a work of mercy. Perfect repentance does involve sorrow. But not mercy.
Also, I doubt there to be merit for teaching false doctrine. At least not as much for teaching truth inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Your question presupposes that the dying person was either guilty of only minor sin, or ignorant of the seriousness of his grave sins, and therefore would have taken corrective action much earlier if he had understood.You could say that about the thief but isn’t it possible for someone to repent immediately before dying with no one else around?
I’m not presupposing anything. All I’m asking is if you believe that God will have mercy on a sinner who has no good deeds but is truly sorry for his life of sin?Your question presupposes that the dying person was either guilty of only minor sin, or ignorant of the seriousness of his grave sins, and therefore would have taken corrective action much earlier if he had understood.
It’s hard, no it’s impossible, to imagine that someone could live their whole life past the age of reason and never once do something right.I’m not presupposing anything. All I’m asking is if you believe that God will have mercy on a sinner who has no good deeds but is truly sorry for his life of sin?
Let’s just say that a missionary goes to a land where people have never heard the gospel before and upon hearing the gospel for the first time many of them repent and admit that if they had known this before their lives would have been lived very differently. They never have time for baptism or religious training because a volcano erupts and kills the whole community. What is their fate?It’s hard, no it’s impossible, to imagine that someone could live their whole life past the age of reason and never once do something right.
Someone who is truly sorry for their life of sin is going to act upon that feeling of guilt long before death, either by slowing down the pace of that sin, or seeking out a better way.
Someone who knowingly sins or rationalizes his sinful behavior as being good until he sees hell’s gaping maw slavering over him and then cries out “I repent” is merely regretting being caught.
Every sin must be paid for to the last iota for those who have shown no mercy to others during their lifetime. It is in the Beautitudes that mercy will be shown to the merciful.Jesus made it very clear in his parables that an 11th hour conversion will obtain the same reward as the faithfull servant who worked from Dawn.
He also made it clear that every sin must be paid for to the last iota.
This is where we see the necessity of the concept of a purgation as a soul passes from this life into the next.
This is the scripture: Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished."Jesus made it very clear in his parables that an 11th hour conversion will obtain the same reward as the faithfull servant who worked from Dawn.
He also made it clear that every sin must be paid for to the last iota.
This is where we see the necessity of the concept of a purgation as a soul passes from this life into the next.
There is sometimes temporal punishment remaining after a sin, venial or mortal, is forgiven. The way one priest explained it to me is, “If you put a nail in a wall and then draw it out, there is no more nail there but the hole remains.” We can obtain remission of some or all of that punishment by performing acts of penance, works of mercy, and obtaining indulgences. An even better way is to offer these things for the souls in purgatory out of love, as Jesus said love will cover a multitude of sins; these souls will also pray for us while in Purgatory and when they reach heaven.This is the scripture: Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished."
Jesus is not saying that we have to pay for our sins.
To pay means to accept punishment for them.I understand purgatory is a purification process but I was just pointing out that we do not pay for our sins. If we were able to pay for them we could be saved without the help of a savior.
I think you have Matthew 25 and Luke 12 in mind which is about settling out of court.To pay means to accept punishment for them.
You will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
God is just. Why would one get off easier than another who sinned less?
8“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ 9“When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10“When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11“When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ 13“But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ 16“So the last shall be first, and the first last.”The catholic view of salvation states that faith is required, but so are ‘acts’ or ‘works’. I think a good analogy, someone tells you the house you are sitting in is on fire. Faith is intellectually believing that indeed, the house you are sitting in is on fire. This is a prerequisite, otherwise if you lacked this act of the intellect you would sit there oblivious.I cam across a question from a protestant that :Catholics believe "Faith without acts is dead"
That only faith is important that doing acts to “earn” God’s love,doesnt God loves us anyway? Isn’t faith alone essential than “doing things or performing things” to earn God acceptance and love? Something like in Islam,where Faith alone isnt enough but performing certain rituals and etc is important to gain God’s love…?
Thankyou…
Yes. Listen and act. I think he mentioned that in the Sermon on Mount.The catholic view of salvation states that faith is required, but so are ‘acts’ or ‘works’. I think a good analogy, someone tells you the house you are sitting in is on fire. Faith is intellectually believing that indeed, the house you are sitting in is on fire. This is a prerequisite, otherwise if you lacked this act of the intellect you would sit there oblivious.
However in order to be saved, it is not enough to simply intellectually believe the house is burning down around you. Rather you must act on this knowledge by getting up out of your chair and leaving the burning home. Only by first believing, then by acting can we be saved.
So it is with our souls, first we must believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that only he can save our souls. Then we must act on this knowledge by living out his law.
You are hypothesizing a situation where the sinner is invincibly ignorant of the knowledge of his sin. If a man is truly ignorant that his actions are sinful, there is no guilt involved and no punishment either. Invincible ignorance is a hypothetical state which is almost impossible to claim, unless you are dealing with someone whose brain is damaged and who is completely incapable of understanding the difference between right and wrong.Let’s just say that a missionary goes to a land where people have never heard the gospel before and upon hearing the gospel for the first time many of them repent and admit that if they had known this before their lives would have been lived very differently. They never have time for baptism or religious training because a volcano erupts and kills the whole community. What is their fate?
I. The Natural Moral Law
1954 Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good.
The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie:
The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin . . . But this command of human reason would not have the force of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom must be submitted.
1955 The “divine and natural” law shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end. the natural law states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life. It hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him, who is the source and judge of all that is good, as well as upon the sense that the other is one’s equal. Its principal precepts are expressed in the Decalogue. This law is called “natural,” not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature:
Where then are these rules written, if not in the book of that light we call the truth? In it is written every just law; from it the law passes into the heart of the man who does justice, not that it migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it, like a seal on a ring that passes onto wax, without leaving the ring.7
The natural law is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the creation.
1956 The natural law, present in the heart of each man and established by reason, is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all men. It expresses the dignity of the person and determines the basis for his fundamental rights and duties:
For there is a true law: right reason. It is in conformity with nature, is diffused among all men, and is immutable and eternal; its orders summon to duty; its prohibitions turn away from offense … To replace it with a contrary law is a sacrilege; failure to apply even one of its provisions is forbidden; no one can abrogate it entirely.
You’re saying that God saves because of some good deed that was done but the bible saysBut if any of the native Pacific Islanders, upon accepting the Gospel and making a firm resolution to change their ways, were immediately afterwards killed by an explosion of Kilauea volcano, God would still have the testimony of every other virtuous aspect of their lives to use when passing judgment.
The bible says quite a lot concerning faith and works in addition to the subject matter of this thread which is taken from St. James. What you have done is erroneously taken a single verse and elevated above the whole picture painted by the bible. You really can’t do this, you MUST read all verses together, they must all make sense for you. For instance, let me very quickly blow away a faith only belief system right nowYou’re saying that God saves because of some good deed that was done but the bible says
2 Timothy 1:9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life–not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
Here’s an explanation from the Catholic Bishops
usccb.org/bible/2timothy/1
- [1:9–10] Redemption from sin and the call to holiness of life are not won by personal deeds but are freely and graciously bestowed according to God’s eternal plan; cf. Eph 1:4.
Or 2 Peter 2. [4] For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, [5] Have moreover tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, [6] And are fallen away: to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making him a mockery.
Just like I stated earlier, you must believe and act together. Both are necessary. God is merciful and his mercy has primacy, this is why there is a baptism of desire as described by the poster you are responding too. The person he has indicated first gain faith, then repented indeed but died before he could implement the ordinary means of salvation, baptism. God is merciful, he will save this person.[20] For if, flying from the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they be again entangled in them and overcome: their latter state is become unto them worse than the former.