Are most people going to Hell?

[Predikant]

Jesus said, blessed are the poor in the Spirit, they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

People, especially Christians, who choose to fill themselves with the filth of the world that will pass and be no more, which is not worth a penny for the eternal life or for the soul, will also receive in reward what is dead but never dies, as dirt falling down, forever and ever, and never ends before it reaches the maximum depth of Hell.

You are on the right way to be saved when you do absolutely everything in your power to live pure and away from sin striving for perfection by loving what is right and hating what is wrong.

Yes when you Love God more than anything else in this world and when you despise this world and the desires in it, and when
you feel that temporal goods is as nothing and for no value, and
when you only long for God and the Heavens and to be with him
and rejoice with him for ever, and when you do all in your power to also help others to receive glory in Heaven, by helping them also strive for perfection away from this world and its desires, then you are on the right way to be saved.

This means to not look at worldly television, films & series or to play video games which only leads to the world further away from God spiritually. This means to live a chaste life without the stain of masturbation and sexual pleasure which is to live by the flesh that will perish and be eaten by worms, and it means not to talk about the world and the desires in it, but only of things which can help and strenghten yourself and others spiritually. If you do not strive towards this, or try to live like this, then you are not saved and will go to Hell.

READ THESE CHAPTERS FROM GOD, IT WILL EXPLAIN IN GREATER DETAIL.

www.saintbirgitta.com - book 1, chapter 37
www.saintbirgitta.com - book 1, chapter 14
www.saintbirgitta.com - book 1, chapter 39

 

[melbourne_guy]

OK lets do the math.
6billion people on earth->only 1.1billion are catholic.
4.9 billion are going to burn regardless of how good they are, because they reject the church and that means they reject god and blah blah blah.
So the majority are already gone. Id say that from the 1.1 billion about 1/5 of todays society would meet the requirements of the RCC to make it into heaven, i.e Confess mortal sins on regular basis, recieve communion every sunday, abstain till marriage, etc.
Some people look at those figures and find them mentally arousing, they get a sense of self satisifaction that following the rules of their religion is finally going to pay off after death and there going to smile and grin at the majority of humanity burning.
I feel sorry for you people.

 

[Nickkname]

OK lets do the math.
6billion people on earth->only 1.1billion are catholic.
4.9 billion are going to burn regardless of how good they are, because they reject the church and that means they reject god and blah blah blah.
So the majority are already gone. Id say that from the 1.1 billion about 1/5 of todays society would meet the requirements of the RCC to make it into heaven, i.e Confess mortal sins on regular basis, recieve communion every sunday, abstain till marriage, etc.
Some people look at those figures and find them mentally arousing, they get a sense of self satisifaction that following the rules of their religion is finally going to pay off after death and there going to smile and grin at the majority of humanity burning.
I feel sorry for you people.

I feel sorry for you. You obviously don’t know the Church’s teachings on salvation, the sacraments, sin, etc. How about reading the Catechism some time?

 

[expectthebest]

You see, there is responsibility in the children who inherit the sins of their fathers. They are responsible for the fact that they follow in their fathers’ footsteps. And subjects are responsible for the fact that they obey their monarch. And we are responsible for the fact that we obey Adam. We inherit his sins and make them our own, like a kid born of an alcoholic Mom might grow up with a propensity to alcohol addiction. But Christ has saved us from this cycle of death.

You make a lot of sense. But I think there is a difference.

The difference here is that a child born of an alcholic mother doesn’t come into the world as an alcoholic sinner. This is a learned activity which is sometimes followed and sometimes not. Just becuause a child is born to a sinful family doesn’t necessarily mean that child will be sinful. We inherit Adams sin at conception and therefore have no free will or choice in the matter. There is nothing to accept or reject when we are conceieved. We are conceived with original sin and if we die before someone can baptize us, we are sent to hell for some level of eternal punishment. This just doens’t seem to fit within the love and forgiveness that Jesus taught.

 

[expectthebest]

Jesus said, blessed are the poor in the Spirit, they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

People, especially Christians, who choose to fill themselves with the filth of the world that will pass and be no more, which is not worth a penny for the eternal life or for the soul, will also receive in reward what is dead but never dies, as dirt falling down, forever and ever, and never ends before it reaches the maximum depth of Hell.

You are on the right way to be saved when you do absolutely everything in your power to live pure and away from sin striving for perfection by loving what is right and hating what is wrong.

Yes when you Love God more than anything else in this world and when you despise this world and the desires in it, and when
you feel that temporal goods is as nothing and for no value, and
when you only long for God and the Heavens and to be with him
and rejoice with him for ever, and when you do all in your power to also help others to receive glory in Heaven, by helping them also strive for perfection away from this world and its desires, then you are on the right way to be saved.

This means to not look at worldly television, films & series or to play video games which only leads to the world further away from God spiritually. This means to live a chaste life without the stain of masturbation and sexual pleasure which is to live by the flesh that will perish and be eaten by worms, and it means not to talk about the world and the desires in it, but only of things which can help and strenghten yourself and others spiritually. If you do not strive towards this, or try to live like this, then you are not saved and will go to Hell.

READ THESE CHAPTERS FROM GOD, IT WILL EXPLAIN IN GREATER DETAIL.

www.saintbirgitta.com - book 1, chapter 37
www.saintbirgitta.com - book 1, chapter 14
www.saintbirgitta.com - book 1, chapter 39

Are these visions accepted by the Church as truth?

I think you are taking things a little farther than even the Church teaches, are you not?

 

[janman55]

Whenever I read threads like this I can see and feel the work of the devil…trying to spread despair, defeatism, hopelessness. I’m not trying to tell anyone they haven’t engaged in a worthy discussion. I’m just saying that there was a time that I would have felt like giving up, throwing the fight after reading some of the things posted here. But not anymore. I feel the saints and Our Lord pulling for us…remember for us it is impossible, but all things are possible with God. Please do not let my comments distract from the thread, but don’t any of you give up hope.

 

[onmyknees]

This thread scares me! I have lived in habitual mortal sin most of my life. I just came back to the church 4years ago. I still struggle and I have confessed all I hope. I keep trying to stop and I do well for a while. I frequent the sacraments, go to adoration and pray. Is it true that when I die Jesus could tell me that I did not live a good enough life to even get into purgatory?

 

[Predikant]

Are these visions accepted by the Church as truth?

I think you are taking things a little farther than even the Church teaches, are you not?

Saint Bridget is Proclaimed Patron Saint of Europe.

Listen to the words of God, which, if you fall on what is said, will go to Hell.

Eighth Revelation - Book 5
www.saintbirgitta.com

Christ speaks: "That man sang: ‘Deliver me, O Lord, from the unjust man.’ This voice is in my ears like the sound of two stones struck together. Indeed, his heart calls to me as if with three voices. The first says: ‘I want to have my will in my own hands; I want to sleep and to arise and to talk of pleasant things. I shall give nature what it craves. I long for money in my purse and the softness of garments on my back. When I have these and other things, I count them a greater happiness than all of the soul’s other spiritual gifts and virtues.’ His second voice is this: ‘Death is not too hard, and judgment is not as severe as it is written. We are threatened with harsh things as a precaution, but they are mitigated out of mercy. Therefore, if I can have my will in the present, let my soul pass over as best it can in the future.’ The third voice is this: 'God would not have redeemed man if he did not wish to give man heavenly things; nor would he have suffered if he did not wish to lead us back to our Father’s home. Why, indeed, did he suffer? Who ever compelled him to suffer?

Obviously, I have no intelligence of heavenly things except by hearsay; and whether one should trust the Scriptures is something that I do not know. If I could only have my will, I would take it in place of the heavenly kingdom.’ Behold, such is that man’s will. Therefore, in my ears his voice is like the sound of stones. "But, O friend, I answer your first voice: 'Your way does not tend toward heaven, and the passion of my charity is not to your taste.

Therefore hell has opened for you; and because you love things base and earthly, you will therefore go to the regions below.’
To your second voice, I answer: ‘Son, death will be hard for you, judgment unendurable, and flight impossible, unless you amend yourself.’ To your third voice, I say: 'Brother, all my works were done out of charity in order that you might be like me and, though turned away, might come to me again. But now my works are dead in you, my words are burdensome, and my way is neglected. And so what awaits you is punishment and the company of the demons because you turn your back to me, you trample underfoot the signs of my humility, and you give no attention to the state in which I stood before you - and for you - on the cross.

In a threefold state, I stood there for your sake: first, as a man whose eye was penetrated by a knife; second, as a man whose heart was perforated by a sword; third, as a man whose every limb trembled with the pain of pressing tribulation. Indeed, my passion was to me more bitter than a puncture in the eye; yet I suffered it out of charity. My Mother’s sorrow moved my heart more than my own; yet I bore it. For a long time, all my inner and outer parts trembled out of pressing pain and suffering; and yet I did not dismiss it or draw back. Thus I stood fore you, but all this you forget and neglect and despise. Therefore you shall be cast forth as an abortion; and, like the napkin of a menstruous woman, you will be cast out.’

IF YOU WANT TO BE TRULY SAVED, YOU MUST READ THESE WORDS FROM GOD AND NEVER STOP! IF YOU DO STOP READ THEM, THE DEVIL WILL MAKE YOU FORGET. TAKE IT AS A TRUTH FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOW FROM OWN EXPERIENCES THAT SO IS.

www.saintbirgitta.com

 

[Lief_Erikson]

This thread scares me! I have lived in habitual mortal sin most of my life. I just came back to the church 4years ago. I still struggle and I have confessed all I hope. I keep trying to stop and I do well for a while. I frequent the sacraments, go to adoration and pray. Is it true that when I die Jesus could tell me that I did not live a good enough life to even get into purgatory?

Jesus said, “Peace I give you, my peace I give you.” So don’t be afraid. Just seek Christ with all your heart, attend Confession regularly, and try to do God’s will. And rest in the knowledge that he loves you and will give you the strength and protection you need to come to everlasting life.

You got rid of all your mortal sin when you confessed it, so all of that is completely wiped out and no longer has anything to do with you. You will never be judged for it. If you are doing your best to resist sin today, also, you are doing God’s will, and that is a struggle everyone faces. God isn’t trying to judge you- he wants to help you and love you and give you only mercy, peace and joy . So don’t worry about judgment. Just seek his face, avoid sin as best you can and Confess it if you do slip into it, and know that God is 100% on your side and is with you and there for you to the end! And he loves you and is merciful, and wants you to live in peace because of that knowledge.

So don’t worry.

 

[Lief_Erikson]

** expectthebest**, I’m planning to get to your post soon. If I can . I’m glad that most of what I said about the headship principle made sense to you!!! That lifts my spirits .

 

[expectthebest]

Saint Bridget is Proclaimed Patron Saint of Europe.

Listen to the words of God, which, if you fall on what is said, will go to Hell.

Eighth Revelation - Book 5
www.saintbirgitta.com

Christ speaks: "That man sang: ‘Deliver me, O Lord, from the unjust man.’ This voice is in my ears like the sound of two stones struck together. Indeed, his heart calls to me as if with three voices. The first says: ‘I want to have my will in my own hands; I want to sleep and to arise and to talk of pleasant things. I shall give nature what it craves. I long for money in my purse and the softness of garments on my back. When I have these and other things, I count them a greater happiness than all of the soul’s other spiritual gifts and virtues.’ His second voice is this: ‘Death is not too hard, and judgment is not as severe as it is written. We are threatened with harsh things as a precaution, but they are mitigated out of mercy. Therefore, if I can have my will in the present, let my soul pass over as best it can in the future.’ The third voice is this: 'God would not have redeemed man if he did not wish to give man heavenly things; nor would he have suffered if he did not wish to lead us back to our Father’s home. Why, indeed, did he suffer? Who ever compelled him to suffer?

Obviously, I have no intelligence of heavenly things except by hearsay; and whether one should trust the Scriptures is something that I do not know. If I could only have my will, I would take it in place of the heavenly kingdom.’ Behold, such is that man’s will. Therefore, in my ears his voice is like the sound of stones. "But, O friend, I answer your first voice: 'Your way does not tend toward heaven, and the passion of my charity is not to your taste.

Therefore hell has opened for you; and because you love things base and earthly, you will therefore go to the regions below.’
To your second voice, I answer: ‘Son, death will be hard for you, judgment unendurable, and flight impossible, unless you amend yourself.’ To your third voice, I say: 'Brother, all my works were done out of charity in order that you might be like me and, though turned away, might come to me again. But now my works are dead in you, my words are burdensome, and my way is neglected. And so what awaits you is punishment and the company of the demons because you turn your back to me, you trample underfoot the signs of my humility, and you give no attention to the state in which I stood before you - and for you - on the cross.

In a threefold state, I stood there for your sake: first, as a man whose eye was penetrated by a knife; second, as a man whose heart was perforated by a sword; third, as a man whose every limb trembled with the pain of pressing tribulation. Indeed, my passion was to me more bitter than a puncture in the eye; yet I suffered it out of charity. My Mother’s sorrow moved my heart more than my own; yet I bore it. For a long time, all my inner and outer parts trembled out of pressing pain and suffering; and yet I did not dismiss it or draw back. Thus I stood fore you, but all this you forget and neglect and despise. Therefore you shall be cast forth as an abortion; and, like the napkin of a menstruous woman, you will be cast out.’

IF YOU WANT TO BE TRULY SAVED, YOU MUST READ THESE WORDS FROM GOD AND NEVER STOP! IF YOU DO STOP READ THEM, THE DEVIL WILL MAKE YOU FORGET. TAKE IT AS A TRUTH FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOW FROM OWN EXPERIENCES THAT SO IS.

www.saintbirgitta.com

Again, has the Church proclaimed these writings as abosolutely true?

 

[expectthebest]

Jesus said, “Peace I give you, my peace I give you.” So don’t be afraid. Just seek Christ with all your heart, attend Confession regularly, and try to do God’s will. And rest in the knowledge that he loves you and will give you the strength and protection you need to come to everlasting life.

You got rid of all your mortal sin when you confessed it, so all of that is completely wiped out and no longer has anything to do with you. You will never be judged for it. If you are doing your best to resist sin today, also, you are doing God’s will, and that is a struggle everyone faces. God isn’t trying to judge you- he wants to help you and love you and give you only mercy, peace and joy . So don’t worry about judgment. Just seek his face, avoid sin as best you can and Confess it if you do slip into it, and know that God is 100% on your side and is with you and there for you to the end! And he loves you and is merciful, and wants you to live in peace because of that knowledge.

So don’t worry.

Lief,

You are explaining the Catholic Faith in a way that arrises from love and the fact that God knows we have weeknesses. On the other hand, many like Predikant explain the Faith in way which arrises from fear and damnation. He sseems to say that we should live in contant fear of God.

I have been trying to justify these two different points. If we live in trembling fear of God, how are we to love him? How are we to do his will out of love if fear is in our hearts. Is it true love when we obey out of object fear?

I also tend to see these two points differenciated in Jesus and the Church. When I pray and place myself in the arms of Jesus, I feel great love. I feel understanding that I am an imperfect person and I feel forgiveness. When I think of the Church, I feel fear and damnation. I feel like the Church is just waiting to damn everyone it possibly can with infinite technicalities which may get you damned. I feel oppression. I feel the unjust power of prideful men. I feel pain. I think this kind of sums up your post vs some of the others. The God of love vs the God of damnation. For me, these two sides tend to take form in that of Jesus on one side and the Church on the other.

Now, I’m not saying this is universally true for every time and every situation I am in. There are times when I feel love at Mass. Most times I feel very little other than fear. It becomes a challenge to grow in true love when the fear envelopes everything first and foremost. The fear crowds out the love. Am I making any sense?

 

[Predikant]

Again, has the Church proclaimed these writings as abosolutely true?

Should you put your trust in man, or put your trust in God?

The Church have confirmed these words to be absolute truth well over 600 years ago up to this day.

If the Church in these days, when we reach the end of times, would say these writings to be wrong, they would be a church of Antichrist, since Gods words here are truth and saves souls. If you just read his words, you will understand this in your conscience.

Here what our Father has to say about this, him who you first ought to trust, that his words indeed are true and said out of love for our sake, this your conscience will testify for you.

Book 1 - Chapter 38
www.saintbirgitta.com

The Father said to the Son: “I came with love to the Virgin and received your true body from her. You are thus in me and I in you. As fire and heat are never separated, so it is impossible to separate your divine from your human nature.” The Son answered: “All glory and honor to you Father! May your will be done in me and mine in you!” The Father answered him in turn. "See, my Son, I am entrusting this new bride to you like a sheep to be guided and fed. Like a sheep-owner, then, you will get from her cheese to eat and milk to drink and wool to wear. As for you, bride, you should obey him.

You have three duties: you have to be patient, obedient, and willing." Then the Son said to the Father: “Your will comes with power, your power with humility, your humility with wisdom, your wisdom with mercy. May your will, which is and always will be without beginning or end, be done in me! I shall welcome her to myself into my love, into your power, into the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we being not three gods but one God.” Then the Son said to his bride: "You heard how the Father has entrusted you to me like a sheep. You must therefore be simple and patient like a sheep and produce food and clothing.

Three people are in the world. The first is altogether naked, the second is thirsty, the third is hungry. The first stands for the faith of my church, and it is naked because everyone blushes to speak of faith and my commandments. And if some people do speak, they are scorned and called liars. My words, proceeding from my mouth, should clothe this faith like wool. Just as wool grows on the body of a sheep through heat, so too my words enter your heart through the heat of my divine and human nature. They will clothe my holy faith in the testimony of truth and wisdom, and they will prove that what is now regarded as meaningless is true.

As a result, the people who up to now have been lukewarm about clothing their faith in deeds of love will be converted when they hear my words of love, and they will be reenkindled in order to speak with faith and act with courage. The second person stands for those friends of mine who have a thirsting desire to see my honor perfected and are upset at my being dishonored. The sweetness they sense in my words will inebriate them with a greater love for me, and, together with them, others, now dead, will be enkindled in my love, when they hear of the mercy I have shown to sinners. The third stands for those who think in their hearts as follows: ‘If only we knew,’ they say, ‘the will of God and in what way we should live, and if only we were taught about the good way of life, we would gladly do what we could.’

These people are hungry to get to know my way, but there is no one to satisfy them, since nobody shows them exactly what to do. Even if they are shown what to do, no one lives according to it. Therefore, the words seem dead to them, because nobody lives according to them. For that reason I myself will show them what they ought to do and I will fill them with my sweetness. Temporal things, which seem to be sought after by everyone now, cannot satisfy human nature but only spur the desire to seek more and more things. My words and my love, however, do satisfy men and fill them with abundant consolation. And so you, my bride, who are one of my sheep, take care to keep up your patience and obedience. You are mine by right and must therefore follow my will. A person who wants to follow the will of another should do three things: first, have the same mind as the other; second, have similar deeds; third, keep away from the other’s enemies. Who are my enemies if not pride and every sin? You should therefore keep away from them, if you want to follow my will."

 

[CentralFLJames]

…The answer to some of this, is that sin lies in the intention, more than in the act which shows the intention - but things still look rather skewed, when eating a steak on Friday, & raping and murdering a child on Saturday, are theoretically both damnable. ##

The church makes no distinction between the 3 components of mortal sin.

1. Mortal sin is a sin of grave matter
2. Mortal sin is committed with full knowledge of the sinner
3. Mortal sin is committed with deliberate consent of the sinner

It is a grave matter to disobey The Church (‘those that reject you reject me’). The matter of fasting from meat was a minimal token expression of fasting that the church required. If somone can not obey the church is this token submission to authority how can a person be expected to obey the more difficult teachings about not lusting etc.?

All these things you mention are #1 “grave matters”. As far as salvation goes there is no distinction of gravity. Salvation is purely a binary condition - saved in heaven for eternity or damned to hell for eternity. There is no doubt within the greater legion of those damned to an eternity of hell progressively distinctions to the degree of eternal punishment. But from what we know no one would want to even be at the doorway of hell it is so horrifically unpleasant much less so the lowest levels reserved for Satan and the demons.

Moral of the story - don’t commit mortal sin in any degree since all degrees of mortal sin are spiritual death and all we are doing is splitting hairs over how unimaginably worse punishment gets for those that are the worst of the worst sinners.

James

 

[expectthebest]

Should you put your trust in man, or put your trust in God?

The Church have confirmed these words to be absolute truth well over 600 years ago up to this day.

If the Church in these days, when we reach the end of times, would say these writings to be wrong, they would be a church of Antichrist, since Gods words here are truth and saves souls. If you just read his words, you will understand this in your conscience.

Here what our Father has to say about this, him who you first ought to trust, that his words indeed are true and said out of love for our sake, this your conscience will testify for you.

Book 1 - Chapter 38
www.saintbirgitta.com

The Father said to the Son: “I came with love to the Virgin and received your true body from her. You are thus in me and I in you. As fire and heat are never separated, so it is impossible to separate your divine from your human nature.” The Son answered: “All glory and honor to you Father! May your will be done in me and mine in you!” The Father answered him in turn. "See, my Son, I am entrusting this new bride to you like a sheep to be guided and fed. Like a sheep-owner, then, you will get from her cheese to eat and milk to drink and wool to wear. As for you, bride, you should obey him.

You have three duties: you have to be patient, obedient, and willing." Then the Son said to the Father: “Your will comes with power, your power with humility, your humility with wisdom, your wisdom with mercy. May your will, which is and always will be without beginning or end, be done in me! I shall welcome her to myself into my love, into your power, into the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we being not three gods but one God.” Then the Son said to his bride: "You heard how the Father has entrusted you to me like a sheep. You must therefore be simple and patient like a sheep and produce food and clothing.

Three people are in the world. The first is altogether naked, the second is thirsty, the third is hungry. The first stands for the faith of my church, and it is naked because everyone blushes to speak of faith and my commandments. And if some people do speak, they are scorned and called liars. My words, proceeding from my mouth, should clothe this faith like wool. Just as wool grows on the body of a sheep through heat, so too my words enter your heart through the heat of my divine and human nature. They will clothe my holy faith in the testimony of truth and wisdom, and they will prove that what is now regarded as meaningless is true.

As a result, the people who up to now have been lukewarm about clothing their faith in deeds of love will be converted when they hear my words of love, and they will be reenkindled in order to speak with faith and act with courage. The second person stands for those friends of mine who have a thirsting desire to see my honor perfected and are upset at my being dishonored. The sweetness they sense in my words will inebriate them with a greater love for me, and, together with them, others, now dead, will be enkindled in my love, when they hear of the mercy I have shown to sinners. The third stands for those who think in their hearts as follows: ‘If only we knew,’ they say, ‘the will of God and in what way we should live, and if only we were taught about the good way of life, we would gladly do what we could.’

These people are hungry to get to know my way, but there is no one to satisfy them, since nobody shows them exactly what to do. Even if they are shown what to do, no one lives according to it. Therefore, the words seem dead to them, because nobody lives according to them. For that reason I myself will show them what they ought to do and I will fill them with my sweetness. Temporal things, which seem to be sought after by everyone now, cannot satisfy human nature but only spur the desire to seek more and more things. My words and my love, however, do satisfy men and fill them with abundant consolation. And so you, my bride, who are one of my sheep, take care to keep up your patience and obedience. You are mine by right and must therefore follow my will. A person who wants to follow the will of another should do three things: first, have the same mind as the other; second, have similar deeds; third, keep away from the other’s enemies. Who are my enemies if not pride and every sin? You should therefore keep away from them, if you want to follow my will."

So, just so I know I understand, the revelations coming from Saint Birgitta have been proclaimed as infallible truth by the Church.

 

[expectthebest]

The church makes no distinction between the 3 components of mortal sin.

1. Mortal sin is a sin of grave matter
2. Mortal sin is committed with full knowledge of the sinner
3. Mortal sin is committed with deliberate consent of the sinner

It is a grave matter to disobey The Church (‘those that reject you reject me’). The matter of fasting from meat was a minimal token expression of fasting that the church required. If somone can not obey the church is this token submission to authority how can a person be expected to obey the more difficult teachings about not lusting etc.?

All these things you mention are #1 “grave matters”. As far as salvation goes there is no distinction of gravity. Salvation is purely a binary condition - saved in heaven for eternity or damned to hell for eternity. There is no doubt within the greater legion of those damned to an eternity of hell progressively distinctions to the degree of eternal punishment. But from what we know no one would want to even be at the doorway of hell it is so horrifically unpleasant much less so the lowest levels reserved for Satan and the demons.

Moral of the story - don’t commit mortal sin in any degree since all degrees of mortal sin are spiritual death and all we are doing is splitting hairs over how unimaginably worse punishment gets for those that are the worst of the worst sinners.

James

This is yet another thing that doesn’t make logical sense. We disobey God by doing any sin, even a small one. Therefore, just the act of disobeying doesn’t make the sin mortal. The Church has decided which sins are mortal and which are not. It seems that for the Church’s logic, eating meat on Friday is just as bad as committing mutiple child rapes and murders. No logical sense here.

 

[onmyknees]

Jesus said, “Peace I give you, my peace I give you.” So don’t be afraid. Just seek Christ with all your heart, attend Confession regularly, and try to do God’s will. And rest in the knowledge that he loves you and will give you the strength and protection you need to come to everlasting life.

You got rid of all your mortal sin when you confessed it, so all of that is completely wiped out and no longer has anything to do with you. You will never be judged for it. If you are doing your best to resist sin today, also, you are doing God’s will, and that is a struggle everyone faces. God isn’t trying to judge you- he wants to help you and love you and give you only mercy, peace and joy . So don’t worry about judgment. Just seek his face, avoid sin as best you can and Confess it if you do slip into it, and know that God is 100% on your side and is with you and there for you to the end! And he loves you and is merciful, and wants you to live in peace because of that knowledge.

So don’t worry.

Thank you so much for answering my post Lief. I feel a lot better now. I always start out really trying to avoid serious sin but then I give in sometimes.

 

[melbourne_guy]

I feel sorry for you. You obviously don’t know the Church’s teachings on salvation, the sacraments, sin, etc. How about reading the Catechism some time?

How about you point out all the things you believe to be false in my post and i can correct you using the catechism.

 

[CentralFLJames]

This is yet another thing that doesn’t make logical sense. We disobey God by doing any sin, even a small one. Therefore, just the act of disobeying doesn’t make the sin mortal. The Church has decided which sins are mortal and which are not. It seems that for the Church’s logic, eating meat on Friday is just as bad as committing mutiple child rapes and murders. No logical sense here.

The logic is sound actually. We commit probably 100s of venial sins daily. These are often unconscious habitual acts with no real conscious intent or malice to God or Church or anyone really. These, as small as they are if uncleansed through prayer, communion, or confession all aggregate, cascade and lead up toward progressively greater sin as the negative effects of sin corrupt our wills, judgement and spiritual discernment.

Many people do not realize that sin, no matter how small, ALWAYS has a consequence to: 1) our relationships to self (e.g. self esteem and spiritual harm), 2) to our relationship with God; 3) to Creation itself (adds to the disorder and chaos in the universe and; 4) to The Church itself (since it is the mystical body of Christ and we are all spiritually interconnected whether we realize it or not). Conversely, all good deeds (charity, repentance, prayer for others) have positive influences on all the above. These repair and restore damage, relationships and return order and generally result in improved quality of life for all; and help self and others to move collectively toward God in a closer relationship.

As you suggest - willfully disobeying God is certainly a grave matter of itself - but it requires conscious disobedience to be grave in God’s eyes. We have for our standard the 10 commandments and Jesus summary of Charity (e.g. Loving God with whole heart and neighbor as self) as our primary instructions. We also have Jesus’ great commission and apostolic authority conveyed to the Church to teach His word and forgive sins. Coincident with that authority, is the necessity to obey The Church and Her teaching as Christ Himself (‘those that reject you reject me’). So under these commandments are many implicit things that are not often explicitly known to spiritually unenlightened minds. The Church in Her wisdom and divine authority has given us insights to help discern what is grave and venial. **This does not give a license to commit sins that are not grave though! **

The thing to keep in mind here is that ‘God is not mocked.’ One can not skirt God’s justice by deliberately sinning in ways one believes to be venial since this is putting God’s open Mercy and Love to the test and that is not “loving God with one’s whole heart, mind and soul”.

James

 

[CentralFLJames]

I finally caught up with this thread - it took me two days of reading. This is a topic that has been very disturbing to me too. I can feel Hermione’s pain and anxiety in every fiber and even cried over this topic. I find myself begging God “please save me from Hell - I don’t want my family, friends or myself going there”.

The sobering truth is that it looks like from a total “numbers” perspective we are facing some formidable odds. Scripture itself give a lot of reason for anxiety. The Old Testament seems to prefigure the truth that few make it. We have:

1. The punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah where only Lot’s family is found to be just out of the entire populations of the 2 cities.
2. Noah’s Arc, which prefigures The Church, only contains Noah’s family and the rest of the planet is annihilated.
3. There seems to be significance to a “tithe” being required by God to be left to Him after the Jews harvest their crops to be given to the poor and the animals.
4. We have Jesus telling us ‘few enter by the narrow gate’ and "the path to destruction is wide’.

Yet we seem to have many passages that suggest all things are possible with God and God is merciful and all those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

We humans want certainty so all this is enough to drive a person insane with worry to tell the truth.

I am convinced that few do make it. Probably from 10%-25% at best. Many who call themselves Catholic or generically “Christian” are nothing of the sort in practise. There are very few people who are really living in the same spirit that Jesus taught. And among those who seem to do better - all are human and miss the standard now and then.

So we are all forced to worry and I get the distinct impression that many hope to personally die at a time when they just happen to be in a high state of grace soon after baptism or confession.

But we are told over and over again “not to worry” and “to trust in the Lord”. Yet virtually every of the early saints FEARED GOD at least as much as they loved God. I am one who thinks that Fear of the Lord is essential to keeping us alive and in the proper state of humility. The Bible is full of references to fear the Lord as much as it is to Love the Lord and to trust in His Mercy. But I think to invoke Mercy and to love The Lord one must have a real healthy Fear of The Lord.

The bottom line is - be one of those saved souls. Fight for it like it was a prize to be won. Since it is! It is an eternal reward and worth fighting for every day of our lives. Yes, we will fall now and then - but get up, go to confession and carry on; carry others too. God will take every single soul who choose Him over eternal banishment. All we have to do is NOT DIE IMPENETENT in mortal sin. That is the one unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit. Everyone of us should a daily act of contrition and make it a habit to go to confession - once or even twice a month. Run to confession if you commit a mortal sin and while on the way make an act of contrition.

St. Leonard of Port Maurice has the right attitude in his conclusion: ** Whether there are many or few that are saved, I say that whoever wants to be saved, will be saved; and that no one can be damned if he does not want to be.**

We choose our own fate - salvation or damnation. It is not an numbers game at all except for how one chooses. There is an infinite number of invitations to Heaven. All we have to do it take that invitation, wear the proper clothes and not soil them before we arrive to the wedding feast or prevent somone from talking us out of going and stealing our joy from us. Choose your traveling companions carefully and don’t get distracted from your journey.

James