Can baptized Catholics go to hell?

[Fauken]

A bit off topic, but how does the Catholic Church support confessing sins with a priest instead of in silence in prayer before God/Eucharistic adoration?

I believe the strongest Scriptural piece of evidence is John 20:22-23:

“20:22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
20:23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”

God gave them the authority to do so, so it is still God forgiving us our sins!

By these responses it seems like a MOST people would go to hell.

Well, Jesus did say the gate is narrow, but we can’t be sure of exactly how many.

are Catholic(small percent of Christians)

Really? Catholicism is the largest Christian group on the planet, clocking in at about one billion believers last I heard.

actually go to confession regularly(very small percent of Catholics)

What would you define as regular?

EDIT: CAF has a good tract over confession: The Forgiveness of Sins | Catholic Answers

 

[TheOldColonel]

One might ask. How does a loving God deal with His beloved? Indeed, are not His adopted children, through water and the Spirit, beloved? What good parent says “I love my sons. I love my daughters.” and then casts them into the pit to be forever punished, shamed and forgotten?

 

[MT1926]

A bit off topic, but how does the Catholic Church support confessing sins with a priest instead of in silence in prayer before God/Eucharistic adoration?

In order to understand New Covenant confession we need to first go back to the Old Covenant in the Old Testament.

Confession, penance and reconciliation have been a part of God’s plan from the beginning.

Go back to the beginning and reread Genesis 3 God was looking for contrition. Instead Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent.

Next we go to

Leviticus 5:5-6
5 When a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sin he has committed, 6 and he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for the sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.

Notice we have God insisting on an out loud confession to the priest. He then gives the sinner a liturgical act of sacrifice and penance. So they had to say they were sorry and then show that they meant it.

And notice in the Old Covenant it is the priest that shall make atonement for the sinner.

This wasn’t easy for the Israelites. This had to be done in the temple. You had to butcher the animal and hand the parts to the priest.

Also…

Nehemiah 9:1-2
9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth upon their heads. 2 And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

Penance was a public display of sorrow for their sins.

It is important to point out that these sacrifices did not force God to forgive them.

The rituals God institutes are for OUR benefit not His. He forgives out of love.

We need to understand that this is not a new idea to the people of the day. This would actually be expected and easily accepted as a continuation of the Old Covenant.

So when Jesus said to the Apostles…

John 20:21-23
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

They and every Christian of the day would have fully known that Christ gave them the power to administer the sacrament of confession.

An out loud confession, sacrifice and penance is what these people knew understood and believed.

In my opinion if the Apostles taught we could go directly to God it would have stirred up the exact same controversy that circumcision did in Acts 15.

Hope this helps.

God Bless

 

[joyful]

Thanks! Those are good verses. Just wanted to know for personal knowledge

 

[joyful]

Protestantism is actually becoming a lot more prominent than Catholicism.
Regularly I meant more than once a year. My family is full of Catholics and none of them care about going to confession at all even if they attend Mass regularly, pray and read their Bibles.
So if a person is a habitual sinner due to addictions(alcoholic, drug abuse, wounds from domestic/parental abuse,sex additions, struggle with same sex attraction) and spends their whole lives trying to turn away from sin and draw closer to God then they end up dying with a recent sin unconfessed, wouldn’t it not make a difference if that person gloated in their sins and didn’t care about God? They spent their entire lives suffering because of guilt when there’s other people who don’t even feel guilty doing the same things and they all just end up in the same place anyway?

 

[gcshapero]

We don’t know. It could have been for a litany of reasons; Lukewarmness, heresy, abuse, not shepherding their flock, lust, capitulation…the list goes on and on.

 

[Gorgias]

It’s a theorized place where the souls of un-baptized babies and “righteous pagans” (those who lived good lives but never heard about Christ).

Oh, brother. No, the Church doesn’t teach that those who do not know the name of Christ can only attain to ‘limbo’…

 

[Fauken]

Oh, brother. No , the Church doesn’t teach that those who do not know the name of Christ can only attain to ‘limbo’…

While I’m not going to defend limbo, if I’m not mistaken, the Church has not rejected it either.

 

[Gorgias]

While I’m not going to defend limbo, if I’m not mistaken, the Church has not rejected it either.

Agreed. But, while it doesn’t reject it, it doesn’t define it in the way you have.

 

[Fauken]

Agreed. But, while it doesn’t reject it, it doesn’t define it in the way you have.

What’s wrong with my definition? I never claimed the Church taught it.

 

[Gorgias]

What’s wrong with my definition? I never claimed the Church taught it.

Fair enough. However, the Church doesn’t teach that those who have never heard the name of Christ have only the hope of something less-than-the-Beatific-Vision. What’s wrong with your definition, then, is that – in the name of “not rejected by the Church” – it posits something in contradiction with Church teaching.