M
MrPizzaDude
Guest
will i go to heaven if i do good deeds like walk the old lady accross the street?
- Status
M
Mintaka
Guest
If you love God, you will love your neighbor too. If you love your neighbor, you will try to do good things for them.
Christ has died and risen for us, out of His great love for us. He has done everything He can to save us, and He is doing everything possible for us now. But if we do not respond to Him by loving Him and loving our neighbor, and by following His commands, it’s hard to tell whether, in our hearts, we really want to be saved. He will make us Christlike if we let Him; He will give us every chance to accept; but He won’t save us and justify us and make us like Himself against our wills.
So if you are the sort of person who hasn’t hardened your heart against God and your neighbor, and wants to accept God’s offer of salvation, wants to live like His image and likeness… helping your neighbor is the sort of thing that you will do, and it’s also the sort of thing that will add to your riches in the Kingdom of Heaven and put sparkle on your crown. But more to the point, it makes you more and more the kind of person who wants to live in Heaven with God and your neighbor. Doing good things help you work on your own conversion of heart, ideally, or at least keeps you too busy to be bad!
But of course, even the kind of person who kicks old ladies across the street is capable of changing his mind at the last minute, and being saved, because God is generous that way. This doesn’t mean that kicking old ladies is a good practice for those who love Christ. Doing evil tends to make it harder to change your mind, or to see any reason to be good, or even to think about good or evil as something you should worry about.
But of course it’s possible to do good deeds as a showoff thing, being a total hypocrite about it, or walking old ladies across the street one minute and then stealing them blind after you’ve gained their trust. This isn’t going to help, either.
But some people who start doing good deeds for show, or because their friends were doing it, learn to love doing good for its own sake. That’s a good thing.
So there’s no easy answer here, other than clearly there are little old ladies and there are dangerous streets; and you and I are just standing here while the light changes.
Christ has died and risen for us, out of His great love for us. He has done everything He can to save us, and He is doing everything possible for us now. But if we do not respond to Him by loving Him and loving our neighbor, and by following His commands, it’s hard to tell whether, in our hearts, we really want to be saved. He will make us Christlike if we let Him; He will give us every chance to accept; but He won’t save us and justify us and make us like Himself against our wills.
So if you are the sort of person who hasn’t hardened your heart against God and your neighbor, and wants to accept God’s offer of salvation, wants to live like His image and likeness… helping your neighbor is the sort of thing that you will do, and it’s also the sort of thing that will add to your riches in the Kingdom of Heaven and put sparkle on your crown. But more to the point, it makes you more and more the kind of person who wants to live in Heaven with God and your neighbor. Doing good things help you work on your own conversion of heart, ideally, or at least keeps you too busy to be bad!
But of course, even the kind of person who kicks old ladies across the street is capable of changing his mind at the last minute, and being saved, because God is generous that way. This doesn’t mean that kicking old ladies is a good practice for those who love Christ. Doing evil tends to make it harder to change your mind, or to see any reason to be good, or even to think about good or evil as something you should worry about.
But of course it’s possible to do good deeds as a showoff thing, being a total hypocrite about it, or walking old ladies across the street one minute and then stealing them blind after you’ve gained their trust. This isn’t going to help, either.
But some people who start doing good deeds for show, or because their friends were doing it, learn to love doing good for its own sake. That’s a good thing.
So there’s no easy answer here, other than clearly there are little old ladies and there are dangerous streets; and you and I are just standing here while the light changes.
P
PaulfromIowa
Guest
Good deeds will not get you to Heaven. Following Christ will.
T
Techno2000
Guest
Yes and No… your good deeds can save you from going to Hell because God has to repay you for your good deeds, but you may have to spend a long time in purgatory .
M
McCartney
Guest
Matthew 25:35-40
New International Version (NIV)
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
New International Version (NIV)
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
meltzerboy
New member
A great answer to the OP’s question!
E
esieffe
Guest
James 2:14-26
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
G
GEddie
Guest
They also don’t go unpunished!
Sorry, couldn’t resist!
But He was the ultimate do-gooder.
ICXC NIKA
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
God owes us nothing. He does not need to “repay” good deeds. Not to mention one sin is enough to wipe out all the good deeds of a lifetime without the protection and graces given to us by Christ through the church.
Without Christ all are lost.
T
Techno2000
Guest
I tell all of you with certainty, whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple will never lose his reward."Matthew 10:42
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
Works without faith in Christ are just good works. You’ll note he mentions this in regard to a disciple of Christ.
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
2007 With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator.
2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man’s free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man’s merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God’s gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us “co-heirs” with Christ and worthy of obtaining "the promised inheritance of eternal life."60 The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness.61 "Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God’s gifts."62
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God’s wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
2011 **The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. **Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
“It is not as if we purchase heaven by our good works . Christ has already purchased heaven for us by his work of love on the cross. We do not do good works to get heaven, but do good works because heaven has gotten us.”
-Peter Kreft
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
The only thing that saves us from hell is by confessing Christ and receiving the sacrament of baptism and remaining in a state of grace in humble obedience to God.
Good works demonstrate our faith and sanctify us which begins the purgation of sin here on earth. Purgatory makes us ready for heaven by cleansing and freeing us of our attachments to sin.
D
Darryl_B
Guest
When Jesus came to earth and showed us the Way, he did not establish the Boy Scouts, he established the Catholic Church.
I think they are not the same thing.
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
T
Techno2000
Guest
So doesn’t God judge every Mans good and bad deeds on a scale to determine where he will go for eternity, even down to what level that soul will go to in Heaven,Hell,and Purgatory ?
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
Yes, but if your name is not written in the book of life then you get caste straight into hell. Jesus is essential to salvation.
And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.” Rev 14:13
See how they must die in The Lord?
11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Rev 20
See how there is a book of deeds and a book of life. To get in the book of life you have to know Christ.
J
Jon_S_1
Guest
I will also put it this way:
Jesus commissioned the Apostles to go and baptize people. To tell them the gospel and baptize them.
He did not tell them to go teach them good works for salvation. If he had, there would be no point to baptism. No point to the sacraments, and no point to being missionaries.
Jesus commissioned the Apostles to go and baptize people. To tell them the gospel and baptize them.
He did not tell them to go teach them good works for salvation. If he had, there would be no point to baptism. No point to the sacraments, and no point to being missionaries.
- Status