I always wince a little bit when I see thread titles like this. It generally means a question of legalism. Testing G-d’s Justice and mercy against a 20th century courtroom standard, as if there are law books in heaven filled with loopholes and gotcha’s etc. That is not the spirit in which justice and mercy are given. To begin with, none of us can be deserving of heaven. We just can’t. Jesus told his apostles, “for men, this is impossible”. But he also says, “with God, all things are possible”. If we know the gospel. If G-d has written his law truly on our hearts, then we know when we transgress that law. And he knows whether or not we truly know through a properly formed and catechized conscience what our level of participation in sin truly is. While the judgement, by it’s actual name is juridical, it can only be based on our performance against our conscience which is an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are going to be surprised by both who is there, and who is not there. But when we sit here on earth and have conscious justification thoughts, of, well, I can do this, because I balanced it out with that…it seems like a dicey and dangerous game, whether you end up right nor not, and it’s not in the spirit of living in an imitation of Christ. We are called in the gospels to be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect. It’s a tall order. We must give G-d credit for knowing it’s a tall order, especially when he tells his flatly that it is impossible. Does that mean we throw up our hands and give up? Doing whatever we will, and then throwing ourselves on the mercy of the court at the end? The gospels don’t read that way to me. And I don’t believe they read that way to the Church. We are, it seems, told to live TOWARD perfection, the the best of our ability, and when we inevitably fall, get up, ask forr mercy and forgiveness right then with a contrite heart, and then go on and live TOWARD perfection again. Repeating this cycle ad infinitum until we die, or Jesus returns, whichever comes first. If you’re always trying to live Christs perfection, but failing, you are His child. If you’re not trying, or if you’re looking for ways around the perfections that He clearly laid out for us, then you’re not likely to be remorseful. Particularily when you’re allowing your pride to keep you from even accepting this "one thing you’'re talking about as not even being valid. The OP didn’t say what this one thing is, but I promise you whatever it is, is a valid teaching if it came from our Church. We can let our personal opinions, fear of losing a comfort, or pleasure, or treasure, etc. get in the way of us actually taking some truth into our hearts, but that doesn’t change the truth. Better to accept it as the truth. Try to comply with it the very best you can, and when you fail, show a real and honest sorrow for your failure, which G-d can judge as genuine. Then try to live again within the disciplines, even after forgiveness. When you fail again, you need to go back to Him again. Every single time you throw a baseball through Mrs. Johnson’s window, you need to tell dad, so he can pay Mrs. Johnson, and scold or spank you. After a while, the idea is, you’ll stop throwing baseballs through Mrs Johnson’s window eventually, AND through discipline, and love, you’ll understand why. Unless that is, that you disagree with dad that it’s wrong to throw baseballs through windows. You would be wrong. You wouldn’t be contrite in apologizing when it happens. Your punishment will be meaningless, and eventually you’ll end up in reform school, or jail, because you go out of your way to rebel against the natural laws of G-d.
We should be good, and do what the Church teaches us, because we WANT to be like Christ. Because we believe what He, His apostles, and His Church pass along to us, and don’t wish to offend them. Because we truly DO understand what right and wrong are, if we don’t lie to ourselves with prideful justifications and reasoning based on false axioms.
Jesus distilled it into two commandments which are the most powerful commandments of all, and entail all others. If what you want to do doesn’t make this test in every way, you should really work at not doing it, and being truly sorry and repentent when you DO mess up.
Love the Lord your G-d, with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Add to this, that your neighbor is everybody, and you should be all good to go.
Also helpful to keep in mind that He left this Church to us, and let it be built and carried on by men, who are guided by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit protects her from teaching error. So when you’re disagreeing on a precept in faith and morals, expounded by the Church, you are really disagreeing with Jesus Christ, who left the Holy Spirit with us.
Submission and obedience seem to be the hardest thing for westerners, both American and European, to do. We’re SO individualistic, modern, pagan, and rebellious that it makes obedience and submission sound weak to us. It’s a hard one to overcome. I’d say it’s the westerners heaviest piece of the cross to bear. We can overcome it with prayer and right orientation of will, though. It can be done. And if you can do it, eventually, you’ll find it more liberating than anything you’ve ever done.
There is nothing that feels better than the freedom of submitting ones self in obedience to G-d. Letting go of your “opinions”, and taking His yoke, which really IS much much lighter than the yoke we have on us in prideful disobedience.
God’s Blessings to all,
Steven
