Presumption of "going to heaven"

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I am looking for material (articles, books, videos, CDs anything) that perhaps discusses the presumption of ones (or one’s loved ones) going to heaven.

Most Catholics I know do not appear to be nearly in full communion with the Church. Most do not attend mass, most vote for politians who defend a pro-choice mentality. Yet all of them presume they will go to heaven because they are “a good person”.

I would like a good refutation of this attitude, if one exists. From wither modern or ancient sources.

Thanks in advance.
 
StMikhael said:
I am looking for material (articles, books, videos, CDs anything) that perhaps discusses the presumption of ones (or one’s loved ones) going to heaven.

Most Catholics I know do not appear to be nearly in full communion with the Church. Most do not attend mass, most vote for politians who defend a pro-choice mentality. Yet all of them presume they will go to heaven because they are “a good person”.

I would like a good refutation of this attitude, if one exists. From wither modern or ancient sources.

Thanks in advance.
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It’s definitely not a Catholic sensibility, to be sure. But I’m not sure where you’d find a refutation of it in particular because it’s a relatively recent phenomenon – “it,” I mean, being the presumption that we’re “good enough” to be saved. Tangential but still potentially useful would be St. Leonard of Port Maurice’s sermon on the little number of those who are saved.
 
StMikhael said:
I am looking for material (articles, books, videos, CDs anything) that perhaps discusses the presumption of ones (or one’s loved ones) going to heaven.

Most Catholics I know do not appear to be nearly in full communion with the Church. Most do not attend mass, most vote for politians who defend a pro-choice mentality. Yet all of them presume they will go to heaven because they are “a good person”.

I would like a good refutation of this attitude, if one exists. From wither modern or ancient sources.

Thanks in advance.
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Jimmy Akin just wrote something on this in NCRegister. Although, rather than refuting it he seems to buy into the “everybody, except Stalin, goes to heaven” thing. You can read it HERE

The best refutation, IMHO, comes from the mouth of Our Lord in Matthew 7:13
JesusChrist:
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
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The best book I’ve read recently on this topic is Will Many Be Saved by Ralph Martin.

God bless.
 
I have a brethern friend who claims to know that he will go to heaven. He even calls himself a living saint!!

I asked him why he could be so self assured because Jesus did say that the road to heaven is the narrow road compared to the road to hell.

He told me that while he is a sinner, because he believes in Jesus, Jesus’s sacrafice and the grace of God ‘wash his robes clean’ and allow him to be called a child of God, even though he is unworthy.

He also seemed to believe that good works are not necessary to get to heaven “what good works did the thief on the cross do? He just believed and got to paradise.”

I didnt know what to make of it if I’m honest.
 
“Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father.”

And…

“Be perfect, for your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
 
Robert789 said:
I have a brethern friend who claims to know that he will go to heaven. He even calls himself a living saint!!

I asked him why he could be so self assured because Jesus did say that the road to heaven is the narrow road compared to the road to hell.

He told me that while he is a sinner, because he believes in Jesus, Jesus’s sacrafice and the grace of God ‘wash his robes clean’ and allow him to be called a child of God, even though he is unworthy.

He also seemed to believe that good works are not necessary to get to heaven “what good works did the thief on the cross do? He just believed and got to paradise.”

I didnt know what to make of it if I’m honest.
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Its a misinterpretation of scripture resulting in a misunderstanding of how God justifies man. Many, if not most, Protestants believe that man can have no real justice or righteousness-that we remain sinners no matter what-and that the Atonement and the New Covenant it established simply earns the imputation of Christ’s righteousness for man, so long as he believes in Christ and what He did for him. Catholics believe that, as God didn’t create man to sin to begin with, the New Covenant is for the purpose of restoring justice to His universe-to us-by making man authentically righteous: forgiving us of sin, and then helping us to ‘go, and sin no more’. We’re judged on what we did with what we’re given, reference the Parable of the Talents as well as Luke 12:48, for example, to see this principle. The thief on the cross did the best he could in believing in and loving Christ with the time and opportunity he had, which wasn’t much-but his repentance/conversion was authentic in any case. Had he been given more time somehow, more grace would’ve been given, and more would’ve been expected of him.
 
StMikhael said:
I am looking for material (articles, books, videos, CDs anything) that perhaps discusses the presumption of ones (or one’s loved ones) going to heaven.

Most Catholics I know do not appear to be nearly in full communion with the Church. Most do not attend mass, most vote for politians who defend a pro-choice mentality. Yet all of them presume they will go to heaven because they are “a good person”.

I would like a good refutation of this attitude, if one exists. From wither modern or ancient sources.

Thanks in advance.
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No one can presume they are going to heaven, not Joe Biden, not the Pope. God alone is the judge.
 
fhansen said:
Its a misinterpretation of scripture resulting in a misunderstanding of how God justifies man. Many, if not most, Protestants believe that man can have no real justice or righteousness-that we remain sinners no matter what-and that the Atonement and the New Covenant it established simply earns the imputation of Christ’s righteousness for man, so long as he believes in Christ and what He did for him. Catholics believe that, as God didn’t create man to sin to begin with, the New Covenant is for the purpose of restoring justice to His universe-to us-by making man authentically righteous: forgiving us of sin, and then helping us to ‘go, and sin no more’. We’re judged on what we did with what we’re given, reference the Parable of the Talents as well as Luke 12:48, for example, to see this principle. The thief on the cross did the best he could in believing in and loving Christ with the time and opportunity he had, which wasn’t much-but his repentance/conversion was authentic in any case. Had he been given more time somehow, more grace would’ve been given, and more would’ve been expected of him.
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Thank you for explaining that for me. Makes sense!
 
fhansen said:
Its a misinterpretation of scripture resulting in a misunderstanding of how God justifies man. Many, if not most, Protestants believe that man can have no real justice or righteousness-that we remain sinners no matter what-and that the Atonement and the New Covenant it established simply earns the imputation of Christ’s righteousness for man, so long as he believes in Christ and what He did for him. Catholics believe that, as God didn’t create man to sin to begin with, the New Covenant is for the purpose of restoring justice to His universe-to us-by making man authentically righteous: forgiving us of sin, and then helping us to ‘go, and sin no more’. We’re judged on what we did with what we’re given, reference the Parable of the Talents as well as Luke 12:48, for example, to see this principle. The thief on the cross did the best he could in believing in and loving Christ with the time and opportunity he had, which wasn’t much-but his repentance/conversion was authentic in any case. Had he been given more time somehow, more grace would’ve been given, and more would’ve been expected of him.
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This.

As to the OP: If St. Paul is working out his salvation in fear and trembling, then presumption makes absolutely no sense for us.

(Also, I don’t think Jimmy Akin was supporting the view that nearly everyone goes to heaven, merely arguing that there is hope that even those who are committing grave matter may be saved. Which is true.)
 
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