Very few make it to heaven?

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Jump4Joy said:
I don’t like how I can literally never be perfect.
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Please forgive the observation, but I feel this is defeatist thinking. Christ would never have told us ‘Be ye perfect’ had He known it would be impossible for us to achieve. That is the whole idea behind becoming saintly, becoming holy: to reach perfection in order to please our heavenly Father. I also have struggled with this, and I know how frustrating it can be because I have been there in that place of frustration. Strangely, it seems that the harder I try to achieve perfection, the more frustrated, aggravated and downright irritable I get. I wonder if maybe I am trying too hard. Perhaps the answer is just for me to pray for the grace to follow Christ’s command. Sorry to ramble, just thinking out loud.
 
There are Catholic theologians, von Balthasar comes to mind (whom Pope Benedict admires), who “hope” for the salvation of all (or at least most). As Catholics we must believe that hell is a possibility, but there are those who hope in God’s infinite mercy and trust that somehow, by means known only to God, far more will be saved than we tend to think…
We aren’t bound by a literal interpretation of any private revelation in regards to how many will be saved.

Regarding the child in purgatory until the “end of the world”…why would you assume that time operates as we understand it in the afterlife?
 
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Please keep in mind that the Amelia whom the shepherd children asked about at Fatima was NOT a child. She was a young woman, aged about nineteen years, and had thus achieved the age of reason several years prior. This gave her ample time to have committed sins so heinous that they would certainly have given her a lengthy stay in Purgatory. Our Lady was answering the children’s question about Amelia’s fate so that they would dedicate prayers to the lessening of Amelia’s punishments, and the possible shortening of her time in Purgatory. There is nothing sadistic or negative about this. If we know a friend of ours is in trouble, we should devote every possible energy in our power to releasing him from that trouble.
 
It seems like literally no one is able to enter heaven. Going to heaven will be a painful grueling process.
 
Jump4Joy said:
It seems like literally no one is able to enter heaven. Going to heaven will be a painful grueling process.
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Indeed. We are told as much in Scripture:

‘Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it;
But it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’

Matthew 7:13-14

At first it seems terribly harsh and cruel that things should be thus, but a few caveats apply:
  1. We were in a blessed state of union with God in the Garden of Eden, and we voluntarily threw away that precious gift by our disobedience, thus meriting eternal separation from the source of all love and goodness. It is our own fault that we trod under foot the precious gift of union with God, and such craven disobedience is not easily remedied.
  2. The Father gave up His only begotten Son as a sacrifice to mend the broken relationship between us and Himself. He had no need to do that. Who are we, anyway? Only dust, not fit to be mentioned in the same breath as the Son. Yet the Father did not hesitate to arrange things so that, through the suffering, death and resurrection of the Son, we might again have the opportunity to achieve Heaven and eternal life. Incidentally, how many people do you know who would unhesitatingly sacrifice their only child for the benefit of someone else?
When we clearly see and contemplate both our own unutterably hideous sin and ingratitude, as well as the unfathomable love for us of both the Father and the Son, the harshness of our plight becomes comprehensible and, indeed, seems not half harsh enough for the circumstances. We are nothing, and the Trinity is everything. The gift of salvation is totally undeserved, and yet is there for those who wish to avail themselves of it. I hope my all but incoherent rambling has been some help!
 
I still don’t quite understand it. Pray for me. I’ll just do what the Lord says is good and worry about the rest later.
 
Jump4Joy said:
I still don’t quite understand it. Pray for me. I’ll just do what the Lord says is good and worry about the rest later.
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Doing what the Lord says and leaving the rest for later is maybe the finest advice I’ve ever heard! Thank you for that! Of course I will pray for you. Please pray for me, also.
 
You didn’t waste your words. It’s all very ethereal and supernatural. Not easy to understand.
 
Sorry, I think I replied to your reply that wasn’t directed at me. It’s not easy for me to understand either, but I love your resolve to follow Christ and worry about the rest later. Well said!
 
It was directed to you. I didn’t think to put my thoughts in one message. Of course I’ll say a little prayer for you
 
Because the same book illustrates two priests who made a pact with each other that whoever dies first the other will drop everything to say a mass just for them. Upon completing said mass the living one was greeted by a grateful but confused soul who wanted to know why the other priest waited seventy years.

The living priest protested saying he as agreed he said the mass as soon as possible. The “ghost” father now very sad said his seemingly short time in purgatory felt like an eternity.

Say what you want that sounds cruel.
 
The way I read Peter Kreeft describe it (and I believe he may have been taking his cue from von Balthasar) is that, since God loves us unconditionally and immeasurably, if—from the billions of people He created—even one person chose against Him and went to hell, that would be too “many” going to hell, and one less than every person ever made would be too “few” going to heaven.

Now, I know some Catholics have a problem with von Balthasarian theories that hope for the salvation of all, and that’s fine. For me, it’s a reminder that I needn’t get bogged down trying to figure out numbers for who is in heaven and who is in hell.
 
Preserve your place! Beware of the signs of the times: just as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be right before the coming of the Son of man. People engaged in all worldly occupations–being given in marriage etcetera–not aware of keeping their lamps full, or, remaining faithful to the Word because this life’s concerns distract them. Distractions will increase cause many to become lukewarm.
“Because you are neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth says Most High.”
Do not let go of your lifeline in Christ Jesus, aka messiah Yehoshua, Yehoshua Elohim and Yehoshua Natzeret. (We began to use the name our lord heard himself being called because we know of none who use it in vain, or as an exclamation.)
Take care not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but to be as soil fertilized with life of the Ruach of Elohim (Holy Spirit of God also called Ruach HaKodesh). Once filled, be as gentile as lambs, but wise as serpents, for treacherous workers abound.
So renew grace (petrol that sustains us through our daily work) through prayer of the heart. Surrender the fallen nature unto Adonai Yehoshua (Lord Jesus) and take his yoke upon you, and love one another. Nothing is more important than this.
 
Jackson said:
Distractions will increase cause many to become lukewarm.
“Because you are neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth says Most High.”
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Over the weekend I was watching some videos by a former Marine named Steve Weed. He is not Catholic, I believe he was raised in some evangelical tradition. His testimony is about an NDE he had in which he says a 13-foot-tall demon appeared to drag him to Hell and then he was rescued by St. Michael. While this sounds pretty wack and the veracity of NDEs in general, or this guy’s story in particular, could be debated, the guy seemed quite earnest and gave a lot of details pertaining to his military life and the accident that led to the NDE that made his story sound believable. The thing that got me and the reason I am mentioning this is, he described himself before the experience as “lukewarm”. He believed in God and Jesus but wasn’t really going to church, and was doing the usual stuff young military men do such as drinking and chasing women. I would say this describes a large number of people, including myself for a large part of my life. If this can get you sent to Hell then I can definitely see a large number of people ending up there.
 
Context is everything :+1:t4:
Newton’s first law comes to mind after considering your reply good brother: an object at rest tends to stay at rest? And so it is with us unless we choose dramatic changes to live into our roles as given us by Elohim, or we are living as our Savior ordains it for us.
Here is the full quote from Revelations 3:
The Lukewarm Church

14 “And to the angel of the church [j]of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither [k]cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.[l] Therefore be [m]zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ ”

The Lord knows our hearts, and he knows our stumbling habits. We all fall short of his will for us, but many will rise beyond expectations during emergencies. We all respond according to what is given us. To he/she who receives much, much is expected from us.
Live faithfully, ministering to one another and seeing to it that none of you go without. Paraphrased. To me, this means showing up daily in prayer asking that Adonai Yehoshua guides my steps. He said, “don’t worry about common things” e.g. when Martha was upset with Mary Mag for not helping? Or when we get too involved in mundane events we try to make perfect?
SORRY DOORBELL RINGING…
 
Consider this:

The Catholic faith is the true Faith. Out of the 7 or so billion people in the world, only about 1 billion are Catholic. And how many of us actually practice our faith? How many of us make frequent use of the sacraments of healing?

Few will be saved because few believe and fewer live a life that is in harmony with that belief.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
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Jackson:
Distractions will increase cause many to become lukewarm.
“Because you are neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth says Most High.”
Click to expand...
Over the weekend I was watching some videos by a former Marine named Steve Weed. He is not Catholic, I believe he was raised in some evangelical tradition. His testimony is about an NDE he had in which he says a 13-foot-tall demon appeared to drag him to Hell and then he was rescued by St. Michael. While this sounds pretty wack and the veracity of NDEs in general, or this guy’s story in particular, could be debated, the guy seemed quite earnest and gave a lot of details pertaining to his military life and the accident that led to the NDE that made his story sound believable. The thing that got me and the reason I am mentioning this is, he described himself before the experience as “lukewarm”. He believed in God and Jesus but wasn’t really going to church, and was doing the usual stuff young military men do such as drinking and chasing women. I would say this describes a large number of people, including myself for a large part of my life. If this can get you sent to Hell then I can definitely see a large number of people ending up there.
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Thank you for this comment. The older I get, the more strongly I feel that tepidity or lukewarmness is sending vast hordes of souls to perdition. I am convinced that anything that distracts our gaze from Christ, even for a moment, is an idol that has the potential to separate us from Him forever. When I consider the omnipresent idolatry in my own life, the pleasures, diversions and entertainments that I am constantly preferring over prayer, I almost despair of ever reaching even Purgatory, much less the Beatific Vision. All I can do is pray for the strength, the grace and the will to be the Christian and the man Christ intends for me to be, and hope that my prayer is answered.
 
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