What we need to be saved

[Daniel369]

In Jimmy Aikin’s article How to go to Heaven, he states “ I can summarize it in two sentences. The two sentences are these: To come to God and be saved, you need to repent, have faith, and be baptized. If you commit mortal sin, you need to repent, have faith, and go to confession.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. And we can show each of these things from the Bible.“

My question is how does John 6-53 relate to this topic of salvation?

 

[Vico]

In Jimmy Aikin’s article How to go to Heaven, he states “ I can summarize it in two sentences. The two sentences are these: To come to God and be saved, you need to repent, have faith, and be baptized. If you commit mortal sin, you need to repent, have faith, and go to confession.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. And we can show each of these things from the Bible.“

My question is how does John 6-53 relate to this topic of salvation?

John 6 prior verses:

53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

See John 6

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
…
47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.

 

[Daniel369]

@Vico, yes I believe and understand, but that does not answer whether or not you must eat and drink to have life as stated in John 6-53.

 

[Vico]

@Vico, yes I believe and understand, but that does not answer whether or not you must eat and drink to have life as stated in John 6-53.

Both the believers and those “eat my flesh and drink my blood” with discernment, have eternal life. This could even be through baptism of desire (Catechumen).

• John 6, 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.
• John 6, 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.
• John 6, 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;
• 1 Corinthians 11, 29 For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgement against themselves.

Speaking to the crowd in Capernaum, Jesus said that they came to him and saw him, yet did not believe, which means that they did not have eternal life.

John 6, 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

 

[Thom18]

To have faith assumes obedience to all of Christ’s teachings, including receiving the Eucharist.

 

[fide]

Mr Aikin is giving you the requirements for salvation in a very brief, minimalistic sort of way. Jesus is speaking here to persons of not merely the beginning of a life of faith, but the progressing of a person in a life of faith, and of the need for the supernatural food of the maturity of faith, which nurtures the believer toward God’s intention for every believer: eternity in the beatific vision and presence with God and all who are in Him, in glory.

What I am saying here is vague, I realize, but you are seeking to put together two truths that are linked by many intermediate truths. If you are new to the Catholic Faith, I recommend patiently and trustingly listening and learning for some years, to begin to put together the vast treasure of revealed Truth that was entrusted to the Catholic Church. The supernatural life, in Christ, has a beginning, and an intermediate stage, and a stage of completion, or maturity.

It takes time. Before puberty, in natural life, marriage is not really understandable - not in the way the person will understand it when he grows more. The thought of a deep and intense happiness in married life with children - a faithful Catholic family - is not really understandable to the 7- or 8- year old. As a person grows - naturally and supernaturally - his needs develop - change. This is by God’s design.

 

[fhansen]

In Jimmy Aikin’s article How to go to Heaven , he states “ I can summarize it in two sentences. The two sentences are these: To come to God and be saved, you need to repent, have faith, and be baptized. If you commit mortal sin, you need to repent, have faith, and go to confession.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. And we can show each of these things from the Bible.“

My question is how does John 6-53 relate to this topic of salvation?

This is a good question. And here’s another (name removed by moderator)ut that might muddy the waters even more. The Church teaches about our “particular judgment”, quoting St John of the Cross, “At the evening of life we shall be judged on our love.” And yet this quote actually ties together and clarifies for me the whole gospel and Church teachings in a concise manner

Everything the Church does and teaches is aimed at establishing an intimate communion between God and the individual-ultimately for us to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. That’s the whole point of our faith: “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Man was made for communion with God, and Adam thought otherwise and set humanity upon a different course and we’re here now to learn and decide who was right and who was wrong, as we come to know the rules of the game via experience, revelation, and grace. We’re here to learn how much we need God, of how worthy He is of our faith, hope, and love-we can’t even possess those virtues as we should without Him.

The Greatest Commandments define justice/righteousness for man, and that kind of love is available only to the extent that we’re in relationship with God; He is our righteousness. So our justice/righteousness- our justification- actually begins as we enter that communion, via faith.

So, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:4

continued:

 

[fhansen]

This union is the essence of the Eucharist, aka “Communion”, in which we regularly participate physically, sacramentally, in this vital relationship by which we acknowledge our need for His sustenance and nurturing. And mortal sin is to turn away from God, to excommunicate ourselves for all practical purposes. So:

1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us - that is, charity [love]- necessitates a new initiative of God’s mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:

When the will sets itself upon something that is of its nature incompatible with the charity that orients man toward his ultimate end, then the sin is mortal by its very object . . . whether it contradicts the love of God, such as blasphemy or perjury, or the love of neighbor, such as homicide or adultery. . . . But when the sinner’s will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is not opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.

1874 To choose deliberately - that is, both knowing it and willing it - something gravely contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of man is to commit a mortal sin. This destroys in us the charity [love] without which eternal beatitude is impossible. Unrepented, it brings eternal death.

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance”:

1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification or immediately, – or immediate and everlasting damnation.

At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.

 

[Genesis315]

I would say, repent, have faith, be baptized, and obey the commandments (summed up as love of God and neighbor), repenting again if we disobey, and persevere to the end (“he who perseveres to the end will be saved”).

Receiving Holy Communion is part of having faith (ie believing Jesus’ words) and it strengthens us in grace to obey the commandments and persevere to the end. Deliberately rejecting it would place one in a state of mortal sin. But receiving communion is not absolutely necessary if one is without fault in the matter.

 

[Dan_Defender]

Mr. Atkins’ advice seems to me like what I would say to some unbeliever who is in his deathbed. For others, there is certainly the Sacraments and a path of spiritual growth after initial conversion.

 

[Aulef]

In short, the Holy Sacraments, prayer, meditation, virtous acts and obedience to the Law.

 

[po18guy]

Baptism and Confession are but two of the seven Sacraments. Mr. Akin was not excluding the “Source and Summit” of the faith: Jesus Christ, sacramentally present in the Holy Eucharist.

Summed up in two sentences.