Why do we even try?

[pghguy]

If as virtually every forum post states over and over again on the subject, very few will make it to Heaven, that essentially means that most if not all of us posting here will go to Hell.

If there’s no hope, what’s the point in even trying?

 

[pghguy]

P.S. - I mean, by this philosophy, is seems we’re pretty much destined and doomed to failure, doesn’t it?

 

[puzzleannie]

If as virtually every forum post states over and over again on the subject, very few will make it to Heaven, that essentially means that most if not all of us posting here will go to Hell.

If there’s no hope, what’s the point in even trying?

I have not seen any evidence that anyone on CAF has received private revelation direct from God, nor authority from the Pope to teach, that this is the case. Much better to read what Christ has to say, that the gate is narrow, and many who are confident of heaven and already congratulating themselves are going to be surprised. Since there is definitely a hope of heaven, in fact hope is a theological virtue we are endowed with at baptism, there is every reason to work toward that which we are created for, namely union with God. Why? because we exist, that is why we hope for and work for heaven.

 

[JohnCS]

I think that I have seen the threads that you are talking about, I think the point of them is that MOST people are not trying. I think it is safe to say that most people on this site are at least semi-trying because they are on a site that was meant to help spread the Truth. Heaven is not unattainable, but God will not let everyone in willy nilly, we have to try living according to his commandments and Christ’s teachings. Again, look around the world today; many may see that those living FOR Christ are becoming more rare. We were all made to live forever in heaven, but we have to try our best to do that. Christ goes on describing who is “unworthy of him”. And it is painful to say that most of us fall into those categories, however we have the Church and the sacrements to help us along the way. Use them and live for Christ, and it will all be worth the effort.

God bless,

John

 

[Garyjohn2]

Ummm…even if there was only a 1% change of you getting eternal life, and a 99% chance of you getting eternal punishment…wouldn’t you still try?

Otherwise, if you don’t try…it goes to 0% : 100% chances. Who wants that?

 

[pghguy]

Ummm…even if there was only a 1% change of you getting eternal life, and a 99% chance of you getting eternal punishment…wouldn’t you still try?

Otherwise, if you don’t try…it goes to 0% : 100% chances. Who wants that?

I suppose you’re right about that. It just seems that no matter what, we will never be good enough. I CANNOT be Mother Theresa. It is not in me, or pretty much anyone else.

 

[Trishie]

If as virtually every forum post states over and over again on the subject, very few will make it to Heaven, that essentially means that most if not all of us posting here will go to Hell.

If there’s no hope, what’s the point in even trying?

Read Jesus’ words about it in Matthew 25 verses 31-46, remembering that Jesus is judge of souls and His criteria for judging is practical acts of kindness which He takes as offered to Him personally.

 

[Trishie]

I am sometimes sad that there is sometimes less emphasis placed on Jesus’ words than should be placed on the words of the saviour of the human race who is God’s Son, who is God as well as human. Jesus is the source of salvation and the foundation of the Church. Can we call ourself Christians if we don’t accept the words of Jesus the Christ?

Matthew 25 verses 31-46…Jesus’ words on who will be saved:
“The Last Judgement”
“When the Son of Man comes in all His glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men from one another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats.
He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. then the King shall say to those on his right hand,” Come you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was a stranger and you made me welcome. I was thirsty and you gave me drink; naked and you clothed me; sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.

Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?
And the King will answer, " I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

Next he will say to those on his left “Go away from me with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for when I was hungry you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.”
Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty; a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and not come to your help?”
Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.” And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.

 

[saveusfromhell]

I suppose you’re right about that. It just seems that no matter what, we will never be good enough. I CANNOT be Mother Theresa. It is not in me, or pretty much anyone else.

no your right we can’t all be mother Threase or a saint on earth. but why not use the brown scapular, or the green scapular, the first fridays of the sacred heart, or the first five saturdays the immaculate heart God knows its hard to obtain heaven, but he gives us sacrementals to help those who are trying.

was it st faustina said that most of the people in hell were those that didn’t believe in it.
not sure but i think it was her
don’t despair put your thrust in God

 

[challam2010]

The Catholic Church has not ever, NOT ONE TIME, declared any soul to be in hell. Conversely, through canonization it does declare souls to be with God in heaven.

The fact is, we do not know what happens after death – period. Instead of tying yourself up over your minor infractions, your real or imagined sins – or worse yet, the state of another’s soul, consider God’s INFINITE mercy instead.

Not every human action can be quantified, legislated against or assigned a particular “punishment” after death. Yes, we believe in a personal judgment and the judgment at the end of time, but we also believe in the loving and merciful nature of God, the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us, and in the saving actions of Jesus, who died to redeem us.

Assigning a number to those who are doomed to hell is in my opinion a ridiculous waste of time and insulting to the limitless love God has for us.

 

[PAboy57]

Fellow Christians,

Our Great and Merciful Lord wants us in Heaven with Him. Why do you think He sent Jesus, all of the Blessed Mother Apparitions and the so many other gifts for us to use.

For those that don’t care – they will see a different Lord.

For those that worship God and practice the Words of Christ will have everlasting life. So please hold your heads up and with the help of our Blessed Mother we will find the way to Jesus for all eternity. Keep saying your Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, going to Mass and you will spend eternity with God and the communion of Saints.

Take care and God Bless.

 

[Milesius]

If as virtually every forum post states over and over again on the subject, very few will make it to Heaven, that essentially means that most if not all of us posting here will go to Hell.

If there’s no hope, what’s the point in even trying?

If some will go to heaven then clearly there is hope. refusing to try is deciding to fail. And no one gets to heaven because they are good enough they get to heaven because they tried as well as they were able, or as the Apostle puts it: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” 2 Tim 4:7

And we can all be Saints, it is not in you, you are right, but God can put it in you if you want it, ask for it and try to be it hard enough. The question is do you love God enough to want to be a Saint and to be with Him for all eternity in Heaven above all things?

Pick up your cross and follow Him.

 

[HickmanJosh]

I suppose you’re right about that. It just seems that no matter what, we will never be good enough. I CANNOT be Mother Theresa. It is not in me, or pretty much anyone else.

God wants us for who we are, we don’t have to be good enough, we have to be willing to serve and surrender to Him, the will to do this is not always in us, it is a gift from God, we need to pray for it

 

[Barbkw]

Goodness. Catholics believe in purgatory. That’s not hell, that’s a place of purgation, a cleansing prior to entering into the presence of God. In the same way, Jews bathed themselves prior to entering holy places.

The same holds true for all other faithful Chrisitians and even whose peoples who lived a good life althou they may not have been able to know Jesus.

While here on earth, the more time you have, the more time you can practice battling your fallen nature. You don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to keep trying and to ask for forgiveness and the Trinity’s help. Our attempts and our failures are there to build hope.

“Faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love.” Why, because once we are with the Trinity, we won’t need faith or hope, only love.

Here are some Scriptures from St. Paul’s Letters to the Roman Christian community on hope:

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

“But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

 

[Adonia]

I suppose you’re right about that. It just seems that no matter what, we will never be good enough. I CANNOT be Mother Theresa. It is not in me, or pretty much anyone else.

You are right, we will never be good enough. That is why we trust that Christ is our mediator, He understands what life is like down here. We also must believe in the concept of God’s mercy. Live your life, try your best - you will always stumble and fall. Mercy Lord, have mercy on me!

 

[LilyM]

Look at the many hundreds of athletes who every four years front up to compete in the 100 metre sprint in the Olympics. And how many of them win the gold medal?

Are all the others (the ones who don’t win gold - or don’t win any medal - or don’t even make it past the first round of qualifying runs) totally wasting their time? They don’t think so, neither do we who enjoy watching the competition.

Who among those runners, including the winner (who is often enough someone with a long shot rather than the favourite), would even try, would even achieve the great feat of being there at all, if it weren’t for that one-in-a-squillion chance of winning gold to spur them on?

You know the saying about ‘if you aim for the moon and miss, at least you can reach the stars’? We, most of us, need big dreams and goals to motivate us to do anything.

 

[pghguy]

I’m glad to hear that not everybody here is fire and brimstone. I do so appreciate so many of the posts showcasing Christ’s love for each of us.

I just wonder why so many thing seem to be of a contradictory nature in the Bible.

 

[LilyM]

I suppose you’re right about that. It just seems that no matter what, we will never be good enough. I CANNOT be Mother Theresa. It is not in me, or pretty much anyone else.

There are roughly 9,999 other canonised saints who ALSO aren’t Mother Teresa. They didn’t all, or nearly all, live their lives in as heroic a way as hers, many were saintly in a much quieter way. It might do you good to become more familiar with the wide variety of ways in which souls can draw close to God.

Read ‘the Story of a Soul’ by St Therese of Lisieux, for example. Lots of information about her ‘little way’, which is precisely designed for people like you and me who feel that we can’t ever be a Mother Teresa. Indeed, Therese of Lisieux herself was one - she longed to be a missionary but instead spent a quiet, and short, life shut up in a convent.

 

[Vico]

If as virtually every forum post states over and over again on the subject, very few will make it to Heaven, that essentially means that most if not all of us posting here will go to Hell.

If there’s no hope, what’s the point in even trying?

So who here can say what God will do regarding you in particular?

From Robbin Williams, invention of Golf , with heavy Scots accent:

• Oh, like a bowling thing?
• No! Not straight. I put in the way. Like trees and bushes and high grass. So you can lose your ball. And go hacking away with a tire iron. Whacking away, and each time you miss you feel like you’ll have a stroke. that’s what we’ll call it, a stroke, cause each time you miss you feel like you’re gonna die. Oh great, oh and here’s the better part. , this is brilliant! Right near the end, I’ll put a little flat piece with a little flag to give you hope. But then I’ll put a little pool and a sand box, to with your ball again. Ay, you’ll be there your , away in the sand.
• And you do this one time? - no! 18 times!

 

[jmcrae]

If as virtually every forum post states over and over again on the subject, very few will make it to Heaven, that essentially means that most if not all of us posting here will go to Hell.

If there’s no hope, what’s the point in even trying?

Everyone on earth has the potential to make it to Heaven. Even the worst sinners can repent and change their lives, if they make that choice.

However, there are two reasons that most people won’t make it to Heaven: the first is, presumption - no matter how bad I am, God is required to forgive me and let me into Heaven, so I will do whatever I want; the second is, despair - no matter how hard I try I can never get it right so I won’t bother.

The laws of the Church are easy to incorporate into a very normal everyday lifestyle - they are not difficult to follow, and they don’t take up a lot of time. Treating others the way that you like to be treated is a habit that everyone - not just Catholics - should develop, if only to become a good neighbor who is easy to like. Stopping to assist the sick and the injured is the duty of every good citizen; hopefully everyone does this, even if they are not Catholics. Ditto with visiting the lonely, and providing material assistance for the poor.

Even if you manage to mess up this very simple plan (as most of us do), you can go to Confession and start all over again with a clean slate.