Why is it harder for catholics to get into heaven

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Anyone that is baptized and even non-christians may obtain salvation, but if you are catholic you have to follow all the teachings of the church or commit a mortal sin. Non-christian and Protestants don’t follow these teachings but it is not a sin? They can’t receive absolution if they go to confession, but they can still obtain salvation? Is it that they have never committed a mortal sin?
 
It is not harder for a Catholic to enter Heaven. It is* easier*. :extrahappy:
We have the help of Mother Church, who teaches us the fullness of the truth.:dancing:
We have the help of the Sacraments, which fill us with Grace, and strengthen us to live as God wants us to live.:knight1:

Edit: Hey, these smilies are fun.😃
 
lookaround said:
Anyone that is baptized and even non-christians may obtain salvation, but if you are catholic you have to follow all the teachings of the church or commit a mortal sin. Non-christian and Protestants don’t follow these teachings but it is not a sin? They can’t receive absolution if they go to confession, but they can still obtain salvation? Is it that they have never committed a mortal sin?
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Err, the odds are awful for non-Catholics. They’re not great for Catholics, but they’re far worse if you’re not.

Living in sin is a key way to go to Hell. Just because you don’t explicitly ‘know’ it’s a sin, doesn’t mean you didn’t sin and deny God’s graces to bring you out of that sin.

As the tree falls, so it lies.

Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

No exceptions for 'I didn’t know it was bad to be a fornicator, drunk, slanderer, thief, etc. ’ included.

In other words, for anyone who is one it takes an exceptional miracle at the last moment for salvation, and while these happen, it’s again one of those rolls of the dice where the odds are far against the person.

A whole lot of people aren’t going to Heaven. A whole lot. 😦
 
Shin said:
Err, the odds are awful for non-Catholics. They’re not great for Catholics, but they’re far worse if you’re not.

Living in sin is a key way to go to Hell. Just because you don’t explicitly ‘know’ it’s a sin, doesn’t mean you didn’t sin and deny God’s graces to bring you out of that sin.

As the tree falls, so it lies.

Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

No exceptions for 'I didn’t know it was bad to be a fornicator, drunk, slanderer, thief, etc. ’ included.

In other words, for anyone who is one it takes an exceptional miracle at the last moment for salvation, and while these happen, it’s again one of those rolls of the dice where the odds are far against the person.

A whole lot of people aren’t going to Heaven. A whole lot. 😦
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So if a Protestant after baptism commits a mortal sin they can not go to heaven?
 
lookaround said:
So if a Protestant after baptism commits a mortal sin they can not go to heaven?
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Nobody who commits a mortal sin goes to Heaven, barring true repentance of that sin before death, which is either perfect contrition or Confession.

A person who has truly committed a mortal sin, that is denied God grace on that level, is destined to Hell if he dies like that, that’s dogma.

For the non-Catholic one would speculate some sort of extraordinary and special grace of repentance could be made available before death since the norm of Confession is not available.

But again, it’s all extraordinary if you live a life of mortal sin. You’re supposed to respond to God with this life, not at the very end in a last minute escape which would in fact be contrary to the kind of person you chose to be.
 
Shin said:
Nobody who commits a mortal sin goes to Heaven, barring true repentance of that sin before death, which is either perfect contrition or Confession.

A person who has truly committed a mortal sin, that is denied God grace on that level, is destined to Hell if he dies like that, that’s dogma.
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Thank you but I still don’t quite understand.
Would they have to confess their sins to a priest? Can they receive Absolution?
 
lookaround said:
Thank you but I still don’t quite understand.
Would they have to confess their sins to a priest? Can they receive Absolution?
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A Protestant can’t go to Confession because you have to repent all your grave sins in Confession, and that would include being a Protestant. He’d have to walk out Catholic.

So you have to hope for some sort of extraordinary grace, perhaps perfect contrition before the end, and only venial sin in regards to not being Catholic because of venial or inculpable ignorance.

How realistic or likely this is I don’t know. There’s a lot of serious selfishness out there we treat too lightly in regards to seeking the truth about God.
 
So they have to be like the “good thief” and make it in just before they die?
That wasn’t what it sounded like in the Catechism.
 
I will quote some dogmas:

The Sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation to those who, after Baptism fall into grievous sin. (De Fide)

Perfect contrition bestows the grace of justification on the mortal sinner even before the actual reception of the Sacrament of Penance. (Sent. fidei proxima)

Extra-sacramental justification is effected by perfect sorrow only when it is associated with the desire for the Sacrament. (De fide.)
  • Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma
So, it’s something extraordinary that has to happen for someone to come out of mortal sin who is not Catholic. In other words, deus ex machina, an act of God.

Catholic or not Catholic, if you are in mortal sin, and die, you go to Hell, that too is a dogma. So something has to happen before you die, some kind of miracle of grace if you’re outside the Church, or inside and not yet contrite.

So for people who live in mortal sin, one generally has to hope that they have reduced the actual act to venial despite the grave matter, and/or that their ignorance is venial.

People go to Heaven or Hell based upon the will of their lives and the judgement of God. If their life is a choice of a mortal sin instead of looking to find God, one cannot expect anything because the purpose of life is: Choose God: Yes/No.

We’re not here for any other reason, not for TV, not for medical advances, not for wealth, not for power. That’s not why we’re here. Choose that you make a grave mistake.

Every time a person chooses to go visit his girlfriend for the night instead of doing something for God, that’s a choice right there. The choice of NO. Each time a person flips on the TV instead of looking for the answers, that’s a choice. NO.

Each person fills in the blank. Most people fill it in with No. They choose sex, money, food, pride, power, leisure, self instead.
 
Non Catholic Christians have to follow the commandments as well, just some believe they don’t.

Being a Catholic is reasurring as you know 100% that if you die in a state of grace, you will be saved. We can only pray and hope for non Catholics to be saved; God decides, but they can never have any degree of certainty.
 
Reepicheep said:
It is not harder for a Catholic to enter Heaven. It is* easier*. :extrahappy:
We have the help of Mother Church, who teaches us the fullness of the truth.:dancing:
We have the help of the Sacraments, which fill us with Grace, and strengthen us to live as God wants us to live.:knight1:

Edit: Hey, these smilies are fun.😃
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nicely put…😉
how about some seriousness Reepicheep:flowers:
 
Shin said:
I will quote some dogmas:

The Sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation to those who, after Baptism fall into grievous sin. (De Fide)

Perfect contrition bestows the grace of justification on the mortal sinner even before the actual reception of the Sacrament of Penance. (Sent. fidei proxima)

Extra-sacramental justification is effected by perfect sorrow only when it is associated with the desire for the Sacrament. (De fide.)
  • Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma
So, it’s something extraordinary that has to happen for someone to come out of mortal sin who is not Catholic. In other words, deus ex machina, an act of God.
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Is that what a Protestant means when they say they are saved by faith? That they have faith that the act of God will happen?
 
As a perennialist, I would like to share my view on this.

The Catholic Church is the One True Church because it teaches the catholic (universal) Faith, believed, as St. Vincent said, by all people, at all times, in all places. This is why we find some aspects of Catholic truth in even some false religions. Since all truth is inspired by the Holy Ghost, in a certain sense all valid religious traditions are, in some sense, true. God is the Author of all that is good and true.

That being said, the fact that some religions contain truth does not make them sufficient to be united to the Most Holy Trinity in Paradise. Only true faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ offers the graces necessary to aspire to this invitation, eternal beatitude in Heaven. Without Christ to guide you, and the sacraments to nourish you, people soon get lost and starve on the journey, for the little pieces of the sacred Tradition they do hold are not enough. When we as Catholic state we believe some are save outside the Church, it is because they held onto those few parts of the catholic faith they had, found completely only in the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church with its abundant grace was able to save them. The false religions, even with some truth, can never bring them to their final desitination. The benefits of sacred Tradition can be enjoyed only by those who hold it in full.

We must also observe that while people in other traditions may possibly be saved, we must also admit this is exceedingly rare. The chance that a person could avoid serious sin, survive on the few graces they can receive in natural faith, and follow the universal Faith without any guidance is so improbable as to assume it does not often occur.

We pray, therefore, that those who are currently living on crumbs of grace find the True Faith, and be invited to the overwhelming feast of Grace we have available to them! May all those invited come to the table!
 
Shin said:
I will quote some dogmas:

The Sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation to those who, after Baptism fall into grievous sin. (De Fide)

Perfect contrition bestows the grace of justification on the mortal sinner even before the actual reception of the Sacrament of Penance. (Sent. fidei proxima)

Extra-sacramental justification is effected by perfect sorrow only when it is associated with the desire for the Sacrament. (De fide.)
  • Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma
So, it’s something extraordinary that has to happen for someone to come out of mortal sin who is not Catholic. In other words, deus ex machina, an act of God.

Catholic or not Catholic, if you are in mortal sin, and die, you go to Hell, that too is a dogma. So something has to happen before you die, some kind of miracle of grace if you’re outside the Church, or inside and not yet contrite.

So for people who live in mortal sin, one generally has to hope that they have reduced the actual act to venial despite the grave matter, and/or that their ignorance is venial.

People go to Heaven or Hell based upon the will of their lives and the judgement of God. If their life is a choice of a mortal sin instead of looking to find God, one cannot expect anything because the purpose of life is: Choose God: Yes/No.

We’re not here for any other reason, not for TV, not for medical advances, not for wealth, not for power. That’s not why we’re here. Choose that you make a grave mistake.

Every time a person chooses to go visit his girlfriend for the night instead of doing something for God, that’s a choice right there. The choice of NO. Each time a person flips on the TV instead of looking for the answers, that’s a choice. NO.

Each person fills in the blank. Most people fill it in with No. They choose sex, money, food, pride, power, leisure, self instead.
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Enjoying the good things in life like a glass of wine or a nice steak or a good movie isn’t necessarily contrary to the Faith. It’s a disordered desire of these goods that’s the problem.
 
Jacafamala said:
Enjoying the good things in life like a glass of wine or a nice steak or a good movie isn’t necessarily contrary to the Faith. It’s a disordered desire of these goods that’s the problem.
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This is true. 😃 However near all people who think the don’t have disordered for desires for these goods actually do. They cannot, actually, give them up for the long term without distress. They are in fact, actually enslaved by the need.

And in fact, the saints love mortification rather than sensual pleasures! And seek after these instead. Sensual pleasures do nothing for the next life, there is no real merit in them – they are in that sense a waste of time, though necessary perhaps to a degree for health. But mortification, suffering for Christ raises your soul the higher in Heaven, and aids all mankind with the merit of it.

The entire world really needs some rehab and detox from. . . the world. A cold clear cell in a monastery retreat. . . for several weeks at least. With very little. Very very little.

‘If you distract your intellect from its love for God and concentrate it, not on God, but on some sensible object, you thereby show that you value the body more than the soul and the things made by God more than God Himself.’

‘Almost every sin is committed for the sake of sensual pleasure; and sensual pleasure is overcome by hardship and distress arising either voluntarily from repentance, or else involuntarily as a result of some salutary and providential reversal. “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged; but when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, so that we should not be condemned with the world.” (1 Cor. 11:31-32).’

St. Maximos the Confessor

‘All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.’

St. Thalassios the Libyan
 
Jacafamala said:
Enjoying the good things in life like a glass of wine or a nice steak or a good movie isn’t necessarily contrary to the Faith. It’s a disordered desire of these goods that’s the problem.
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And it’s not that it’s easier or harder across the board - it’s the big obedience thing. We have more rules than they do and interpret them more strictly and conservatively. God expects more of us because we know and understand what’s right. And he will sometimes allow us to be tested at a higher level to be sure we’re firm in our Faith. Ever notice that at a time when you feel particularly close to God, somebody comes along and wants you to skip Mass and play golf on Sunday? At the same time, though, we have access to tremendous graces – it would probably be easier if we were to take advantage of all of those graces that He makes available to us. Often we are too busy in the world to take time to open the door to those opportunities.

Nothing wrong with a good glass of wine, just had a good steak, and since they are gifts from God, I will now have the strength to plow through my work day and give Him thanks!

Love & prayers,:signofcross:
Kak
 
Why is it that because we are taught as catholics to discern our sin by the Commandments of God, people think it’s harder for us than it is for them?
I belive that the poster who said it’s easier because we have the Church is correct. We have a guide to help us. Our Church teaches us from the time we can learn what it is to be catholic and live by God’s will.
**No, we are not free to sin but we are not bound by our sin, no Christian is. **
So what is it that makes people believe it’s harder? We have the same Commandments as everone else. :o
HC
 
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