Some of my protestant friends have been asking me if I can be absolutely sure that I'm going to go to heaven - if I'm "saved". How should I respond?
Certain protestant denominations believe that if you say "the sinner's prayer", accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior - and you mean it - that you are "born again" and cannot lose your soul.
In other words if a person prays the sinners prayer when he is 10, is a "teen apostle" to all of his friends, becomes a pastor, and when he is 65 leaves his job, becomes a pimp, burns insects with a magnifying glass, rips the "do not remove under penalty of law" tag from all of the mattresses in JC Penny, is shot during a crack deal gone bad, and dies without repenting of his sin, he'll still go to heaven…all because he accepted Jesus into his life when he was 10. Hmmmm - doesn't something deep down tell you that just couldn't be right?
I'm sure your friends are well intentioned, God-loving people but this view is totally UNscriptural (unless you take verses completely out of context).
Below are just a few of the scriptures that explain what we believe:
" Matthew 24:13: "The man who holds out to the end, however, is the one who will see salvation."
" 2 Tim 2:12-13: "If we hold out to the end we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us."
" Rom 11:22: "See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off."
So scripture is pretty dang clear that you have to persevere in the Faith until "the end".
If we die in the "state of grace" (i.e., with Jesus as our Lord and Savior/in the friendship of God) we will go to heaven. If we die outside of the state of Grace (having chosen to reject Christ through un-repented mortal sin) we will go to hell…do not pass "go", do not collect $200.
Your friends may argue that the pastor turned pimp/drug dealer in your story was never really "saved" in the first place - otherwise he wouldn't have rejected Jesus.
(Side note: ...so in the end your protestant friends would agree with us that we can't know for sure if a person is going to heaven or hell until he is dead...)
If that theory were true then we'd all be "Christian robots" who have no choice but to love Jesus forever once we get "saved". The problem with that is that love is a choice. We need free will to make a choice! If we loose our ability to reject Jesus then we've also lost our ability to truly love Him.
God will never force us to love him any more than a man would force a woman to love him. (He'd end up in jail for that!) It is precisely because He loves us and wants us to love him back that God will let us reject him through our actions at any time we choose to...so we have to take our choices seriously - take repentance seriously - and take the mercy of God seriously "until the end" (Matthew 24:13).
Jesus is THE Answer!
Chris Stefanick
(Originally posted on the Diocese of La Crosse youth ministry page.)
Why do Catholics pray to the saints and Mary when the bible says not to contact the dead?
The Catholic Church has always taught that it is wrong to conjure the spirits of the dead (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2116-2117 which sites Deuteronomy 18:10 and Jeremiah 29:8).
The catch is that the Saints of God aren't dead. In fact, they couldn't be any more alive! When the Church canonizes a saint that is a proclamation that this person lived, and still lives in God, and that we should look to him/her for an example in following Jesus (1 Corinthians 4:16: "I urge you to imitate me." - St. Paul). We can ask the living on this earth to pray to God for us, and we can ask the living in heaven to do the same. That is a far cry from witchcraft, conjuring spirits, and communing with the dead.
In Mathew 17:1-6 we see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Deuteronomy 34:7 is pretty clear that "Moses died". Although he had gone through death, Moses was far from dead. He was alive in God. When we talk to saints, we are doing what Jesus did in Matthew 17.
God has brought us into a beautiful and living family. He is our Father, Mary is our spiritual mom, and the saints are our big brothers and sisters who provide us an example and who are there to pray for us. That is great news to me. I'll take all the help I can get!
Jesus is THE Answer!
Chris Stefanick
(Originally posted on the Diocese of La Crosse youth ministry page.)
If God is forgiving is there really a Hell?
Jesus was very clear that hell is a real place and that there are people in it (Matthew 5:29, Matthew 25:41-46, and Luke 16:23 - to name just a few places). That doesn't mean that God lacks mercy and love - but it does mean that not everyone wants that mercy and love. Although God wants everyone in heaven (See 2 Peter 3:9.) he will not force an eternity with Himself on someone who has chosen to be apart from Him - any more than a man would force a woman he loves to marry him.
That may lead to another question, "Who the heck would choose to be in hell forever?!"
Every true joy we experience in this life comes from God (James 1:17) like a rays of sunlight reflecting off of things and hitting us. We get a glimpse of the joyful communion of saints through family and friends. We get a taste of the love of the Trinity by loving one another. We get a glimpse of the vastness of God by looking up at the stars. In heaven, we get the fullness of that "sun" as we soak up God directly for all eternity. In heaven we directly experience The Source of all joy forever.
People in hell haven't necessarily chosen to suffer forever…no sane person would…but by choosing separation from God who is the Source of all goodness, they are separated from all goodness - all happiness, peace, love, and joy - forever.
When we're tempted to a big sin and our love for God isn't enough to motivate us to do the right thing - a healthy fear of hell is a good second! We have to remember that our choices have eternal repercussions.
On the flip side - if we do mess up we can't ever lose hope in the mercy of God. No matter how big our sins are His power to forgive is bigger when we turn to him, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Jesus is THE Answer!
Chris Stefanick
(Originally posted on the Diocese of La Crosse youth ministry page.)
How did Mary conceive?
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." - Luke 1:34-35
"Mary…was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit." - Matthew 1:18
A simple outline:
1. It was revealed to Mary through an angel that she would conceive the Son of God.
2. Mary was confused and asked how this could be since she was a virgin.
3. The angel gave her a glimpse of the mystery telling her she would conceive by the "overshadowing" of the Holy Spirit.
4. Still not able to fully grasp it, Mary (a teenage girl at the time) said "yes".
5. God became man in Mary's womb - "and the word was made flesh" (see John 1).
How is this possible? God usually works through the laws of nature which He created, but sometimes He doesn't. He can, and throughout history, He has intervened in nature. That's kind of direct intervention, weather it's a cure from a disease, the parting of the sea, or a conception without sex is what we call a "miracle." Miracles aren't frequent occurrences, but they do happen and they aren't too difficult for God!
As it was with Mary, God needs our "yes" to his sacred mysteries so that we, like Mary, can bring Jesus into this world (though with Mary it was physically bringing God into the world).
Jesus is THE Answer!
Chris Stefanick
