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Bible verses
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 6:18 am
by Meema
I just recently attended a funeral service that was held in a nondenominational church. The pastor quoted John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life; he DOES NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT, but has passed from death into life.” I was shocked to see this exact passage in my Catholic bible (RSV-CE). As a cradle Catholic, educated in a Catholic school, we were taught to believe in a judgment day, and the possibility of time in purgatory to atone for venial sins and be in a state of grace to get into Heaven. Mortal sinners and non-believers would be condemned to eternal life in Hell. Is there something I’m missing? Just believe in Jesus to go straight to Heaven?? I’m sure Steve Ray would have a valid eplanation. I’m an elderly lady (a grandmother), and I’m actually quite confused by this sentence… it’s misleading.
Re: Bible verses
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:52 am
by Peetem
It is the Catholic knowledge of what constitutes the word "belief."
It includes more than just an intellectual understanding that Jesus is the savior and that we need Him for Salvation. It includes all that He taught and the Church that He left us to provide His means of achieving salvation (e.g., through the sacraments - which He also taught).
Re: Bible verses
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:56 am
by Peetem
Examples:
1) Jesus said we must be born again through water (Baptism) and the Spirit.
2) He also as said we must eat his body and drink his blood or we have no life within us (Eucharist).
Peter, Paul and the other Apostles provided additional clarity from His teachings, which we know many were not included specifically in the scriptures (e.g., John 21:25 - King James Bible - "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."
Re: Bible verses
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:23 pm
by gherkin
Meema wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 6:18 am
I just recently attended a funeral service that was held in a nondenominational church. The pastor quoted John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life; he DOES NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT, but has passed from death into life.” I was shocked to see this exact passage in my Catholic bible (RSV-CE). As a cradle Catholic, educated in a Catholic school, we were taught to believe in a judgment day, and the possibility of time in purgatory to atone for venial sins and be in a state of grace to get into Heaven. Mortal sinners and non-believers would be condemned to eternal life in Hell. Is there something I’m missing? Just believe in Jesus to go straight to Heaven?? I’m sure Steve Ray would have a valid eplanation. I’m an elderly lady (a grandmother), and I’m actually quite confused by this sentence… it’s misleading.
I agree with you...this is one of those cases where the words can be a little misleading. The idea that we will not come into judgment could imply that we will not face a judgment day at all, or it could imply something a little different. Since the New Testament makes abundantly clear that we'll all face judgment (think of our Lord's discussion of the sheep and the goats at Matthew 25:31ff for example), it can't mean that we won't face a judgment day. So what does it mean? More or less that we won't be condemned. Even the very Protestant Amplified Bible understands the passage this way, rendering it "And he does not come into judgment--does not incur sentence of judgment, will not come under condemnation--but he has already passed over out of death into life."