Do Catholics go to Heaven?

Pastor Mike Fabarez tackles a tough question regarding Catholicism and heaven.

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About Pastor Mike
Mike Fabarez is the founding pastor of Compass Bible Church in Orange County, CA and has been a pastor for over 30 years. He is committed to clearly communicating and applying God’s word, preaching verse-by-verse through the Bible. Pastor Mike is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Talbot School of Theology (M.A.) and Westminster Theological Seminary in California (D.Min.). Mike and his family reside in Laguna Hills, CA.

About Focal Point Ministries
Focal Point Radio Ministries, Inc. is the Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Mike Fabarez. Since 1998 Focal Point has been exploring and proclaiming the depths of Scripture on the radio, online, and in print. Focal Point’s primary medium is a daily radio broadcast on over 800 outlets across the United States and internationally on the web. Millions of people are reached through the broadcast and online.

#bible #bibleanswers #pastor #christian #salvation #catholic #catholicism #catholicchurch #heaven

[SonOfThineHandmaid]

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[justfromcatholic]

Pastor Mike, let's examine the difference between Catholic and Protestant on justification and which one is scriptural:

1. Is justification by faith alone and declarative (according to the Reformers) or is it on-going and transformative (according to the Catholic Church)?

The Reformers taught that justification is by faith alone through which believers are declared as righteous by faith but remain unrighteous. Sanctification is distinguished from justification but inseparable.
The Catholic Church, on the other hand teaches that justification is on-going through which we are made righteous by grace – we do not and cannot become self-righteous by ourselves. Because it is on-going sanctification is part of justification.

Which one is scriptural?

The phrase "justified by faith" appears four times in New Testament (Rom. 3:28, 5:1, Gal. 2:16, 3:24). New Testament was written in Greek and the one in Rom. 3:28 is in Greek passive present tense while the rest are in Greek passive aorist tense. Both tenses do not indicate once for all justification. If Scripture teaches faith-alone justification, then the Holy Spirit would inspire Paul to write the phrase "justified by faith" in Greek passive perfect tense. Scripture says God saves us or we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) and through sanctification (2 Th. 2:13). Salvation, according to Scripture, is therefore a process as it includes faith and sanctification – and so is justification. Rom. 8:30 says: “And those whom he predestined he [God] also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Sanctification, being also the work of God (1 Th. 5:23), is not mentioned in Rom. 8:30, unless it is part of being justified, as taught by the Catholic Church.

2. Does justification imply double imputation as taught by the Reformers or does it imply infusion as taught by the Catholic Church?

Double imputation means an exchange between believers and Christ through faith alone. Believers get Christ’ righteousness as if it were theirs and Christ got believers’ entire sins (past, present, and future) as if those sins were His or as if He were the One who commits those sins. Believers are justified/righteous and sinners at the same time.

Infusion means we are made righteous - our sins (past, present, and future) must be forgiven and washed away. We cannot be righteous and sinners at the same time.

Which one is scriptural?

Scripture says in Rom. 5:19 that we are made righteous through Christ. Scripture denies double imputation in Eze. 18:20: “The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Is being made righteous necessary for our salvation? Scripture says death is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23) and the soul that sins shall die (Eze. 18:4). It is righteousness that delivers from death (Pro. 10:2, 11:4). “Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live” (Pro. 11:19). “In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death” (Pro. 12:28). Jesus said in Mat. 25:46 that the righteous shall go to eternal life.

Scripture says in Eze. 33:13 that denies we can be both righteous and sinner at the same time: “Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.” Nobody can avoid sinning, what a sinner must do is stated in Eze. 33:14-16, that is, he must turn from sin (repent) and must do what is just and right, to be back to life.

[toddvoss]

Saying that baptismal regeneration is some sort of "work" impinging on Grace is to very badly misunderstand it. Do you have the same concerns for Lutherans?

[cheryl]

Sola Scriptura is unbiblical. Sola Scriptura is divisive and causes confusion as everyone gets to interpret the Bible for themselves. The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim 3:15). The Church Jesus founded and gave authority to (Matt 16:17-19).

[pepitodetijuas]

The Church had 1500 years, explain this to me .

[brandonmason]

What exactly do you think the Catholic Church teaches that is contradictory to Scripture?

[randycarson]

*PASTOR MIKE'S ERRORS CONCERNING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH EXPOSED*
_Is this mere ignorance or intentional misleading?_

*TL;DR*

*Here's the take-away "money quote":*

*Pastor Mike sez: "Let's use the scripture as our constitution." Great analogy. Who is the Supreme Court that interprets the constitution, Mike?*

NOTE: I wrote the following while listening to the video. I apologize for not having time stamps, but it would take too long to go back to get them.

Point #1: It would also be true that there may be a difference between what the Protestant Church teaches and what is in the heart of the individual Protestant. This is not unique to Catholicism.

Point #2: Pastor Mike said, "the baptism of a baby washes away mortal sin - those aren't my words, those are the words of the Catholic Church." Wrong. Those ARE your words and NOT those of the Catholic Church. Babies cannot commit sin, mortal or otherwise. If you want to speak against the Catholic Church, it would be helpful if you knew what the Church actually teaches before spreading false information.

Point #3: "The action [of baptism] saves you." What does scripture say? "..baptism now saves you…" (1 Peter 3:21)

Point #4: The sacraments do not convey righteousness. In Catholic theology, the sacraments are understood to convey grace rather than righteousness.

Point #5: (3:16) "Then you're not a very good Catholic." The difference is that those who are not very good Methodists or Baptists leave YOUR church and go church-shopping until they find one that agrees with what they believe. Or they start a new church or denomination.

Point#6: And if you don't agree with the lies that are being told by Protestant pastors about the Catholic Church and you do believe in the scriptural and historical evidence that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus, then we'd invite you to join RCIA and learn more. Maybe you will join us.

Point #7: God's paradigm for conveying His word to His people is: 1) scripture, 2) oral teaching (prophets and apostles) and 3) teaching authority for interepretation. Protestants are hamstrung by having scripture alone.

Point #8: Protestant pastors and seminary professors are POURING into the Catholic Church. The Coming Home Network is a ministry set up specifically to help pastors make the transition. Check out their website to see the testimonies of these brave men and women. Knowledgeable Protestants become Catholics, ignorant Catholics become Protestants (and some eventually revert).

Point#9: The captain of the ship established by Jesus is the successor of Peter. Protestantism is a flotilla of small rafts tossed about by every wind and wave of doctrine.

Point #10: Catholic doctrine develops but it does not reverse or contradict was has been taught in the past. Fact.

Point #11: The Catholic view of salvation is not disinct from scripture; it differs with YOUR flawed interpretation of scripture and there are YouTube videos from *former pastors and seminary professors* explaining the errors of Protestant theology.

*Point #12: "Let's use the scripture as our constitution." Great analogy. Who is the Supreme Court that interprets the constitution, Mike? That pretty much sums up the Achilles Heel of Protestantism. Thank you.*

Point #13: The authority comes from God's word: scripture and tradition. Not the Bible Alone. The Bible does not teach _sola scriptura_ which is a self-refuting tradition of men.

Point #14: The Bible came from the Church; the Church did not come from the Bible. That is why scripture says the Church, not the Bible, is "the pillar and foundation of the truth." (1 Tim 3:15)

Point #15: God granted authority to Peter in Mt. 16:19 when Jesus named Peter the steward of His Church and gave Peter the keys.

Point #16: You object to "two authorities", etc. Ironically, this is WHY the Catholic Church maintains that the ONE authority is not a book, but the Church.

LOL. Yeah, we feel the love. Thanks.

[Marcus-ljlc]

The Catholic Church is the fullness of the Truth passed on by the Apostles. Protestantism has partial truths passed on by Martin Luther who didn’t understand the 1500 year old Traditions and decided he was gonna make his own way.

[CantStopTheMattWalsh]

It's unfortunate they don't see the self-defeating and contradictory nature of the man-made doctrine of sola scriptura.

In order for sola scriptura to be true, there would need to be an intra-scriptural reference as to how many, and which books, constitue the canon of scripture. Otherwise, how do we know we have the correct books, and/or the correct number of books? However, we all know there is no intra-scriptural reference like that. This would mean that one would have to appeal to an authority that is outside of scripture to determine the canon. This very appeal to an extra-scriptural authority defeats the doctrine altogether.

However, for the sake of argument, let's set aside that logically airtight proof against sola scriptura.

Another reason sola scriptura is false is because scripture can't be the "sole infallible rule of faith." This is due to the fact that scripture is simply a medium by which information is conveyed. Information has been encoded by God in the form of writing, and all Christians (whether Catholic or Protestant) would agree these writings are infallible. This infallibly encoded information must then be decoded. The issue with sola scriptura is that it ends up placing the individual's self-interpretation of scripture as the final authority, not scripture. This is why we see so many denominations and so much church hopping within the non-Catholic sphere of Christianity. Everyone is just searching for "their truth" and for a church that will interpret scripture the way they want it to be interpreted. Sola scriptura encourages a "what I want to believe" mindset when approaching your faith.

Catholicism, on the other hand, encourages a "what I ought to believe" mindset when approaching your faith. It asks its faithful to have a submission of will and an ascent of faith.

Now, I'll leave it up to anyone reading this to decide if a "what I want to believe" or a "what I ought to believe" mindset is more Christ-like, but I think most people already know the answer.

If you're a Protestant reading this, come back home. Have that submission of will and ascent of faith that Christ calls us to have.

[abudukhan]

Apostle Paul said I have run the race .I have fought a good fight

[pepitodetijuas]

All things The Catholic church belives is in the Bible, The Trinity, The Eucharist o no Jesús was just Joking.

[cheryl]

Speaking in love. Would you say that having an inerrant Bible without an infallible translation would defeat the purpose of an infallible Bible? What has been the fruit of Sola Scriptura? Thousands of different denominations all interpreting the Bible in varying ways.
Protestants say Bible only, and yet they ignore what the Bible says. Jesus did give authority to the leaders in the Church, particularly Peter, and He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church (Matt 16:17-19). The council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 demonstrates a decision-making process within the early Christian community where there was an authority to make decisions that were binding for the entire Christian community. Paul says the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim 3:15). God provides grace through His sacraments. It is all God's work, not ours.
Baptism - Jesus said we must be born of water and of the Spirit. Peter 3:21 shows that water baptism saves. In Acts 2:38-39, Peter shows the connection between water baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit.
"So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:41, ESV)
Babies are baptized into the Catholic Church because this is how we receive entrance into the Kingdom of God.
Confirmation - Involves receiving the Holy Spirit, which is done at the time of Baptism for those who were not baptized as Babies or are too young to understand. For those baptized as babies or young children, it is a time to confirm that they want to continue in the Christian faith.
Eucharist- Jesus initiated this, declaring the bread and wine to be His body and blood and to continue to celebrate in remembrance of Him.
This Scripture shows the importance of partaking in the Eucharist. - "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.'" (John 6:53-56, ESV)
"On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?'" (John 6:60, NIV)
"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." (John 6:66, NIV)
Probably no protestant has bothered to read this far, but I will add reconciliation, which is under the healing sacraments because I have heard many non-Catholics say only God can forgive. - After Jesus' resurrection, when he appears to his disciples, he commissions them for their ministry. Jesus says: "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." John 20:21-23
The Bible supports the Catholic Church’s teaching that these sacraments affect our salvation. The Catholic Church also recognizes the possibility of salvation for those who, through no fault of their own, do not have access to the sacraments but live according to the light of their conscience.


Pray God will lead you to all truth, as He promised He would do for His Church leaders in John 16:13.

Many Blessing

[abudukhan]

Blessed Joseph.Holy Mother Mary and the Child Jesus

[abudukhan]

Our Holy Blessed Mother worked tirelessly to earn the position of Mother of the Catholic and Apostolic Church.

[DjNC]

If somebody brings another gospel let them be anathema....the church has taught the same gospel for 1500 years. Who brought a new gospel is the question?
And now theres many new gospels on almost every street....I wonder where that came from?
"Faith alone" appears one time in the bible that is James 2:24 New International Version this is what it says -
You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

Martin luther did not like this😂

[abudukhan]

Any one who does not believe and obey the Teachings and Tradition of the Apostle s and the Church Father s is Hello bound

[abudukhan]

Believing confessing our sins to our Lord and. be saved from damnation is not an absolute path to heaven's

[abudukhan]

Pray to Blessed Mother for forgiveness of Sins

[hectornavichoque]

Your more informed then most protests, you should debate salvation with Trent horn

[abudukhan]

Listen I am commenting from the Catholic Comminiom from the Continent of Africa.