I BELIEVE JESUS DIED FOR ALL OF MAN'S SIN'S, BUT . . .

     I have to do more than just believe that to get to heaven.
That's the purpose of the mass and the sacraments.  According to the
second Vatican Council the mass is "a sacrifice in which the sacrifice
of the cross is perpetuated."1  Here Jesus is "offering himself to the
father for the world's salvation through the ministry of priests."2
And about the sacraments, Vatican II said, "... the very act of
celebrating them most effectively disposes the faithful to receive
this grace to their profit ...."3  So through the mass and sacraments,
my sins are continually paid for.

ARE THEY MY FRIEND?

     Do the mass and sacraments dispense grace to a needy sinner?  Or,
did Jesus really die for ALL of man's sins?  There is no BUT!  One or
the other is true.  I once heard someone say, "All means all, and
that's all all means."  If Jesus Christ died for the sins of ALL men
as the Word of God (the Bible) says He did, then that is exactly what
He did.  So if He died for ALL of man's sins, then there is nothing
left for us to pay for, is there?  We then do not need to have Jesus
continually offered up to the Father by priests for the world's
salvation.  We also then do not need to receive the sacraments with
the benefits they supposedly give us since they, as the mass, would be
of no value since Jesus' death is sufficient. How is it sufficient you
may ask?  It was sufficient in that it covered every man's sin.  You
see, the Catholic Bible tells us that at the cross Jesus died for our
sins, and the exciting part about that is the fact that "salvation is
yours through faith.  This is not your doing, it is God's gift;
neither is it a reward for anything you have accomplished, so let no
one pride himself on it."4  Salvation is a gift of God, it is nothing
that we can do, but it is ours when we accept it by faith.

JUST TOO SIMPLE?

     Not really!  Not if you understand God's love.  You see, sin has
a penalty and the penalty of sin is death, or in other words eternity
in hell.5  But God's love is so great, that "Yes, God so loved the
world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not
die (eternity in hell) but may have eternal life."6  Since every man,
woman and child would have to spend eternity in hell to pay for their
sins, God out of His love sent His Son Jesus to die in their place;
and if we believe in Jesus, we to will have eternal life.  Eternal
life is a free gift for us to accept,7 but as any gift, it is not ours
until we accept it.  So even though Jesus died for ALL men and their
sins, this free gift of eternal life does not become ours until we
accept it.

HOW DO I GET ETERNAL LIFE?

     How?  By transferring the faith that you have in the mass, the
sacraments, yourself or any other thing that you have been trusting in
to get you to heaven to what Jesus has done for you on the cross.  If
you realize that you are a sinner in need of salvation through Jesus,
then go to God in prayer and tell Him that you are transferring your
trust to Jesus as your Saviour from sin.  By doing this with a sincere
heart, you will have eternal life in heaven.

1Flannery, Austin, ed.  Vatican Council II.  Boston:
 St. Paul Editions.  1975.  pg.102.
2Ibid, pg. 103
3Ibid, pg. 20
4Eph. 2:8-9
5Rom. 6:23
6John 3:16
7Rom. 6:23

References taken from New American Catholic Bible.

COPYWRIGHT 1987 by Randall Hillebrand
Anyone is free to use this material
in its complete and original form.
ANY alterations, deletions or additions
to this document violate this agreement!