I believe Jesus died for all of man's sins, BUT... by Randy Hillebrand

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.

article only in its entirety and without additions or deletions.