Modern moralism preaches that, if you want to go to Heaven, it’s important to try to be basically a good person. Jesus Christ preaches something altogether different.
First, the “basically a good person” morality ignores the necessity of following Jesus. Christ’s message is simple: we were created to know, to love, and to serve God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Him. Alienated from God by sin (our own and others’), we’re unable to achieve real and lasting fulfillment and joy on our own. Jesus Christ is the solution to this problem. He truly is God in the world, the true God taking on our humanity. In this way, Jesus invites us into communion by which we can be reunited with God the Father. Or as Jesus puts it in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.”
But the second way that the “basically a good person” mantra gets things wrong is in that word “basically.” We can so easily fall into a halfhearted attempt at truth, goodness, and beauty. And Christians aren’t exempt from this: we might give God an hour a week, but then we’re right back to sinning and ignoring Him. Not good enough, says Jesus. The First Great Commandment, as Jesus tells us, is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). There’s no room to half-@$$ these things. Jesus presents a pair of parables in Luke 14:26-33 in which He makes this point vividly:
If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish.’
Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace. So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
The Christian life isn’t easy, and spiritual warfare is intense. It’s not for nothing that Christ compares it to being out-matched 2-1 in that second parable. But it’s precisely because it’s difficult that we can’t simply coast.
Jesus offers to share eternal glory with us in Heaven, and promises to give our hearts the peace and joy they’re desperately searching for, but the condition is that we have to give Him those hearts, and we have to give Him those hearts entirely. The stupidest thing we can do, then, is to give half of ourselves to Christ. We already know what He’ll say to that sort of halfhearted gift: “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). Just as no wife is going to be content with her husband mostly not cheating on her, God isn’t content with us being mostly faithful.
Where are the areas in which we’re most likely to stray from God? Jesus points to two: relationships and possessions. So we should do a prayerful and searching inventory, to find those areas in which we’re not all in. For example:
- Do my retirement plans draw me away from God? Are we like the man who trusted in his own financial planning, rather than the goodness of God (Luke 12:13-21)? We should take seriously the warning against “he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Lk. 13:21).
- Does my smartphone draw me away from God? Is it distracting me from times of prayer? Does it lead me into sin?
- Do my relationships draw me away from God? These might be sinful relationships, relationships with people who bring out the worst in us, or simply holding onto jealousies and grudges and unforgiveness when those things arise in relationships.
- Do my past sins draw me away from God? Sometimes, the hardest thing to give God is our past, with all of its sins and failings. In this way, we can turn our sins into a possession that we’re not willing and let go of.
Jesus reminds us of the stakes, and instructs us that (Matt. 5:29-30):
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Fortunately, our bodies aren’t the problem. But it may be that you have to decide between entering Heaven without your smartphone or 401(k), or following your smartphone and 401(k) into hell.
If you find it difficult to give God everything, that’s normal. The Christian life is largely our battle with ourselves (and with the powers of evil), to give ourselves ever-anew to God. There’s a difference between trying to give God everything and failing, and giving Him less than everything.
But if you’re ready to give God everything, I recommend this prayer by St. Ignatius of Loyola (whose feast day is today), called the Suscipe:
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.Amen.
Excellent.
Excellent article Joe. The Suscipe is one of my favorite prayers in the morning. When I first started praying it I found it incredibly difficult to say it and mean it. It took several years of effort for me to recite this prayer without being afraid that I would lose everything.
About a year ago, I started suffering several different neurological problems requiring multiple doctors and appointments. Despite these physical problems and the uncertainty I currently face, I have never felt so peaceful in my life. Praying the Suscipe in the mornings and really meaning it has been a source of incredible strength for me and my family during this difficult time. Thank you such a well written article.
“Do my retirement plans draw me away from God?”
This always bother me, because I have not heard it said from anyone other than Jesus to not care about it and just give it all up. I always felt that I am robbing God by even spending more money than I should of food. So, is the problem not so much with saving but with spending? The Didache says, “Let your donation sweat in your hand until you know where to give it.” Isn’t the Christian life ascesis and self-denial? Could saving be part of this?
You’re theologically trained, I am asking you!
Hi Craig,
In the ancient world people owned their farm land, flocks of cattle, camels and sheep; and boats, nets and lines for fishing, etc… Land and capital assets were always been needed for business and making a living. But in our modern age many people don’t need land to farm or boats to fish with. And modern governments apply taxes on things such as houses, transportation costs and many other things necessary for modern survival. So, it’s really hard to compare the way of life in the ancient world to our present economic realities. Today, it is necessary to plan for your future, because the government can take your already paid for house from you if you con’t pay your property tax. Back in ancient Israel they only need to worry about the Philistines, Assyrians, Romans or Babylonians taking their houses and land away. So, I wouldn’t worry too much about saving money for the future. It’s a necessity of modern life, and the government really doesn’t want you living on the streets like they do here in San Francisco and Portland Oregon.
It’s probably best to just figure out how to use money as wisely as possible and also for the purpose of bringing others into the kingdom of God.
There’s a Catholic saint named St. John Bosco who helped poor street kids in Turin Italy in the mid to late 1800’s. Someone asked him why he always begged for money to support about 1000+ youth in his oratory that he had built to house and teach them. He was asked by this person why he wasn’t more like St. Francis who wouldn’t even touch money. And John Bosco answere: “Do you see that water faucet over there? If it was pouring out gold day and night it still wouldn’t be enough for me. I would start Oratories all over the face of the Earth.
So, there are definitely different aspects to consider regarding the use of money. And Jesus Himself talks about investing talents wisely and not just burying them in the ground.
Best to you always.
The lives of the saints give us multiple examples. We have kings, we have ascetics, we have those who give up everything of a financial nature, and we have that those that don’t. I guess the main thing is we definitely have less rich saints than poor ones!
Maybe for us middle class Americans, the question is what size house we buy, what kind of car we drive, do we seek career or do we deliberately sacrifice career in order to do God’s will in some respect?
I appreciate your prayers for me in this respect, as my wife and I are posed with difficulties career-wise (mine is simply difficult, my wife may lose her’s).
God bless,
Craig
Hi Craig,
I sympathize with you about surviving financially in this crazy world. I’ve gone through some similar stress in the last year after the company that pays me was acquired by a venture capital firm, and consequently they have been on average about 3 months late on paying me, with some months receiving nothing, and another …only half of what they owed. They might be ‘cooking the books’ also. But, I’m surviving, and have the possibility of taking them to court for breach of contract. But, then again, lawyers are expensive, and so there are not too many good options.
Regarding balancing evangelization and our work lives, I think the commandments give us some direction. We can work 6 days and give the Lord the Sabbath day, all the while thanking and praising the Lord while we work. And, St. Paul also, made his tents while he was conducting his preaching and teaching missions, so he is also a good example. Moreover, we have the example of the ‘desert fathers’ who lived in the deserts of Egypt in the 4th-6 centuries, but who still labored very hard each day ( some of them almost continually, but praying and meditating at the same time), and participated in the very laborious seasonal harvesting, as most other poor folk did in Egypt back then. So, these saints are also examples of the need to work and labor for our livelihood.
But that you are concerned for these things shows that you greatly love God, because you want to give Him even more than the commandments and the examples of the saints suggest. And that is a very honorable and holy aspiration. I also have the same problem of trying to balance all of my evangelization efforts with the need to bring in future income. I’d prefer to put all of my attention into spreading the ‘Precepts of Christ’, the ‘Lives of the Saints’ and ‘Public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ’ to others as a full time endeavor, but again…like St. Paul…I need to also try to make a normal living and keep paying taxes.
I guess we just need to do our best with whatever the Lord provides for us in the present circumstances, and trust that the Lord will take care of us and the others around us…both spiritually and physically? Though, I’m sure He smiles on us in all of our difficulties, conundrums and absurdities that we face in this land of the living…. even as Jesus, Mary and Joseph had so many of their own difficulties, as we all know…. to deal with in their lives also. Sometimes it seems that the hard times of our lives make our lives the most interesting and memorable….even as we find with old soldiers who love telling old battle tales?
But, I pray that God takes care of you and your family, and I’ll keep praying for you and your intentions that you mentioned.
Best to you always in the Lord,
– Al
How can I give God everything when He already owns it all anyway?
He doesn’t own the free will He provided you to love or hate Him. Everything else emanates from this.
What if you neither love nor hate him?
The article says, “Modern moralism preaches that, if you want to go to Heaven, it’s important to try to be basically a good person”.
Answer: That is EXACTLY what your catechism states in CCC 16. “Right conduct” gets you to heaven. That is a false gospel, so whodoya think yer kiddin’? What a great day it was when I kissed the Pope good-by FOREVER.
You overlooked the part about grace: “16 The third part of the Catechism deals with the final end of man created in the image of God: beatitude, and the ways of reaching it – through right conduct freely chosen, with the help of God’s law and grace (Section One), and through conduct that fulfils the twofold commandment of charity, specified in God’s Ten Commandments (Section Two)”. Doesn’t freely choosing wrong conduct require rejection of God’s grace, and don’t you think continued pursuit of wrong conduct leads you down of path that will likely result in final rejection of God’s grace?
John….I haven’t missed anything about “God’s grace”. Per #16, Catholics are trying to be saved by a poisonous mixture of God’s law and grace, but that is not the gospel. It is either we are saved 100% by the mercy he has shown us in the face of Jesus Christ, or we are not saved at all. We read that those who try to be saved by God’s law are under a curse. I trust you know the verse?
The catechism uses this same faulty reasoning in 1821, saying that with God’s grace, the good works we do have the power to open heaven’s gate. That too is a lie and “another gospel” per 2 Cor 11:4. Here you will notice that the RCC defines grace as not the unmerited favor of God, but some sort of metaphysical “shot-in-the-arm” which the Holy Spirit injects into us so that we will then run around and do good works which merit heaven. But Scripture emphatically denies this per Titus 3:5.
Catechism 1821: “We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere ‘to the end; and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. …” (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P66.HTM). For clarity, try reading Chapter 3, Article 2, II “Grace”, (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P6Z.HTM). Catechism 1996: “Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.” I’ve read a lot of Catholic theology and its quite clear that it’s all grace start to finish, grace from stirring the inklings of faith through conversion in charity and its performance of good works to final perseverance. God’s grace opens the gate to heaven and it’s by His grace that we are able to walk at all, but God is also a gentleman and won’t make us walk through.
As to works, Catholics agree with Titus 3:5 (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__P11D.HTM). No one can work their way into heaven. Nevertheless, as James clearly indicates, faith without works is dead (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__P11W.HTM). Jesus himself distinguishes works done to be seen as hypocrisy, but also clearly gives doing good works and living the gospel message a high place in His own ministry and in His parables/teaching. Mat 19:16-17: “Now someone approached him and said, ‘Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?’ He answered him, ‘Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.'”
It seems you’re the one seduced by someone preaching another gospel as Paul warned about in 2 Cor 11. As a Catholic, I have no problem with Titus 3:4-8, “But when the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life. This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these points, that those who have believed in God be careful to devote themselves to good works; these are excellent and beneficial to others.” (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__P11D.HTM). James in Chapter 2 is quite explicit that faith without works is dead (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__P11W.HTM).
Mat 19:16-17, “Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?’ He answered him, ‘Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.'” (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PVS.HTM). In the case of the rich young man, Jesus further tells him sell all he has and follow Him at which point his possessions become a stumbling block. Jesus insists on faith, but also insists that you must be a doer and not just a hearer.
Catechism 1821: “We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere ‘to the end’ and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. …” I’ve read a lot of Catholic theology and all is attributed to grace, from the initial inklings of faith through the conversion in charity and its good works through final perseverance. It’s God’s grace that opens the gate to heaven and its by God’s grace that we have the ability to walk, but He won’t make us walk through the gate. For clarity try catechism section on grace (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P6Z.HTM) Catechism 1996 “Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life”
When the rich young man asked Jesus what he needed to do to gain eternal life, Jesus first told him to keep the commandments. When further asked what he needed to do to be perfect, Jesus told him to sell all he had, give it to the poor and follow Him. Methinks you are the victim of the false teachers Paul warned about. The Church has always taught that we are saved by unmerited grace from start to finish, from the initial inklings of faith, through conversion of heart and its works of charity to final perseverance. Works are not optional. Jesus preached often on the theme of working and bearing fruit as a discriminator. James says faith without works is DEAD. There is no false dichotomy that excludes works. It’s both/and.
Good article Joe!
We do tend to compartmentalize too much – “This much for you God, but I’ll be busy the rest of the week.” Or maybe after morning prayers, “OK God, now I’m pushing you to the back part of my brain (at least until Angelus time)”.
Perhaps we compartmentalize God and put him in a time and place slot because we’ve been trained to do that through 16 plus years of “schooling”. That makes a great consumer society.
I’m starting to think a little more education, and a little less schooling, will bring about the good vision you have here Joe.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God may our Savior save us – all!
Oregon / Rick
It’s not too difficult to understand: Christ promised eternal life to all who believe in him. He spelled out what those who believe in Him must do. If we don’t do those things, we don’t believe in Him, even if we claim we do.
“This people worships me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
“For as much as you did not unto one of these my brothers, you did it not unto me.
Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I know you not.”
“Narrow is the gate and few are they who find it.”
God help us to do so.
Their is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. Jesus is the gate and the Church is the wall or fence. You must go through Him and His Church in order to be saved. You must have faith/believe in Him, be baptize, do His will, be without mortal sin when you past away, do good works and eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood.
I’m sorry to tell you Mr. Glackin that the Grace of God, the ministrations of His Son and His angels have been shared out among innumerable non-Roman Catholic believers. They have healed, raised the dead, cast out demons and one all the things that Christ said that those who believe in him would do.
There is the proof that you are wrong. There is no better, no higher proof than that, and nothing you can present will stand comparison to those facts.
He did also say that those things would not be sufficient for salvation unless we also fed the hungry and the thirsty and ministered to the imprisoned (and that might well be taken to mean those imprisoned mentally and spiritually as well as materially) So yes, “good works” of a high standard are certainly required!
“Be without mortal sin when you pass away”. Who is without sin? Do you mean I need a RC priest to tell me all my sins are forgiven and “poof” they are magically erased? But what if there isn’t a priest nearby when one dies? In that case, tough luck, one’s sins remain?
Do you really think that makes any sense? Do you really think that is God’s will?
Christ did not say that the bread and wine change into his body miraculously, at least I have never tasted blood or flesh when taking communion; have you?
And how do you know this? You have access to the Internet. Listen to the testimonies yourself.
But you might have to admit you are wrong; at least you can say you were misled – or was it just easier to allow yourself to be?
I suspect He takes a dim view of spiritual laziness – what are the “lukewarm” if not lazy?
But what if there isn’t a priest nearby when one dies? In that case, tough luck, one’s sins remain?
at least I have never tasted blood or flesh when taking communion; have you?
Catholics don’t believe either of these things. It’s basic stuff.