After writing these columns for many years, I am still amazed to hear some in the 40,000 Protestant schisms say: “Be Catholic? I’d rather go to hell.”
That is not a wise conclusion.
We have free will. We will decide where we want our souls to spend eternity. Jesus, thankfully, has provided some guideposts.
“If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you.” is a strong statement on the subject. Did He provide a place where His Body and Blood may be obtained?
The Roman Catholic Communion has provided His Body and Blood to the full believers since The Last Supper. To the first leader of The Only Church He Founded, Jesus said, “Thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” He goes on to say, in Mt. 16: 18-20, that He gives His Church the power to forgive sins and the “keys to Heaven”.
So, we have His injunction, “If yo do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.” And we see that He has provided a place to obtain it. If we ignore His Words on the subject, can we get to Heaven? Can those who say “Be Catholic? I’d rather go to hell.” avoid that fate?
Is it worth taking a risk? When we hear someone saying, or thinking, “Be Catholic? I’d rather go to hell.” we must understand how real that possibility is. And, we must attempt to dissuade them from allegiance to some man-invented schism, human vanity in theological form, that separates them from The Only Church He Founded while reducing, and in some cases eliminating, the possibility of eternal joy.
