Please not that this blog post is not yet finished. It is currently in draft form. I'm publishing it before it is finished to get some feedback.

I remember how nervous I felt, early that morning, as I approached Bishop Timothy after Mass. I had never talked to him, and I was still learning about the Catholic faith. He's a tall man, soft spoken, old but not ancient, and unfailingly polite. He was removing his colorful ceremonial Catholic robes to reveal his daily clothes: tan pants with a collared shirt. I summoned some courage, stepped forward, and timidly asked, "Bishop Timothy, may I ask you an odd question?"

"Of course. Odd questions are the best." He smiled at me as he turned to face me and adjusted his collar.

"Am I on my way to heaven?"

His relaxed smile slowly faded and pity filled his eyes. He answered slowly, taking his time, as if he was weighing each word. It was as if he wished to have more time to faithfully answer my question. I honestly do not remember what he said, but there was kindness in his words. He's a good Bishop.

My exploration into the Catholic faith was an anxious time period for me. My Baptist Christian friends had taught me that once you accepted Jesus' free gift of salvation, then you will go to Heaven when you die, no matter what. I built my life on this foundational belief. But lately, I had been attending Catholic OCIA, where all non-Catholics learn about the Catholic faith. Kent, the teacher of my OCIA class, taught me that I could lose my salvation. He explained it like this.

Kent said, "Most married couples sincerely and publicly vowed to love their "spouse in sickness and in health until death do you part", but as we know, not all marriages last. In a similar vein, you can truly mean that you will give your life to Christ in a prayer or at a public ceremony, but in later life, you could act contrary to the Christian faith. You might stop going to church. You might have multiple affairs, lie, cheat, steal, etc. A sincere prayer or public declaration to follow Christ does not guarantee a true or lasting repentance."

"As another example, consider Noah and the ark. Suppose when God told Noah, 'Build me an ark.' What if Noah said, 'No.' Do you suppose the story would have been different? Of course it would have been different! Your actions impact your salvation. This is why Catholics teach a faith plus works salvation. The best definition for salvation is this. 'Salvation is by grace alone, through faith, acting out in works of love' (This definition comes from Scott Hahn's book "Rome Sweet Home", and I encourage you to read it.)"

When I read a book by Christopher West (what book, the leader of Catholic Answers)? He gave another a similar example to explain that salvation could be lost. Suppose that you are journeying on a boat across the ocean, and your ship hits an iceberg and starts to sink. Luckily, a rich man on the boat offers to hire a helicopter to fly you to shore. Everyone on board agrees to wait for the helicopter, and are saved. However, the helicopter takes a long time to arrive. Some of your friends leave the boat and try to swim to shore. Other friends leave the boat on a small inflatable raft. Finally, the helicopter arrives and carries you and the rich man to shore. We know you and the rich man made were saved. Those that left the boat probably may not have made it.

Christopher West encourages you to think of this helicopter as the "recommended stairway to Heaven." We know that this Catholic method for salvation works, so we encourage everyone to climb the official stairway to Heaven. However, God is not bound by this official stairway. He is free to grant salvation by other means. I hope to see my Buddhist friend Norbert in Heaven, but I do not know that he will be there. He pursued virtue in his life, but he denied the divinity of Christ.

It's scary to believe that salvation can be lost. St. Paul says one should "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." In a similar vein, Francis Chan in his book "Amazing Love," wrote about Jesus' parable of the seed landing on rocky soil, weedy soil, and good soil. He wrote something like, "Do not assume that you are a good Christian that is bound for heaven. There are many church-attenders who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. They are not headed for heaven, and if they do not accept Jesus' free gift of salvation, then they will spend eternity in hell."

When Kent convinced me that salvation could be lost, I earnestly began to wrestle with my salvation. Surely I am not the only Christian that does so. Luckily, the Catholic Church has given us a test, so that you can know if you are on your way to heaven! Become Catholic and regularly and worthily consume the Eucharist.

As I was telling my good friend Patrick (link to his youtube channel) about this Catholic test, he encouraged me to tell others that being penitent for your sins is important. Penance and repentance go hand in hand. In some countries, there is no Catholic priest, to which you can confess. Or your priest only comes once in a short while. In those cases it is not practical or possible to regularly consume the Eucharist.

Another heart-warming example is St. Mark Ji Tianxiang. He had a lifelong addiction to opium, and he was barred from receiving the Eucharist for 30 years. He prayed for deliverance from his opium addiction, but it never came. Even so, he continued to go to church, pray, fast, and regularly confess his sins. He was beheading during the Chinese boxer rebellion. I teared up a little reading this blog post about him. If you are addicted to mortal sin, then be like St. Mark Ji Tianxiang. Do not give up hope, and go to Mass often!

While St. Mark Ji Tianxiang is a heart-warming saint, please keep in mind the words of a good priest friend of mine. "Your addiction to mortal sin may result in a loss of your salvation." Do violence to yourself to avoid mortal sin: fast more, pray more, go to adoration, explore some Catholic spiritual practices, such as the spiritual exercises, consecration to the Virgin Mary or St. Joseph, penances such as cold showers, etc.

Honestly, you should stop reading here. Just trust me on this. The simple way to ensure you are going to heaven is to become Catholic and regularly and worthily consume the Eucharist. Think of it as the recommended stairway to heaven. There might be some undocumented and alternate stairways to heaven, but we Catholics only recommend the one that we know works.

Why are you still reading? I've told you to stop. Honestly, the rest of this the blog post will royally enrage you, because now I need to defend the official stairway to heaven, which will eventually mean pointing out your (and my) personal sin. You have been warned.

When I first heard about this "stairway to heaven", I thought, "Only Catholics go to Heaven!? That's ridiculous! I'm not ready to become Catholic. This test isn't applicable to me! Besides only Catholics can consume the Eucharist! I won't be able to do that for at least a year, because it takes about a year to become Catholic!"

Even if you are not Catholic, you can still use this Catholic methodology to test your salvation. Before I can explain, I must introduce some necessary Catholic terminology: the Eucharist, venial sin, mortal sin, Confession, and the state of grace.

The Eucharist

The Eucharist is the cracker that the Catholic Church invites faithful Catholics to consume during Mass. The Church teaches that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, and Divinity of Christ. Catholics invite everyone to worship the Eucharist! When you eat the Eucharist, you are literally eating Jesus' Body and Blood! I remember being terrified as a Protestant when I re-read Jesus' words, "If you do not eat my Body and Blood, you have no life in you."

Only the Catholic Church (and the Orthodox church) offer the Eucharist. Every other Protestant Christian denomination denies the divinity of communion, which is just a cracker and grape juice. There are entire books written about the Eucharist, so please do consider reading any of those. Suffice it to say, that your lifelong obsession should be to eat and adore the Eucharist. For now, let's move on and provide clarity about sin.

Hierarchy of sin

Most Protestant Christians explain that all sins are equally hated by God. They say that to God, your sin and my sin are hated the same. No one sin is worse than any other. The Catholic Church teaches the opposite. There is a hierarchy of sin: venial sin is better than mortal sin.

Catholics teach that private prayer and/or consuming the Eucharist will forgive your venial sin (white lies, cheating on a test, over-eating), but continual mortal sin without repentance will damn you to hell. (Do not be deceived. Any who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God). A sinful act or thought must meet some criteria to be considered mortal sin.

1. You must know that particular sin is very bad.
2. You are of sound mind (not drunk or mentally ill).
3. You plan to commit the mortal sin.
4. You start to commit the mortal sin.
5. You commit the mortal sin.

The Catholic Church's moral standard is more strict than any other denomination, and no other church agrees completely with the Catholic Church's list of mortal sins. I was and continue to be surprised at what the Catholic Church considers to be mortal sin. Let's go over a short list. According to the Catholic Church, examples of mortal sin include using contraceptives (condoms, the pill, etc.), abortion, masturbating, masturbating whilst watching porn, prostitution, having an affair, practicing homosexuality, streaking, drunkenness, using illegal drugs, theft, re-marrying without an annulment, re-marrying whilst your X-spouse is still alive, not going to Church on Sundays, not going to church on days of obligation, sexual sins, etc. The Catholic Church even specifies how husband and wife should be intimate. Essentially the husband must ejaculate inside his wife's vagina. Finishing elsewhere is mortal sin.

Let me pause before I explain confession. According to the Catholic Church, almost all Protestants that I know regularly practice mortal sin without asking for forgiveness, because almost all Protestants shamelessly use contraception. Additionally, many Protestant Christians re-marry whilst their X-spouse is still alive. Based on what the Catholic Church teaches, many of my Protestant friends are living in mortal sin, and if they fail to repent before they die, they may spend eternity in hell. This is truly horrible! After that earth-shattering revelation, let me casually continue to explain Confession.

Confession and the state of grace

Via Confession God forgives all sin, including mortal sin. If you go to confession, and the priest absolves you of your sin, then you are in the state of grace. If you die in the state of grace, then you will go to Heaven. If you die after having committed mortal sin, then you may go to hell. Luckily, God wants everyone to go to heaven, so God won't let you die immediately after you commit mortal sin. God will give you many second, third, fourth, etc. chances for repentance before you die. Finally, you must be in the state of grace to consume the Eucharist.

Let me expand upon that last sentence. If the Eucharist is literally Jesus' Body, Blood, and Divinity, then everyone should strive to eat it as often as possible! Everyone should be Catholic and go to Mass often! The problem is that being in the state of grace most of the time is really hard! I would argue that a huge majority of high school boys in America are addicted to porn, and are not in the state of grace. Here's another fun fact. If you re-married without an annulment and your first wife is still alive, then priests will deny you the Eucharist. This is the Catholic Church's way of telling even practicing Catholics, you are not in the state of grace. If you die, God may send you to hell. "If you love me, you will obey my commandments."

Now that we have described some good Catholic terminology, I can restate how you know if you are going to Heaven. Become Catholic and regularly and worthily consume the Eucharist. Or in other words, do you regularly attend Mass and worthily consume the Eucharist? Or using Catholic terminology, most of the time, are you in the state of grace?

I believe that the Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus Christ founded. There are several good Christian denominations, but in my humble opinion, only the Catholic Church teaches the right dogma. While I encourage everyone to convert to the Catholic Church, I recognize that God may not call every Christian to become Catholic, and many non-Catholics are and will be in heaven.

If you are a Protestant Christian, I urge you to seriously ponder the Catholic Church's mortal sin list. If you are committing, mortal sin, then do your best to stop and ask for forgiveness.

Finally, instead of asking yourself, "Am I going to Heaven?" It would be better to ask yourself "How can I improve my relationship with Jesus?"