Heaven is a choice you must make every day

“How beautiful Heaven must be! Take heart!" – St John Bosco

(Gospel Text: Jn 12:44-50)

Jesus cried out and said,
“Whoever believes in me believes not only in me
but also in the one who sent me,
and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.
I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. 
And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,
I do not condemn him,
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. 
Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words
has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,
it will condemn him on the last day,
because I did not speak on my own,
but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. 
And I know that his commandment is eternal life. 
So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

Jesus "did not come to condemn the world but to save the world."  Faith is a decision.  It is a moral decision.  If you choose to reject what you know is right, you sin.

The Second Vatican Council teaches this in the beautiful document on conscience, Dignitatis Humanae, the Declaration on Religious Freedom.

"All men are bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and to order their whole lives in accord with the demands of truth." (Dignitatis Humanae 2)

Let me repeat, Vatican II says that it is a sin to not believe in Christ if he reveals himself to you.  It does not say, you can believe whatever you “damn” well please.  Here I would like to point out that the word "damn" is a descriptive adjective, for by believing something to be false that you know very well to be true you commit a sin and therefore incur damnation if that sin is mortal in nature and you persist in it until death without going to confession.

(For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”  1857 -1869 Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Jesus came to save us, but if we reject him we reject the salvation he offers.

It’s simply our choice.