The Bible says that we have to "Holy" to get to Heaven, to be with God for all eternity. [Hebrews 12:14]
(DRB) Follow peace with all men and holiness: without which no man shall see God.
(ISV) Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
(KJV) Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
(KJV+) Follow1377 peace1515 with3326 all3956 men, and2532 holiness,38 without5565 which3739 no man3762 shall see3700 the3588 Lord:2962
(NAB) Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
(NASB) Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
(RSVA) Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
I prefer the RASV & the NAB versions because of the word "strive" for peace… strive for Holiness. The word "follow" in the King James and the Douay Rhiems seems to imply that, at least in the modern mind, that holiness is an easy thing to accomplish.
However the word "strive" or even the word "pursue" from the NASB would lead the reader to understand that getting into Heaven is not an easy thing because they must "strive" for their entrance into the "Promised Land".
What exactly does the word "strive" mean?
"To exert much effort or energy" from WordWeb
Then one would wonder, "How does someone become "Holy"?"
The Bible says that God is, "Holy, Holy, Holy". [Is. 6:3; Rev. 4:8]. The bible also says that; "God is love". [1 Jn. 4:8, 16]
So, a simple explanation of, "How does someone become Holy?", would be; to grow in the Virtue of Love.
"only the love of charity, agape, makes the Christian perfect" [ "Mary Our Perfect Mother", by Fr. Bartholomew Ansu, CMC, p. 26]
Let me put this altogether.
"Strive" for the Virtue of Love, "without which no one will see the Lord".
What is Love?
1 Cor 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, 5 it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, 6 it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [NAB] [E-Sword]
1 Cor 13:13 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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June 26th, 2007 at 7:35 p06
hmmm, my comment disappeared without approval so its worth repeating but maybe in shorter form
If indeed heaven exists, surely then it probably does require holiness to get in. with that i agree wholeheartedly. i just also wanted to point out that in no way shape or form does any of that require an organized religion of any kind. Thank you
June 27th, 2007 at 7:35 p06
As always, thank you for your comment.
Jesus established the Catholic Church.
when He sent out the ‘72′, His disciples, He said:
Luke 10:16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
Yes, God gives people “free choice” to either accept Him and The Catholic Church, which He established or reject their teachings, to their own peril.
I repeat…
The Light from The Son, hurt’s the eyes of those who wish to remain in Darkness!
August 7th, 2007 at 7:35 p08
jesus established NO “church” here or there, then or now. man invented it as a control over people and i might say it has worked marvelously over the millenia.
jesus preached “a way” to salvation, yes, he did. his “true” way died with him tho, for the men that followed him surely corrupted it for their own uses. im gonna stop here cause its like beatin a dead horse, this topic. and besides im anxious to get to the next one! watch for my new and novel nom de plume.