Beyond ‘Good’: A Priest’s 4 Counter-Intuitive Keys to Salvation
It is a common and comforting belief that being a “good person” is the main requirement for getting into heaven. Many of us see kindness, decency, and a good heart as the primary qualifications for eternal life—a relatable and seemingly logical starting point for faith.However, according to a detailed analysis of the Bible and Catholic teaching by Fr. Chris Alar, this view is a dangerous oversimplification. As Jesus himself warned, “narrow is the road to life and few follow it wide is the path to destruction and many are on it.” Being “good” is merely the foundation, not the complete path to salvation. The scriptures lay out a more specific, active roadmap that demands more than simple earthly decency.This article will explore four of the most surprising and impactful ideas from that roadmap, challenging the notion that goodness alone is enough and revealing a more profound journey of faith, transformation, and active love.
Why Being a “Good Person” Isn’t the Goal
The core argument is that heaven is not a prize for merely “good” people who watered plants or took care of animals; it is reserved for “the active Disciples of Christ.” This requires a crucial distinction between goodness on a “natural level” and the “supernatural level” required for salvation. To enter heaven, we must move beyond earthly kindness to a divine love.This supernatural love has a specific name and a radical definition: Agape . It is, as Fr. Alar explains, the love that drives you “to love someone to the point that you die for them.”To illustrate this point, he cites a provocative and challenging example: Adolf Hitler. He notes that Hitler was known to love children and pets, actions which would fit the definition of a “good person” on a purely natural level.He then poses a stark, rhetorical question: “would anybody believe that that was enough to get to heaven for Hitler?”The answer, of course, is no. This distinction is critical because it reveals a deeper truth: the path to heaven requires a supernatural, self-sacrificial love and God’s grace, not just the kind of earthly kindness that any person, regardless of their ultimate moral standing, might display.
Grace Doesn’t Just Cover Sin—It Transforms You
God’s grace is the only thing that gets us to heaven. But how does it work? There is a significant theological difference in how this is understood.An analogy is often used to explain the Protestant view of grace, particularly that of Martin Luther. In this view, a sinful person is like a “pile of dung.” God’s grace acts like a beautiful layer of snow that covers the dung. The dung remains dung, but its ugliness is hidden from view.Catholic teaching offers a radically different perspective. In this belief, grace does not just cover the soul; it transforms it. This was the entire point of the Transfiguration on the mountain—to show what grace does. Through repentance and the sacraments, grace changes the soul so that it is “no longer dung.” It is a genuine, internal change, not just an external covering.God’s not going to let a get a pile of dung into heaven just because it has snow on it. God only lets us get to heaven if we’re transformed.This idea is powerful. It means that salvation involves a true, deep transformation of who we are. We are not just sinners covered by grace, but souls being actively changed into the image and likeness of God.
You’re Not Saved by “Faith Alone”
The phrase “saved by faith alone” is central to much of Protestant theology. However, Fr. Alar presents the Catholic claim that this exact phrasing is a later addition to scripture. He states that Martin Luther added the word “alone” to the biblical text of Romans 3:28. The only place the phrase “faith alone” appears in the Bible, he notes, is in the Book of James, which explicitly says, “you are not saved by faith alone.”The Catholic position is that salvation is indeed through faith, but it must be a living faith demonstrated by “works of love.”These “works” are not about earning salvation through legalistic acts, which the Bible calls “works of the law.” Instead, they are acts of mercy that naturally flow from a genuine love of God and neighbor. They are the tangible evidence of a faith that is alive and active in the world.if anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. This is the Bible. This is what Catholic Good Works are.
You Can Help the Dead (and Become a Saint) with “The Great Exchange”
A profound spiritual practice called “The Great Exchange” is presented as a powerful act of mercy for the souls in Purgatory. It is a counter-intuitive but deeply loving way to cooperate with God’s grace and, as Fr. Alar describes it, a “surefire way” to become a saint yourself.The core concept is a simple spiritual transaction:
- Souls in Purgatory have something we need to become saints: an intense longing for God and deep sorrow for sin .
- We have something they need: our prayers, fasts, and other acts of mercy (suffrages) offered on their behalf, which they can no longer do for themselves.The exchange is made in prayer. We ask God to transfer the suffering (the longing and sorrow) of the holy souls to our own hearts. This is a “sweet kind of suffering” that sanctifies us, because, as Fr. Alar explains, “…you then take on more longing for God and more sorrow for sin and in the process you become a saint because a saint has longing for God and sorrow for sin.” At the same time, their “debt” is considered paid, and they are released to heaven, where they will in turn pray fervently for us.St. Faustina offered a powerful example of this prayer in her diary:Lord you see how terribly the souls in purgatory suffer from their longing for you and from their intense sorrow for their sins. Well then, in your mercy I ask you to give them some relief by transferring to my heart their longing for you and their sorrow for sins. Let my heart burn with longing for you my God and please give me a deep contrition for my sins. amen.This practice is presented as an ultimate expression of supernatural love—a love that extends beyond the living to aid the dead, transforming both in the process.
Conclusion: A More Active Journey
The path to heaven, from this Catholic perspective, is a more active, intentional, and grace-filled journey than simply “being good.” It is a call to move beyond natural kindness to a supernatural love that changes us from the inside out. This journey involves a radical transformation of the soul, a faith that is proven through loving action, and a profound, merciful love that reaches beyond the veil of death itself. Beyond simply being ‘good,’ how might we more actively cooperate with grace to transform not just our own lives, but the lives of others—both the living and the dead?