I was born and raised a Catholic and always had a problem with venial and mortal sins. Scripturally, both are the same as a single sin will condemn you except for the saving grace of Jesus dying on the cross for your sins. Jesus died on the cross for all of your sins that you will ever commit.
Yes, I believe that, from my understanding of scripture that once you are saved you are always saved. It is not necessary to live in fear of losing your salvation if you should die with an unconfessed mortal sin. All sins are mortal sins, biblically there is no such thing as a venial sin.
Another problem area with me was the need to confess your sins to a priest in order to receive forgiveness. I don't find that to be biblical at all, all one has to do is confess your sin to the one that has the authority to forgive sin and that is God. The constant need of going to confession each time you sin has been the source of anxiety and fear for many Catholics and is totally unnecessary.
I never fully understood Holy Communion and the changing of bread and water into the body and blood of Jesus. I asked a priest once (during confession) why is it necessary to receive communion on a regular basis if the Holy Spirit already lives in your heart. Does this mean that you receive an extra portion of the Holy Spirit by performing a mere physical act? He said, "Well my son, it's a mystery".
Apparently he didn't know either. Actually, the confession was in the form of a conversation and I gave him the Reader's Digest version of the sins I had or supposedly committed during the last 25 years. He let me off easy with only a single Our Father for penance.
It has now been another 25 years since my last confession.
Yes, I believe that, from my understanding of scripture that once you are saved you are always saved. It is not necessary to live in fear of losing your salvation if you should die with an unconfessed mortal sin. All sins are mortal sins, biblically there is no such thing as a venial sin.
Another problem area with me was the need to confess your sins to a priest in order to receive forgiveness. I don't find that to be biblical at all, all one has to do is confess your sin to the one that has the authority to forgive sin and that is God. The constant need of going to confession each time you sin has been the source of anxiety and fear for many Catholics and is totally unnecessary.
I never fully understood Holy Communion and the changing of bread and water into the body and blood of Jesus. I asked a priest once (during confession) why is it necessary to receive communion on a regular basis if the Holy Spirit already lives in your heart. Does this mean that you receive an extra portion of the Holy Spirit by performing a mere physical act? He said, "Well my son, it's a mystery".
Apparently he didn't know either. Actually, the confession was in the form of a conversation and I gave him the Reader's Digest version of the sins I had or supposedly committed during the last 25 years. He let me off easy with only a single Our Father for penance.
It has now been another 25 years since my last confession.
Venial and mortal sins are not an easy concept especially when there seems to be conflicting Bible verses. Catholics refer to 1 John 5:16-18 where deadly (i.e. mortal) and "not deadly" (i.e. venial) sins are discussed while you may point to James 2:10-11 where failing to keep one point makes one guilty of all. Both are plausible interpretations regarding whether there are mortal and venial sins so who is correct?
Confessing sins to a priest comes from, in part, John 20:21-23 where Jesus said to His apostles, "receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven..." Catholics believe this begins the institution of reconciliation or confession. You will disagree and provide your own verses and own interpretations, but who is the arbiter of truth? Who has the authority to decide who is correct in their interpretations? And I will admit that I both love and hate confession. I hate it because it is embarrassing, humiliating, and hard, but I love it because it is so humbling, cleansing, heart wrenching! I leave feeling on top of the world every time I go to confession.
As for the Eucharist it is necessary because Jesus said it was in John 6 and Luke 22:19 among other passages. Jesus stated that if you don't eat His flesh and drink His blood you have no life within you (John 6:53). That is at least how the Catholic Church interprets those verses. I'm sure you will have a different interpretation of those verses and so again we are left with who's interpretation is accurate? I also find it curious and a little sad when my evangelical friends discuss a personal relationship with Jesus. How can there be anything more personal then taking in Jesus as He described in John 6 and at the Last Supper? Who wouldn't want that everyday!?
The theme here is what I call the "my interpretation is better than yours" type debate. We each point to scripture and interpret it in such a way as to back up our claims. But, who is the arbiter of truth? When I was very seriously considering leaving the Catholic Church years ago it drove me crazy that there wasn't a way to definitively know the truth. Why so many denominations? Why so many versions of the truth? It wasn't until I studied the early church of the first 800-1000 years that I realized that there was just a single universal church at that time. Many heretical groups, but only one group that claimed to be that single church that Jesus described in MT 16:18. And it is easy to know what they believed because there are church council records. They believed in the Eucharist as "the body of Christ" and "the most necessary viaticum" at the moment of death. It's there for anyone to see. So if it was the truth to the single universal Church it is the truth today. That is how I came to believe that the Catholic Church of today is just a continuation of that one universal Christian Church and the Church Jesus built and protected from error.
Hope this helps. Thanks and God bless!
-Ernie-