Those who believe in Jesus Christ are forgiven of their sins?

I do not believe in the purgatory. I believe in the literal truth of the Bible.

If you accept Jesus Christ as your one and only True God, you confess your sins, you ask forgiveness and you repent and you get baptized and you live by His Word, then you are saved. When you do all those things, God will do His part

The Word of God and His offer is the same for all the people, including buddhists and muslims.

ok... so you're not exactly right here....

The only way to get to heaven is through Jesus Christ. That is indeed true. And it is also true that other religions do not lead to heaven. However, it does not mean that those people have to opportunity for salvation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

1260 "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery." Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

I believe this kind of situation would apply to the "sincere, kind-hearted fellow" in your description.

Now, on to the rapist serial killer convert. If he truly repented of his sins then yes he could have salvation. Think of the parable in the Gospels where the laborers who start at the beginning and at the end of the day both make the same wage.

But you seem to misunderstand the idea of purgatory. Purgatory is:

A state of final purification after death and before entrance into heaven for those who died in God's friendship, but were only imperfectly purified; a final cleansing of human imperfection before one is able to enter the joy of heaven (1031; cf. 1472).

It is a place where temporal punishment (Purification of the unhealthy attachment to creatures, which is a consequence of sin that perdures even after death. We must be purified either during our earthly life through prayer and a conversion which comes from fervent charity, or after death in purgatory (1472).) that does not happen on earth takes place. The end destination is Heaven. Purgatory is kind of like a place where you stop to get cleaned up before you go to see the King after a long journey.

Purgatory is different from Hell, which is eternal. Hell is a final desitnation where people who have unrepented mortal sins go. The rapist serial killer who didn't convert would probably be a good candidate for hell.... although there is no way to know for sure, because we don't know his heart and we certianly don't know the mind of God.

Especially because things that are objectively mortal sins aren't always subjectively mortal sins. A mortal sin has to meet all the followng criteria:

1. Grave Matter

2. Knowledge that the action is a serious infraction upon the law of God

3. Full consent of the will.

For instance, pre-marital sex is objectively a mortal sin. But if no one ever taught me that this was wrong and I did it without knowing it wouldn't be a mortal sin subjecitvely.

I hope this makes sense.

God Bless.

Good question.

Those who Accept Jesus Christ As their Savior will be forgiven of their sins, not those who just believe that Jesus Christ existed.

In addition, all those who love God will be in heaven. There may be those who never really had the chance to learn about Jesus and may be truly seeking the true God but because of their environment and the way they were raised they do not know. These will make it to heaven.

Then there are other people who are raised in another religion but may not question it and not know. This person will not even be resurrected. They will not want heaven and they are not deserving of hell. They will not be resurrected.

Now there are very few cases of people who actually repent at death SINCERELY. You do not know who repents sincerely at death so this question is kind of a statement of misinformation. But it depends, if the person is truly sorrowed and anguished about what they have done then they will be forgiven and possibly go to heaven. But you see, these things are very very RARE. The thief on the cross had a kind of "deathbed" conversion.

Now the other scenario, a guy may not believe in religion (for example, an atheist). they may contribute to charity and be a really moral person but if they willfully REJECT Jesus Christ amidst the evidence and being told, then NO, they WILL NOT go to heaven.

God bless you and I actually wrote a reply on that that a young boy asked. See it at the webpage below:

http://mylordandmylife.aforumfree.com/questions-an...

God bless!

Purgatory is simply the place where already saved souls are cleansed of the temporal effects of sin before they are allowed to see the holy face of Almighty God. Revelation 21:27 tells us that "...nothing unclean will enter [Heaven]."

One must seek forgiveness to receive forgiveness. Just believing in Jesus Christ does not forgive ones sins. One must also repent.

Only God can judge us(believer and non believer) and know what is in our hearts

Read Acts 2:34-to the end of the chapter. Do what they did and become what they became. By the way, you will not find Purgatory in the Bible and it is not authorized by the Scriptures.

1Ti 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

1Ti 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

1Ti 2:7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The wages of sin is death. When a person dies, he has paid his debt. He is asleep in death until the Resurrection.