For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The crucial difference between what is taught by the Roman Catholic Church and the Biblical Gospel is this:The Catholic Church teaches that you should be a good person and follow the rules of the Catholic Church. Their underlying teaching is that salvation is earned by being more good than bad with payment in purgatory for any sins that have not been cleansed.
The Bible teaches that no one can be good enough. No one can earn God’s grace.
The Gospel, meaning the Good News, taught by the Bible is that we:
– acknowledge we are sinners
– repent of our sin
– place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord & Savior.
This results in God’s free gift of grace – something we can not earn. All of our sins – past, present, & future – are paid by Jesus. He washes us clean – not us.