I’m not accusing you of lying – but you obviously don’t understand Catholic doctrine.
Not only is it a basic teaching of the Church that we are redeemd by the finished work of Jesus on the cross – it was the Catholic Church who taught this to the WORLD. One of the reasons that Protestants believe otherwise is the doctrine of Final Purification of the Elect or “Purgatory”. It is BECAUSE of what Jesus did on the cross that Final Purification is made available to us.
Rev. 21:27 states emphatically that NOTHING impure or imperfect can enter into Heaven.
To get around Final Purification, Luther posited that we “sneak” into Heaven as “snow-covered dunghills” that are simply covered by the righteousness of Christ.
The Church teaches what the BIBLE teaches – that we are MADE righteous – not simply “covered”.
The Church doesn’t teach that we can “work” our way into Heaven.
HOWEVER, we acknowledge what the Bible says – that only true faith is a faith that WORKS in love (Matt. 28:31-45, Gal. 5:6, 1 Cor. 13:1-13, James 2:14-24).
This is great example of RCC distortion. Revelation 21:27 is a statement about the New Jerusalem. It's your assumption that the passage is about Heaven, but scripture teaches that Heaven is rolled up like a scroll to make way for a new Heaven and a new Earth. The "city" comes down to Earth.
2And
I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His People, and God Himself will be among them,
4and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be
any death; there will no longer be
any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:2-4
And do you imagine that life is only a gift to those who enter the city? My translations of scripture all describe a river that flows from the throne of God and runs outside of the city so that all may freely drink.
1And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
2in the middle of its street. On either side of the river
was the tree of life, bearing twelve
kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree
were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:1-2
This is parallel to Ezekiel 47:1-12 which gives a lengthier description of the river and its extents.
Neither passage is explicitly about Heaven.
