I really did not feel like going to the Bible study this morning, but I had said I would go so I went. I even had the ridiculous thought that God was keeping me from going when there was a problem with the metro and we waited for a while, but still, my Catholic friend was all by himself when I got to the cafeteria. We chatted for a while and concluded that nobody would be coming to the Bible study.

He jumped right in the last conversation we had together - on praying to the saints - he’d looked into the question and simply re-stated his points. I knew that the second conversation I’d have with him would be on salvation, well, I wanted it. So I asked him, “What do you need to do to go to heaven?” It took him a little while to figure it out in words, but he gave me a Catholic answer that I disagreed with and he, did not feel comfortable with. So I asked him, “What would YOU say to someone who would want to know how to go to heaven?” (I tried not to use the word “saved”). It took him a while again and all he said was basically, “You need to lead a just life…” he then asked me what I believed. I told him. He quite agreed with everything I had said and praised evangelicals for being so willing to recognize their helplessness and depravity. It was the first time he seemed to ask me an honest question.

Later on in our conversations he really surprised me. We were talking about hell and heaven and he said something that sounded as if he was going to hell, then in heaven. So I asked him what he meant and he seriously believed that when he dies, he goes to hell until Jesus comes back on earth (second coming) and then, Jesus would conquer Satan and hell and bring him to heaven. Man, that was something I had never heard before. I didn’t tell him that if that was true, it was quite useless to pray to the saints because, they’re in hell since Jesus hasn’t come back yet, but I told him that Jesus had overpowered Satan and death at the cross, those who repented from their sins and trusted Jesus would never ever taste hell. He told me he felt as if he wouldn’t be ready to go directly to heaven after he dies (even though he believes purgatory to be a little ridiculous he seems to have traces of the idea of paying for our sins before going to heaven in him). I tried to explain to him that Jesus died for our sins and His blood washes them all away, we traded our sins for his righteousness, God forgives us and sees us in Jesus, clothed with divine justice, so those who trust Him, are ready to join Him right away.

I was really impressed by our conversations, he seemed interested in what I had to say and seemed quite open to consider my words. We’d spent two hours chatting so as we left, I encouraged him to keep reading the Bible.