Essay Sample on Sacraments

Want to get close with the Man upstairs? The sacraments are a way to get on the correct path to him. Some people will argue that the sacraments are just an “option”. They don’t believe in them. They do not think they need to have communication with God to receive his grace. God gave us the sacraments so we believe that they are needed; because why would we be given something unnecessary. This isn’t just different religions who think this. We also see some Catholics not trusting in the sacraments. Confession and the Eucharist ( or communion) are the most questioned sacraments. An argument for confession is that you can just talk to God yourself and tell him your sins that way. If we didn’t need to go to confession, why would it be an option? Another point is that baptism is not needed to receive the other sacraments. Baptism is when we are welcomed and brought into the Church. This is starting our union in the Church. The following sacraments come along the way without the choice of creating that unity with God.

“The Catholic Church indicates that the sacraments are necessary for salvation”. This quote is proving how important these sacraments are. The Sacraments show our relationship with Jesus in a physical way. Baptism is the first step in our initiation into the Church. “Baptism is seen as the sacrament of admission to the faith”. This is an example of this baptism being the first stepping stone in our faith journey. In the catholic church baptism is usually a decision decided by our parents. They start us off on the correct path. It is important that we continue our faith journey through the other sacraments as we get the choice. Baptism is the starting stone to help us gain a closer relationship with God on our faith journey. By following through with all the sacraments we physically show our connection to Jesus. These sacraments also led us to our salvation. As stated above, baptism is our starting point. From there on it’s our decision if we want to grow our relationship with God or not. It is our admission to faith and we can choose to continue to grow in that faith.

“There is no doubt that confession is required in order to be saved.” In the book of Romans we are told confessing our sins aloud is a huge part of overcoming the power of sin in our own lives. This is another reason why confession is a step on our path to salvation. It is your mouth that professes your faith for you to be saved. This is one of the reasons we say our sins aloud when we confess them. During the times of the Romans admitting to being a Christian was something that demonstrated huge faith. This correlates to us confessing our sins now. Confession is also necessary for repentance. Also when confessing our sins we become aware of what our actions are. This can cause us to seek repentance from God, which he offers if we truly mean it. Thus, it is certain that confession is a prerequisite to or condition of salvation” (James 5:16)  This quote supports my logic and reasoning. Confession is necessary for salvation. This is the same for all the sacraments. 

“The Eucharist has formed a central rite of Christian worship”. We can see the importance of the Eucharist through this quote. The Eucharist has great significance. Out of all the sacraments we see the Eucharist being the greatest one. The eucharist was instituted a long time ago. This tradition has remained for almost two-thousand years. Just by this piece of information we can see the importance of the eucharist. By eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ we receive him in us. What could form a closer connection to Jesus Christ than that. Letting Christ come that close to us shows him we want to receive his Love and Salvation. We also were taught about the eucharist by Jesus Christ himself. He showed us exactly what to do so we know that following can only lead us in the correct direction. The dating of the eucharist supports my claim. We see how far back the eucharist is dated, teaching us the importance.

Some believe that the sacraments are not a necessity to receive God’s grace. They do not believe that the sacraments are not needed in order to communicate with God himself. Another argument over the sacraments is about confession. People believe that there is no point telling a priest their sins for God. They don’t understand that the priests are there to send their confessions up to God. “Nor do they believe that any particular ritual is needed to get in touch with God” This statement shows one of the groups of people who do not believe in the sacraments. “Grace is received by faith not by good acts.” In this case we do believe that faith gives us grace. This is showing that just by doing actions we can’t guarantee salvation.

We understand that by the sacraments alone we are not guaranteed salvation. That is why I stated above that these sacraments are key in helping us travel the right path. Overall we learn that sacraments are indeed necessary for our salvation. All the sacraments have a reasoning behind them. We know they are important by the background of the sacraments shown. Baptism is important to get us involved in the church. This is the first stepping stone in our relationship with Christ. Confession is important to show God we are sorry. He then can bless us with his forgiveness. The eucharist is important to keep God close to us. Reminding us to get back on the right path when we stray away. All of these sacraments led us on the way to salvation. The sacraments are like second chances. If we screw up we can always fall back against them. Using the sacraments as outlines on our lives. While some people believe that the sacraments are just a suggestion, we believe they are necessary to bring our salvation from God.

Works Cited

Contributors, HowStuffWorks.com. “How Does Someone Become a Saint?” HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 20 Apr. 2001, https://people.howstuffworks.com/question619.htm#:~:text=How%20are%20 saints%20 chosen%3F,were%20selected%20 via%20public%20 opinion. 

Norman, Rev. Kyle. “Why Sacraments Are Important for Your Faith.” Crosswalk.com, Crosswalk.com, 11 June 2021, https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/why-sacraments-are-important-for-your-faith.html. 

“Eucharist.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eucharist.

“Religions - Christianity: Quakers.” BBC, BBC, 3 July 2009, https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/quakers_1.shtml#:~:text=Quakers%20and%20sacraments,practised%20in%20mainstream%20Christian%20churches.