Sorry for another thought about hell, but I’ve been wondering on the connection between the modern disbelief in hell and the financial crisis.
If you believe in hell you believe that you have to pay what you owe. There will be a reckoning. There’s no free lunch. If you don’t believe in hell you think you’re going to get away with it. You can have what you want without paying for it and you can run up your debts and never really have to pay.
The former worldview makes you sober financially. The latter gives you the impression that you will never have to pay up.
Does a belief in hell make one more financially prudent? Does disbelief in hell make people financially stupid?
It makes sense to me.
Such is the corruption of power, and the power of corruption.
Yup! Sounds about right!
Wisdom!
You have a point. However, wouldn’t you say that the far greater problem is disbelief in God? Everything else flows from that.
It is always frustrating to me when people – Catholics, even – discount the existence of Hell because an ‘All-Loving God’ just ‘wouldn’t do that!’ This, from people who have read the Bible and are somewhat familiar with the Gospels! In the past a frequent criticism of priests – especially in Ireland, or of Irish extraction – was that they “always preached fire and brimstone”. There may have been some truth to that, in individual cases. But it would appear that today we have gone to the other extreme, resulting in the impression that if we don’t hear much about something, then it mustn’t exist.There’s also the modern-day belief that we should always be positive and avoid negativity – a throwback to the 60s and “all you need is love”. Human that we are, we like to avoid the ‘bad’ things and ‘think positive thoughts’. Thus, we become selective about what to believe and even about what Our Lord said and what He did. We like the “Come ye blessed” (which we believe we all are) but avoid the “Depart ye cursed” (which, of course, we believe we’re not). We want the Resurrection without the Crucifixion.But God’s Mercy can never be divorced from His Justice. There is no “get out of jail free” for our lives. There is a price to pay and we’ll all pay it – sooner or later. We complain about there being ‘no justice in the world’ and frequently there isn’t – in this world at least. But there will be justice in the next. There will be a reckoning – Heaven or Hell – no exceptions!
Father, you say that “you have to pay what you owe” in order to avoid hell. I realize you’re using that expression colloquially (at least I think you are), but is that really a Christian doctrine? Wouldn’t it be more accurate — using the financial crisis metaphor again — to say that Christ, through his death on the cross and his call for us to have faith in Him — offers us the biggest, best bailout package ever? In other words, there’s no way I can “pay” (earn) my way out of going to hell. Yet Christ, thankfully, through his mercy, offers each of us a chance to accept His bailout and live with him eternally. That’s the heart of Christian doctrine, isn’t it?
Sorry. Just to clarify: None of us can pay off the debt of our sin. I’m completely insolvent in that sense; the debt I carry is too great. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is our “bailout” because our debts are too large to be paid any other way. (Right?)
Steve, doesn’t your “bailout” obviate purgatory?
Jedesto, everything I’ve read in Catholic doctrine indicates that purgatory has a “door” (if you will) that opens into heaven. No door from purgatory to hell. No demons from hell, as far I’ve heard, residing in purgatory. I don’t believe purgatory is currently depicted by the church as being part of hell (if it ever was depicted in that light). So I would argue that Christ, who makes our purification possible, is still The Bailout Most Supreme. It’s his sacrifice, his obedience, that gives me any hope of heaven — not my own ability to “pay off” the debt of my sin.As for getting what we deserve…Do any of us fallen sinners REALLY hope for that? Not me. I’m hoping for better than I deserve — namely, Christ’s mercy.And on that note: May God have mercy on us all. May we all reach paradise through our embrace of Christ’s death on the cross on our behalf. God wills no soul to go to hell.
Fr. Dwight, I think it might be more precise to say that if you *don't* believe in Hell, then you don't believe in a cosmic Justice that must be answered. That opens the door to all kinds of strange financial irresponsibilities (not to mention other kinds).That's not the only way to get to financial irresponsibility, of course. Business cycles—including bubbles—happen everywhere, not just in societies that scorn the idea of Hell. But that's a little bit like saying that even sober drivers have accidents, and even non-smokers have heart attacks.Where I believe your post is right on target is in suggesting that disbelief in Hell—with the disbelief in a just universe that that implies—is a substantial risk factor for all kinds of irresponsibility, including (perhaps most topically) financial irresponsibility. And the last few decades' neglect of hell in the practical teaching of the Catholic Church in the U.S. has surely left an awful lot of U.S. Catholics living with that risk factor.Of course, it sounded a lot better when you said it :-).Peace,–Peter