A friend commented the other day, “I was doubting the reality of hell. I wondered how it could be that an all loving God would be able to allow for hell. Then, at Mass, I gazed at the crucifix and it all clicked. I had an ‘aha’ moment. If there were no hell there would be no need of the cross. Why the cross if we did not need salvation, and what were we to be saved from if not hell?”
Indeed. The next day, having dinner with some friends a fellow priest commented, “The most deadly heresy of our day, a heresy that is destroying our church and our culture is the heresy of universalism. This sentimental belief that God will not condemn anyone to hell and that everyone is going to heaven undermines everything. It is a lie direct from the Father of lies.”
I’ve often thought that the people who think that God will not send anyone to hell really believe that God will not send someone like them to hell. It’s all couched in suitably sentimental concern for other people. They’re really just worried about their own skin.
Finally, it has always seemed incongruous to me that atheists blame believers for being on Fantasy Island and that we are duped into wishful thinking–that God is our big Sugar Daddy in the sky who will take us to glory one day. That may be the God of the eternal security born again crowd, but the Catholic God is the Almighty Judge before whom all will tremble one day. Before him none shall stand and every knee shall bow, and he might send us to hell.
This doesn’t sound very much like wishful thinking to me. Instead, the person who imagines that there is no life after death, no heaven to win and no hell to pay and that they can just quietly ride off into the sunset without paying their debts.
Now that really sounds like wishful thinking. to me.
I tell my confirmation class -heaven and hell are real and where we end up is usually our choice.We choose to follow Christ- or not to.We choose to believe and live in a faithful Catholic manner – or not to.We choose to help the poor, the sick, the needy – or not to.We choose to be loving faithful spouses – or not to.It’s not my neighbor making my choices, it’s me. We are all responsbile for our choices, actions, ommisions, etc., and they all have consequence in our personal (and eternal) lives.God will judge us at the end – what beliefs and actions we have choosen to guide our lives will be of consequence.They always seem to understand this without much difficulty.
Father–good post–but extremely hard to read on my computer the dark color is beautiful, but with the black writing–hard to see 🙂
You’re probably using Internet Explorer. Download Firefox. It is a better browser all around and my blog will load faultlessly and faster.
[b]A friend commented the other day, “I was doubting the reality of hell. I wondered how it could be that an all loving God would be able to allow for hell. Then, at Mass, I gazed at the crucifix and it all clicked. I had an ‘aha’ moment. If there were no hell there would be no need of the cross.[/b]Are you saying that God allowed hell so as to make way for the cross?[b]The most deadly heresy of our day, a heresy that is destroying our church and our culture is the heresy of universalism. This sentimental belief that God will not condemn anyone to hell and that everyone is going to heaven undermines everything. It is a lie direct from the Father of lies[/b]If, as you say, “Why the cross if we did not need salvation, and what were we to be saved from if not hell” and Christ died for everyone, why not believe everyone will be saved? Such does not undermine the cross or the existence hell. It’s simply an affirmation that the cross “saved from hell” everyone for whom the cross was intended. It’s a simple matter of putting two and two together. Christ died to save us from hell, Christ died for all—ergo-[b]I’ve often thought that the people who think that God will not send anyone to hell really believe that God will not send someone like them to hell. It’s all couched in suitably sentimental concern for other people. They’re really just worried about their own skin.[/b]Well, I can’t speak for others, but I for one wish I were free to believe everyone will be saved. I do agonize over my own salvation, but also agonize over everyone else’s too. It’s not a “sentimental” concern, but a real, sometimes paralyzing worry that I by the grace of God am having to work through.
Cheryl,I used to worry all the time about who was going to hell and try and think up some way to placate God to save the people on my list(inc me of course). In the end,it took up so much time,I decided that God is Good,and whatever He decides,will be good.Ultimately Perfect. I try and live in this trust.The devil tries to take this trust away from me,hence I pray more and repeat my affirmation,that ‘What will be,will be meant to be, and my spirit will acknowledge that outcome when the time comes”.It is my mortal frame that panics and needs reassurance of resurrection cos it knows it’s for the chop,if you’ll pardon my slang.My spirit can and does find peace in the knowledge that our Risen Saviour,who is God knows best.Practice meditating on this truth,it’s worth it,honest.
It is hard to believe that anyone would choose hell over heaven, but don’t we see it everyday. People make choices in their own lives that are evil all the time. We see it more and more in our society, sometimes evil choices are even celebrated or at least made to seem as though they are ok. Nobody is forcing anyone to choose evil ways just as God doesn’t send us to hell, we choose. If you choose to follow God on earth then heaven it will be in your afterlife. As long as there is goodness and evil on earth then there is heaven and hell in the afterlife. What a relief really, to finally be free of all the evil in the world after we die. As long as there is free will, there is heaven and hell.
more thoughts on heaven and hell, God told us to pray in the Our Father…protect us from evil…see my blog and what I wrote about why God needs to protect us from evil…catholicmominlondon.blogspot.com
My own Cardinal Archbishop, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor wrote an article in The Times of London a couple of years back where he opined that – “it may well be that there is nobody in hell”. I have to say I was shocked by that; and not pleasantly.
On the contrary, Recusant, the pious hope that there is no-one in hell is perfectly within the bounds of orthodox Catholic belief, and indeed reflects well upon CMOC. We cannot know for certain the exact state of any other person’s soul at the moment of death.I certainly find CMOC’s thoughts eminently more Christian than the grotesque view expressed by Aquinas that part of the joy of the saints in heaven is watching the suffering of those in hell.
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“I certainly find CMOC’s thoughts eminently more Christian than the grotesque view expressed by Aquinas that part of the joy of the saints in heaven is watching the suffering of those in hell.”We do know there are souls in Hell. Revelation speaks of the souls in the firey lake. Christ himself told us, Sheep go to Heaven; Goats go to Hell. And wouldn’t you feel joy (though perhaps that is not the right word – satisfaction, perhaps?) when you realize what you escaped by Christ’s cross? Should we not revel in Justice? The souls in Hell are there justly – they are goats.
Powerful stuff, Father…I once interviewed 2 Baptist (among other denoms) pastors on predestination and free will… One of them believed in no free will but God does not predestine to hell (go figure that one out)… but the other said he doesnt believe in hell. and if hell exists, that it is not eternal. I asked him about the passages which speak of the eternal fires, where the worm dieth not… and he said, where is that and i told him one place. he pulled out his PDA bible and said… after a long pause… “it does mean eternal… well, it is parable anyway”…-Laurence Gonzaga