President:
Hmmm. I think premise (3) in the previous post was jumping to a conclusion. Please consider these premises, instead:
- Divine Mercy and Divine Forgiveness are two kinds of Divine Love.
- All forgiveness is merciful, but not all mercy is forgiving.
- It is possible for God to be merciful to those He does not forgive.
Indeed.
Premise 1 seems to be logically sound. It is without a doubt a fact that Divine Mercy and Divine Forgiveness are two aspects of the Divine Love.
Premise 2 is a little more difficult. Indeed, all forgiveness is merciful. This is without an ounce of doubt. However, it is hard to say that not all mercy is forgiving.
Here on Earth, it is true that not all mercy is forgiving. A judge may sentence a man to 10 years instead of 15 for a crime, out of mercy. But is human justice the same as divine justice? The answer to that question, of course, is no. Divine Justice is infinitely more perfect than human justice, but still, questions are raised.
God is indeed all-loving. To us, those who are loving tend to be more merciful than just. But there is no one like God.
But, God does desire all people to be with Him in Heaven. It is without a doubt true that some go to Hell. People condemn themselves to Hell, God does not. But, this desire of God to save us all seems to make a difference in this.
Long ago, when St. Leonard of Port Maurice gave his sermon, the culture was different. The culture accepted into it the catechism of the Church. People were more knowing of their sins. Today, can we really say it is the same? This is speculation, yes, but I have a great doubt that most people have full knowledge of the “lesser” mortal sins (I understand that’s a bit of an oxymoron, but, seriously, the sin of murder is way more evil than the sin of impure thoughts.) These lesser mortal sins are commonly committed today, not because most people know they are evil and just don’t care, they just aren’t aware. I can fully attest to this idea. Before I discovered some of the mortal sins, I was not at all aware of the magnitude of the wrongs I was committing. If I had never found out about some of these mortal sins, I would have continued to be in ignorance, not out of hardness of heart, but out of an innocent lack of knowledge.
The idea of “invincible ignorance”, along with the fact that God has a great desire to see us all in Heaven, lead me to believe that most people go to Purgatory or Heaven when they die.
Premise 3. It is of course, possible. All things are possible with God, He is not bound by our philosophies. But, it is hard to say He is merciful to those He does not forgive, not out of lack of desire to forgive them, but because they do not wish to be forgiven themselves. However, I think that God forgives most people, and I go by that on this verse:
“Father, forgive them!
They know not what they do.”
As to cranster, when I spoke earlier of the concept of Hell, I was not at all stating that Hell is not eternal. I was stating we don’t know what eternity is to God. We must go by the presumption that Hell lasts forever, but, I do believe it is in God’s power to alter the concept of eternity. I was not at all stating that Hell is temporary, but I was saying God has the power to do such.
