Are billions going to hell?

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Brett1980

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I’m a new Catholic, I was baptised and confirmed at a young age but I never went to church. I’ve been practising and reading about Catholicism for 10 months.

I have come across several things I don’t understand (In a way I’m trying to catechise myself with available materials).

Many people I know would fit the definition of having commited a mortal sin. Most people I know freinds and family I care about don’t go to church nor really are not the kind of people that I could bring around to coming to church.

So from my understanding people I love are going to be tortured for all eternity for something like using contraception and not repenting.

Moreover we have the following quote:

‘Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved.’

St. Benedict Joseph Labre

What drew me to Catholicism was me wanting to reform my life and practice Charity and Love.

To be quite honest, worshipping a god and loving a god that I have never seen who is going to condem people I love who I do see to eternal torture and from my understanding the majority of people on the planet to eternal torture seems strange.

Eternal punishment for one mortal sin such as using contraception seems unjust. Few people on the planet would punish someone for all eternity for matters considered very grave. In courts there are limits on prison for terrible crimes and you can’t torture prisoners.

I am drawn by charity and love. But am I reading this wrong, if I am how so? Please explain it to me. Some of the catholics I know are the greatest people in the world. So I am confused?
 
Brett1980 said:
I’m a new Catholic, I was baptised and confirmed at a young age but I never went to church. I’ve been practising and reading about Catholicism for 10 months.

I have come across several things I don’t understand (In a way I’m trying to catechise myself with available materials).

Many people I know would fit the definition of having commited a mortal sin. Most people I know freinds and family I care about don’t go to church nor really are not the kind of people that I could bring around to coming to church.

So from my understanding people I love are going to be tortured for all eternity for something like using contraception and not repenting.

Moreover we have the following quote:

‘Meditate on the horrors of Hell which will last for eternity because of one easily-committed mortal sin. Try hard to be among the few who are chosen. Think of the eternal flames of Hell, and how few there are that are saved.’

St. Benedict Joseph Labre

What drew me to Catholicism was me wanting to reform my life and practice Charity and Love.

To be quite honest, worshipping a god and loving a god that I have never seen who is going to condem people I love who I do see to eternal torture and from my understanding the majority of people on the planet to eternal torture seems strange.

Eternal punishment for one mortal sin such as using contraception seems unjust. Few people on the planet would punish someone for all eternity for matters considered very grave. In courts there are limits on prison for terrible crimes and you can’t torture prisoners.

I am drawn by charity and love. But am I reading this wrong, if I am how so? Please explain it to me. Some of the catholics I know are the greatest people in the world. So I am confused?
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The Catholic Church does not teach anyone is currently in Hell, She canonizes saints who are in Heaven though. Perhaps these two videos can help:

wordonfire.org/WOF-TV/Commentaries-New/Fr-Barron-comments-on-Is-Hell-Crowded-or-Empty.aspx

wordonfire.org/WOF-TV/Commentaries-New/Fr–Barron-comments-on-Hell.aspx

I hope you enjoy them.

-Prophesy
 
Fear not and do not scruple! :o No one knows how many will be saved or lost. We are called only to be good stewards of the faith ourselves and do what we can to help others—i.e. love God and love neighbor above all else. But the bottom line is no one knows who goes to hell, including your family or friends whose hearts only God can read. There are 3 requirements for a mortal sin to occur, and you can’t know definitively if the hearts of the persons you observe will receive mercy on account of any of those reasons. What you can do is set an example and pray and do penance for those who appear to be living awry.

That being said, it may be the case that a minority of people are saved, but Scripture gives no percentages.*Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.*So what does “few” mean? Half? Under 50%? A third? A quarter? A baker’s dozen? We don’t know for sure. The Church has no dogmatic position on the matter. If we are like the angels, then 2/3 will be saved and 1/3 will be lost.

Speculation aside, part of faith is trusting God. Shall we trust Him even if we do not understand the justice of a soul damned to hell? Yes, we should trust Him even if we do not understand. :o
 
Yes Billions are going to Hell. However this is entirely on our own fault.

After all God offers us a means of constantly being forgiven of our sins through confession, the problem is majority of people are too firm in their belief that what their doing isn’t wrong and thus have nothing to confess.

Believe me I’m suffering the same problem, neither parent has attended a Sunday Mass for years. Neither has done or wants an annulment despite having asked about it a few times, and my father doesn’t have any faith in Priests or the heirarchy. Yet both still believe in God and consider themselves Catholic.

Then there is me, because of many problems with this world and God’s absence in all our lives I’ve been left with little more than a shred up hope of God’s existance. Exactly how does God expect to forgive us if our sin is having doubt in his existance?! I mean it isn’t as if he’s given us any strong evidence of his presence.
 
Prophesy said:
Hey Windfish,

Did you watch that first video I posted? Fr. Robert Barron’s thoughts are pretty interesting on this topic.

-Prophesy
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Yeah, I watched those videos when they he first put them out. One of the few times I disagree with him. Many are lost, that just seems like the consistent voice of Scripture, the saints, private revelation, and just common sense. That is a really terrifying prospect that doesn’t really quite register unless you are one of those privileged few that has had private revelation. BUT I do take comfort in the fact that God is all just, and nothing is going to happen to anybody that they do not deserve.
 
Brett1980 said:
I’m To be quite honest, worshipping a god and loving a god that I have never seen who is going to condem people I love who I do see to eternal torture and from my understanding the majority of people on the planet to eternal torture seems strange.

Eternal punishment for one mortal sin such as using contraception seems unjust. Few people on the planet would punish someone for all eternity for matters considered very grave. In courts there are limits on prison for terrible crimes and you can’t torture prisoners.

I am drawn by charity and love. But am I reading this wrong, if I am how so? Please explain it to me. Some of the catholics I know are the greatest people in the world. So I am confused?
Click to expand...
while you are reading that catechism look up what the church teaches about hell, because this is NOT it.

God never condemned anyone to hell. Those who are there chose it with their own free will, at the moment of death during their personal judgment, when they were given the chance to see their own lives without the blinders on and given the full knowledge of the difference between heaven and hell, and what their choice would mean for all eternity. They chose their own will over God’s and that is why they are in hell. by choice.

In the second place, and this will give you more love and peace than any other spiritual advice: get your mind off other people and their apparent sins. Focus instead on your own relationship with God, your own conversion, your own need to ask God for forgiveness, and your own decision to ask for his grace in the sacraments.
 
Well first of all you have to understand that, according to Christ, Hell was created for Satan. What happens though is that human beings cling to their evil and take away from the glory that belongs to God. They do things that set off all sorts of chain reactions in our world, they buy into and support mentalities that come from Satan himself, etc. When they die, there is no way for them to enter Heaven having any guilt of sin upon them because they rejected going through the door that Jesus opened into a status with God where their sins could be forgiven. They rejected God’s love and thus rejected God Himself (for God is love) which incurs an infinite debt. God, out of love, cannot force them into His presence, He also cannot allow them with all their sins into Heaven. That debt they incurred can never, ever be paid back so they are cast into Hell with Satan who is unforgivable as well. All mortal sins are deliberate rejections of the love of God, in one way, shape, or form. Contraception, for example, is the rejection of children and the self-giving love between spouses and to children. It stands as such a grave sin because it gives testimony in action to the fact that we reject God’s understanding for how humanity and the world work. We become turned inward, selfish, and start treating children like curses and burdens. We damage the children we do have and send them off to damage society. That is the spirit of the law and the reason why God hates it.
 
I know there is a narrow and wide road…Many chose to reject God’s gift given In Jesus…
 
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