Are most people going to Hell?

[Greg27]

Dear tennman, Yes, I am a schismatic priest by your book ansd according to Pope Pius XII I have no hope of salvation. Remembr his prayer for heretics and schismatics? Hell is my eternal fate.

I am afraid of hell for myself. There are also people I know whom I fear may be on the path to hell and they are remembered in my evening prayers. One or two even bring tears. But this thread is not about the fear of hell but about whether or not the majority of humans are going there. I was addressing the topic of this thread.

We do not know if hell will be full or empty. Who is the Catholic mystic who had a vision of hell and there was no one there? We can pray of course that nobody will be in hell but it is impossible to state this with certainty. One thing which we do know is that God is a loving God who “desires that all men should be saved.”

PS: If anyone knows the name of that Catholic mystic who had the vision of an empty hell, could you please post it.

It is probably Julian of Norwich. To my knowledge she didn’t actually see hell itself as empty, but had a vision where God says on the day of Judgement ‘All will be made well’ and all, even sinners, will get salvation before judgement is pronounced. So in her vision no-one actually goes to hell, on the last day. That is what I remember, but I might be mistaken here.

 

[Ahimsa]

It is probably Julian of Norwich. To my knowledge she didn’t actually see hell itself as empty, but had a vision where God says on the day of Judgement ‘All will be made well’ and all, even sinners, will get salvation before judgement is pronounced. So in her vision no-one actually goes to hell, on the last day. That is what I remember, but I might be mistaken here.

Ah, blessed sister Julian!

 

[Mannyfit75]

So, what do you say about the visions of St. Faustina? She says that Jesus revealed to her that He will call upon souls at the moment of death, even up to three times. Then if they do not turn to Him, they are lost. However, if they turn to Him and accept His mercy, they will be saved.

I believe her visions are accurate. You will have that chance, and like I said if you are unrepentent sinner and refuse to turn to Jesus for your sins, you will not gain heaven. You will go to hell.

 

[Shoshana]

I have not gone through the posts…so I apologize…just needed to say. If it has been said, forgive me.

I thoroughly believe in Divine Mercy and put all my trust in that. That being said, Our Lady of Fatima told one o fthe seers that many were going to hell. And that was in the early 20th century. What about now? In Divine Mercy, it is also said, amongst others, that many were perishing into hell for a lack of people praying for them and doing sacrifiec. God does not throw us into hell…we do it ourselves.

 

[Abbadon]

After watching Bleach i started to think about heaven and hell and thought most of my family would be going to hell. I started a post and lead me to this one. Now i’m just depressed becuase me and most of the people i love, know and care for are going to hell.

Damnation doesn’t sound very good, but i have begun mentally preparing my self for eternal damnation. Since my own beliefs, logic and thoughts seem to conflict with what apparently people who go to heaven have… All i can hope is to “laugh with the sinners, than cry with the saints” hahahahhaahaha…

=.=

damn hell…

 

[Jestocost]

After watching Bleach i started to think about heaven and hell and thought most of my family would be going to hell. I started a post and lead me to this one. Now i’m just depressed becuase me and most of the people i love, know and care for are going to hell.

Damnation doesn’t sound very good, but i have begun mentally preparing my self for eternal damnation. Since my own beliefs, logic and thoughts seem to conflict with what apparently people who go to heaven have… All i can hope is to “laugh with the sinners, than cry with the saints” hahahahhaahaha…

=.=

damn hell…

And why would you despair so? Forgivness is simple to achieve.

 

[Stranded]

Being brand new to CA I really hesitated to post but I am troubled by this posting and it’s reality. I fought long and hard , enduring the Tribunal, etc. etc.
In order to continue my faith I have to live as brother and sister with my wife of 12 years. I have always felt deeply I was being drawn into the one true Church. So now I have arrived (was confirmed this year… I am 60 years old)
I have always maintained that If I believe this is the true Church then I must obey all dogma, doctrine and law and accept all teachings regardless of my “feelings”
I think in a duty oriented military manner so much so that that has helped me immensely.
BUT
This posting was sobering to me, and speaking for myself I see that I fall short in every area which equals sin …venial and mortal. Simple self examination would show anyone just how inadequate and full of self we are in every area of our being. There is no one who should feel at ease or comfortable at any time. Has anyone here even touched the expectations and commands of Christ, feed anyone today? How much given? Motives?
Now I understand what Catholic guilt is, sadly this posting triggered this epiphany. All fall short. You would have to live in a confessional for even the most remote hope of Heaven as defined by the Church Fathers.
Am I crazy or does anyone else see this? Truth is who is really serving God in the spirit of Christ?
I have no doubts about our Saviour, the Holy Spirit, Almighty God or Our Lady… Now I have horrible doubts and shame that I cannot be what he expects.
Dan matacan@bellsouth.net

 

[rrbond07]

Firstly, it is ourselves who choose hell through free will if we do not make use of the sacrament of penence. Our Lady of Fatima said, “Many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray for them.” Also, “More souls go to hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.” We understand this as those who do not make use of the confessional and to turn ones life around. God knows we are human, yet inspires us to use the confessional. It is up to us to act on that inspiration. We don’t need to live in the confessional either. Don’t forget, many saints were tremendous sinners like St. Augustine, yet he repented and became one of the greatest saints/doctor in the church.
We should never dispair, but always make frequent use of the confessional. Internal desire to do better speaks before the throne of God. I’m sure there are many people entering Purgatory who have a great deal of time to spend there before their entrance into heaven.

 

[Mijoy2]

We should never dispair, but always make frequent use of the confessional.

As I have mentioned before, the use of the word “we” or “me” or “you” is of course used with the best of intention. However it misses the point of these depressing threads of which the subject matter is hell. Most of the people who begin these posts (I believe) are not concerned with themselves but are concerned with the deeply loved ones who simply do not see things the same way. “we”, “me” or “you” are pronouns of which “we” have a degree of control over. It’s the “mother” or “father” or “daughter” or “son” (especially over a certain age) of which we despair.

 

[Shiphrae]

originally posted by Hermione
As I understand it, most people are going to Hell. Jesus Himself says so in the Bible when he says that the road to hell is wide, and the gate to Heaven is narrow and few enter it or something like that.

I understand the above as Jesus saying that it is very easy to follow the wrong way but we have to work hard at following the right path. I think that He’s saying that **few people will go directly to Heaven most will have to spend some time in purgatory. **
Jesus, being all merciful, does not want anyone to go to hell. He would not have suffered and died for us all if it were the case.

I believe that God in His mercy gives everyone a chance even on his death bed to repent and see the Light. It only takes a moment to ask forgiveness. We see this when He speaks to the thief on the cross next to Him.

Peace of Christ,
Shiphrae

 

[Anacharius]

The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved
by St. Leonard of Port Maurice

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice was a most holy Franciscan friar who lived at the monastery of Saint Bonaventure in Rome. He was one of the greatest missioners in the history of the Church. He used to preach to thousands in the open square of every city and town where the churches could not hold his listeners. So brilliant and holy was his eloquence that once when he gave a two weeks’ mission in Rome, the Pope and College of Cardinals came to hear him. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were his crusades. He was in no small way responsible for the definition of the Immaculate Conception made a little more than a hundred years after his death. He also gave us the Divine Praises, which are said at the end of Benediction. But Saint Leonard’s most famous work was his devotion to the Stations of the Cross. He died a most holy death in his seventy-fifth year, after twenty-four years of uninterrupted preaching.

One of Saint Leonard of Port Maurice’s most famous sermons was “The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved.” It was the one he relied on for the conversion of great sinners. This sermon, like his other writings, was submitted to canonical examination during the process of canonization. In it he reviews the various states of life of Christians and concludes with the little number of those who are saved, in relation to the totality of men.

The reader who meditates on this remarkable text will grasp the soundness of its argumentation, which has earned it the approbation of the Church. Here is the great missionary’s vibrant and moving sermon.
The rest can be found at this link, it is too long to copy and paste here.
http://olrl.org/snt_docs/fewness.shtml

Tom

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[expectthebest]

The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved
by St. Leonard of Port Maurice

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice was a most holy Franciscan friar who lived at the monastery of Saint Bonaventure in Rome. He was one of the greatest missioners in the history of the Church. He used to preach to thousands in the open square of every city and town where the churches could not hold his listeners. So brilliant and holy was his eloquence that once when he gave a two weeks’ mission in Rome, the Pope and College of Cardinals came to hear him. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were his crusades. He was in no small way responsible for the definition of the Immaculate Conception made a little more than a hundred years after his death. He also gave us the Divine Praises, which are said at the end of Benediction. But Saint Leonard’s most famous work was his devotion to the Stations of the Cross. He died a most holy death in his seventy-fifth year, after twenty-four years of uninterrupted preaching.

One of Saint Leonard of Port Maurice’s most famous sermons was “The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved.” It was the one he relied on for the conversion of great sinners. This sermon, like his other writings, was submitted to canonical examination during the process of canonization. In it he reviews the various states of life of Christians and concludes with the little number of those who are saved, in relation to the totality of men.

The reader who meditates on this remarkable text will grasp the soundness of its argumentation, which has earned it the approbation of the Church. Here is the great missionary’s vibrant and moving sermon.

So, according to this Saint, the great majority of people go to hell. It just doesn’t seem like God would have created us if he new we would be so imperfect that we would mostly all go to hell for eternal damnation.

But, I guess the real question is what does the Church specifically teach on this? Has the Church taken no decisions on the general likelihood of being saved?

 

[Jimdandy]

Most people go to purgatory. A few go directly to heaven, and some go to hell by their own choice.

 

[clmowry]

So, according to this Saint, the great majority of people go to hell. It just doesn’t seem like God would have created us if he new we would be so imperfect that we would mostly all go to hell for eternal damnation.

But, I guess the real question is what does the Church specifically teach on this? Has the Church taken no decisions on the general likelihood of being saved?

Well the Saint seems to concur with what Chist says.

Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that
leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

I’ve never much like this verse. But there it is all the same.

Chuck

 

[expectthebest]

Most people go to purgatory. A few go directly to heaven, and some go to hell by their own choice.

Is this what the Church officially teaches? I’ve often wondered if the “hell” Jesus is talking about in this case (gate is wide and gate is narrow) isn’t the same as the “hell” Jesus descended too after his death on the cross. Certainly this was not the "hell’ as the hell of damnation.

 

[expectthebest]

Well the Saint seems to concur with what Chist says.

Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that
leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

I’ve never much like this verse. But there it is all the same.

Chuck

Does the Church define a specific belief on this?

 

[expectthebest]

I understand the above as Jesus saying that it is very easy to follow the wrong way but we have to work hard at following the right path. I think that He’s saying that **few people will go directly to Heaven most will have to spend some time in purgatory. **
Jesus, being all merciful, does not want anyone to go to hell. He would not have suffered and died for us all if it were the case.

I believe that God in His mercy gives everyone a chance even on his death bed to repent and see the Light. It only takes a moment to ask forgiveness. We see this when He speaks to the thief on the cross next to Him.

Peace of Christ,
Shiphrae

Why would God give anybody an actual chance to repent? After all, God already knew where we would end up before the beginning of time. If he were to give us a chance, it would be just an excersise that doesn’t really change anything. Our destiny has already been decided, has it not? God already knows how he will judge us.

 

[expectthebest]

Well the Saint seems to concur with what Chist says.

Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that
leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

I’ve never much like this verse. But there it is all the same.

Chuck

Boy, if it’s really true that most go to hell, I don’t want to have any more children and place that reallity on them. I really think there must be something missing here because this just doesn’t make sense if we are to believe in an infinite loving God. How could infinite love create something with the knowledge that the majority of that creation would be destined for eternal punishment?

 

[Super_Grover]

But, I guess the real question is what does the Church specifically teach on this? Has the Church taken no decisions on the general likelihood of being saved?

I posted a thread called The Problem of Hell, forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=243620 and it naturally transitioned into a discussion about predestination, and someone posted this link from the Catholic Encyclopedia on the Catholic dogma of predestination. newadvent.org/cathen/12378a.htm Fascinating and dense reading. Here’s a snippet:

Naturally, human curiosity is eager for definite information about the absolute as well as the relative number of the elect. How high should the absolute number be estimated? But it would be idle and useless to undertake calculations and to guess at so and so many millions or billions of predestined. St. Thomas (I, Q. xxiii, a. 7) mentions the opinion of some theologians that as many men will be saved as there are fallen angels, while others held that the number of predestined will equal the number of the faithful angels.

Lastly, there were optimists who, combining these two opinions into a third, made the total of men saved equal to the unnumbered myriads of berated spirits. But even granted that the principle of our calculation is correct, no mathematician would be able to figure out the absolute number on a basis so vague, since the number of angels and demons is an unknown quantity to us. Hence, “the best answer”, rightly remarks St. Thomas, “is to say: God alone knows the number of his elect”.

 

[clmowry]

Does the Church define a specific belief on this?

I don’t think so.

Other than naming saints, I do not believe the Church formally prognosticates on the fate of individuals or the population in general.

I “believe” the Church takes the position that we have “hope” that “all” can reach salvation but “know” that “some” will not.

So there is somewhere between 1 and infinity in each group.

Based on Christ’s statement, it would at least “seem” that “something” more that half of us are not going to like the outcome.

(Yeah I know, completely unhelpful.)

Chuck

From the CCC:

IV. HELL

1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell.”

1034 Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna,” of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire, "and that he will pronounce the condemnation: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!”

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, “eternal fire.” The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he
longs.

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where “men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance”:

Father, accept this offering
from your whole family.
Grant us your peace in this life,
save us from final damnation,
and count us among those you have chosen.