Are the souls in Hell friends with eachother?

[steve_b]

Yet, many Catholics throughout history, and even some today (on this very forum) continue to insist that the vast, vast, vast majority of human beings are damned. There’s even been references on this very forum, by certain posters, to private revelations (of dubious origins I think) suggesting such remarkable numbers as only 3 out of 60 000 (or something like that, i can’t remember the specifics now) avoiding eternal torment. Many people don’t seem to limit damnation to those consumed with malice. I personally fear hell…immensely so…I know I struggle with certain grave sins. I know that many saints and theologians throughout history have assured us that most people are damned and only a small select few saved. I hope that isn’t true…I hope that God’s mercy prevails in the end and that most people will be saved by means known only to him…but I don’t know that…and it terrifies me.

The one who decides this, has already told us in advance how many make it to heaven

Luke 13:23 And some one said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!’ 28 There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out.

And

Matthew 7:13-14 , The narrow gate

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy,a] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Since it is Jesus, who says only a few make it to heaven, and since all in purgatory go to heaven, that means the rest go to hell. So those saints you mention, were correct… IMV those passages are the scariest passages in scripture.

 

[omgriley]

Did they really though? They chose to live a poor existence on earth… but had no idea what they were getting into.

This following clip I think summarizes the society of the damned: youtube.com/watch?v=HagGCzypwLQ&t=1s

Yes they really chose it for themselves. By their actions, they have said to God “I do not love you.” God has respected that statement and left them alone. He has provided them with every opportunity to enter into friendship with Him and they have rejected Him. That’s what Hell is: total rejection of God and his offer of everlasting friendship. The souls in Hell do not sit around and cry “oh I was so wrong, please forgive me!” Instead, they are in a state of everlasting hatred for God.

Try not to reflect on this reality from the wrong standpoint: that there are particular sins that would be so bad they’d send someone to Hell, or that Hell is something God would do to someone. That’s not wrong, but there’s more to it than that.

Read this article. It will help.

 

[omgriley]

I must admit that while I believe it in, I do struggle with the concept that the vast majority of human beings, as many Christians have throughout Church history believed, will choose to be eternally damned…to suffer beyond our imagination…pain beyond comprehension…forever and ever and ever. I hope and pray that many more will be saved than we tend to think.

Pray that God will let you suffer —even a little—for the conversion of sinners.

 

[omgriley]

Today I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is!

The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it – a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. …]

Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. …]

But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a Hell. When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there! (Diary of St. Faustina, 741)

The concept that a countless number of souls are in Hell should frightnen us all and drive us to pray every day for God’s love and mercy. It seems clear to me however that thinking Hell is merely a place for the Hitlers of the world is incredibly dangerous.

Contrary to the ideas of some of the posters on this tn thread Hell is very easy to go to and Heaven is incredibly hard to get to. If it were easy to go to Heaven then we would not be called to take up our cross daily and follow Him.

 

[Sy_Noe]

The one who decides this, has already told us in advance how many make it to heaven

Luke 13:23 And some one said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!’ 28 There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out.

And

Matthew 7:13-14 , The narrow gate

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy,a] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Since it is Jesus, who says only a few make it to heaven, and since all in purgatory go to heaven, that means the rest go to hell. So those saints you mention, were correct… IMV those passages are the scariest passages in scripture.

Yet the “one who decides” according to John’s gospel said something different than what is found in Matthew and Luke’s gospels.

Jn 14:2 “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition)

 

[GEddie]

Pray that God will let you suffer —even a little—for the conversion of sinners.

We should not pray for suffering, the nature of our human life makes it inevitable.

ICXC NIKA

 

[SuperLuigi]

Yes, yes. People have friends in hell, just like in any other place. And I agree, there would be very interesting conversations there.

.

If you saw hell for what is was, you would not be so cavalier thinking that it was some chance for further conversation or even enlightenment.

Hell is to be without God. Forever.

There are no friendships, no happiness.

I suspect that people there hate each other and on occasion even bring testimony against souls undergoing judgement to try and get them to come there with them.

I think you have a lot you should reflect on beyond what the secular, atheistic left of the United States of America has taught you…

 

[CatholicSpirit]

I know this question has merit, some of the younger generation envision hell as “a nightclub” and slums where people “do everything people on Earth forbid, which so many consider FUN.” Things like consuming alcohol and drugs. It’s sad that people think like this: “well if getting drunk is frowned upon by my church, Satan must have a ton of the best breweries down there, woah!” And I’m not even making this up, that’s how some horribly misguided/miseducated (or both) people think. But to sum all this up:

That apple from the tree of life sure looked tasty, and what REALLY happened… Now that’s a mystery that pathetic case-chasing actor on the tv sitcom “Lucifer” ought to solve on TV because people are just too shallow to read the Book of Genesis for a dozen pages and wake up.

Don’t buy into the majestic afterlife known as hell, it’s bull (and managed by the same).

 

[twf]

The concept that a countless number of souls are in Hell should frightnen us all and drive us to pray every day for God’s love and mercy. It seems clear to me however that thinking Hell is merely a place for the Hitlers of the world is incredibly dangerous.

Contrary to the ideas of some of the posters on this tn thread Hell is very easy to go to and Heaven is incredibly hard to get to. If it were easy to go to Heaven then we would not be called to take up our cross daily and follow Him.

Yet His yoke is easy and His burden is light…
The thief on the cross was granted eternal salvation even after an entire lifetime of sin.

 

[HabemusFrancis]

God forgive me, but I have to post this:

theonion.com/article/hell-now-a-thriving-epicenter-of-gay-culture-33928

 

[twf]

The one who decides this, has already told us in advance how many make it to heaven

Luke 13:23 And some one said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!’ 28 There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out.

And

Matthew 7:13-14 , The narrow gate

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy,a] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Since it is Jesus, who says only a few make it to heaven, and since all in purgatory go to heaven, that means the rest go to hell. So those saints you mention, were correct… IMV those passages are the scariest passages in scripture.

It is terrifying. And also extremely depressing…I sincerely hope such interpretations are not true…but if they are, the idea that the vast majority of people who ever lived…the vast majority of people we know and love…the vast majority of people who sincerely believe in their hearts are living good lives…are destined to suffer indescribable agony beyond our comprehension or imagination without end. The thought shakes you to your core.

 

[HabemusFrancis]

The fact of the matter is, many souls spend their lives not really caring if the life they live is good or not, more just if it “works for them.”

How many souls really care about doing God’s will on earth, or even think much about finding him?

I think you have your answer.

It is scary, but I think you have your answer

 

[steve_b]

It is terrifying. And also extremely depressing…I* sincerely hope such interpretations are not tru***e…but if they are, the idea that the vast majority of people who ever lived…the vast majority of people we know and love…the vast majority of people who sincerely believe in their hearts are living good lives…are destined to suffer indescribable agony beyond our comprehension or imagination without end. The thought shakes you to your core.

may I ask, what is meant by “such interpretations”? What was given were quotes from Matthew and Luke.

 

[steve_b]

Yet the “one who decides” according to John’s gospel said something different than what is found in Matthew and Luke’s gospels.

Jn 14:2 “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition)

John is not a contradiction of Matthew and Luke…

The few who make it, have many dwelling places.

 

[twf]

may I ask, what is meant by “such interpretations”? What was given were quotes from Matthew and Luke.

Not all Catholic theologians agree that it is certain that the vast majority of us are damned.

 

[twf]

John is not a contradiction of Matthew and Luke…

The few who make it, have many dwelling places.

John sees a great multitude of saints, beyond count, from every tribe and tongue in Revelation.
Like I said, I hope more will be saved than we tend to think…but I don’t know it. I hope because there’s otherwise little reason to hope for myself.

 

[inocente]

God forgive me, but I have to post this:

theonion.com/article/hell-now-a-thriving-epicenter-of-gay-culture-33928

From the article: “I think it’s great that they’ve carved out such a strong community for themselves here,” added the horned beast of ceaseless death and destruction. “I’m all for it.””

Seriously, continuous torture or isolation is so dehumanized and distressing that it sends victims insane. Only in the fantasies of sadists do the victims not go insane so that they can continue to suffer. I’m surprised that adults would believe such fantasies, even sat around a camp fire telling tall stories on Halloween.

 

[steve_b]

Not all Catholic theologians agree that it is certain that the vast majority of us are damned.

do you have some names of these theologians who disagree with Jesus meaning of “few”?

 

[Sy_Noe]

John sees a great multitude of saints, beyond count, from every tribe and tongue in Revelation.
Like I said, I hope more will be saved than we tend to think…but I don’t know it. I hope because there’s otherwise little reason to hope for myself.

Yes a great multitude does not equate to a few. So while no one knows, John does give us hope.

 

[twf]

do you have some names of these theologians who disagree with Jesus meaning of “few”?

Bishop Barron and Hans von Balthasar come to mind off the top of my head. Pope Francis central message certainly implies greater emphasis on “hope” for salvation than certainty of damnation for most of mankind.

This is a little off topic, but only slightly so. Take the concept of Limbo. For centuries, most theologians, saints, popes assumed that unbaptized babies were damned. Theologically this makes sense. They are deprived of sanctifying grace and thus separated from God. Of course it wasn’t assumed that they were be in torment, but still in hell (the limbo or edge of hell). Today most theologians prefer to “hope” that God, in His mercy, by means we cannot understand, somehow may save unborn babies. This is the same concept but applied to those guilty of personal sin rather than merely original sin.