But the Question is: Do Most Christians Go to Hell?

[distracted]

St. Faustina was told by Jesus that those who will not pass through His Mercy will be forced to pass through His Justice. I suppose attempting to pass through Perfect Justice is another word for Hell…
Maybe the fires of Hell are a soul’s attempt to deal with how unjust / un-Christian… etc…they have been in life?? I mean, i don’t think the fires of Hell are physical like the fires we know on Earth (though God knows)… In one account at SpiritLessons.com, a woman went to Hell because she refused to forgive her husband for cheating on her. She let her hatred and unforgiveness grow to the point she killed her husband (who had asked for her forgiveness) and the woman and then herself. She knew to forgive, yet refused. No one can argue that, as Jesus told her, she “brought it on [herself]”… In other words, she “wanted” Hell… the Hell of hatred and unforgiveness… She was already in Hell in this world… She chose hate but hate is not allowed in Heaven…
You can love someone till your heart breaks… love him/her forever and always, totally unconditionally, but do you want the person in your life if he/she lies to you, cheats you, steals everything you have, refuses to respect you… Do you want that person living in your house with you? No, you would undoubtedly choose to love that person from a distance…
God loves eveyrone always & forever, even the souls in HEll… He never stops loving anyone…it is the soul who has chosen Hell that stops loving God… stops loving period…

 

[Jerry-Jet]

Does anyone here read the bible and give a hoot what Jesus says?

If Jesus says “the road to heaven is narrow and few there are that find it”–is anyone going to tell me that Jesus who is God doesn’t know what He’s talking about?

If Jesus says “Few” I believe Jesus!

Let’s hear the great argument why people should Not believe Jesus when Jesus says “few”!

 

[Antithesis]

Gods mercy is not that we go to heaven but that we continue to exsist. By our very birth we are an offense to God, by that I mean original sin. The moment we are born we are dammed for all eternity. Then God through his over abundent mercy gives us baptism, yet still we continue to offend God with the smallest of sins which are infinite and horrible against him and still he allows us to continue out of his mercy.

God being the creator has every right to erase us from exsistance but instead by his mercy he allows us to continue to exsist and pay back that offense for all eternity in hell. Yet it is an infinite expense so we are forever dammed. Yet still this is the infinite mercy of God.

 

[blessedstar]

Does anyone here read the bible and give a hoot what Jesus says?

If Jesus says “the road to heaven is narrow and few there are that find it”–is anyone going to tell me that Jesus who is God doesn’t know what He’s talking about?

If Jesus says “Few” I believe Jesus!

Let’s hear the great argument why people should Not believe Jesus when Jesus says “few”!

Few? Which few? Few Jews? Few Catholics? Few Christians? Few Muslims? Few of all creation?

Yes by themselves few will find it, I doubt anyone would find it by themself.

There are thousands of Canonised Saints, is this the only few?

What Jesus is saying here is not that there will only be a few in heaven as this would contradict other Sacred Scripture passages and God does not contradict Himself, but what He is saying is that the road is not easily recognisable, it is a small way, a way most people would pass by and not notice:

‘Small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to heaven…’

When the Jews anticipated the Messiah they were looking for a big show up, Jesus wasn’t what they expected, they didn’t expect His teaching of the Cross, they expected a totally different teaching, one that would liberate them from the Romans and their oppressors, but here came Jesus saying ‘Love your enemies’. They expected to be exalted, especially the poor old Pharisees, they expected to be patted on the back and the Messiah to establish a kingdom for them, instead Jesus told them ‘sell everything and follow Me’. The narrow road had no place in the Pharisees plans, they didn’t see this as any sort of road to heaven. They were not going to enter by a small gate because Jesus is the ‘small gate’ so small and ‘not seeking equality with God as anything to be grasped at’ He stripped Himself preferring humility ‘to be humbler still even to death on a Cross’. The narrow road being the Gospel culminating in the road to Calvary which each believer must follow.‘Take up your daily cross and follow Me’.

Those people had waited a long time for the Messiah and He just wasn’t living up to what they had wanted. They knew He was the Messiah, but they couldn’t see the ‘small gate’, they didn’t find it. They didn’t like the narrow road, they preferred the wide paths that lead to perdition. The paths of self exaltation, the paths of victory for self gain at the cost of suffering of others and ruling over others with hard laws enforced with hard hearts.

Jesus wasn’t going to stand there and say to them. ’ I am a merciful God, Don’t bother trying too hard, the gate is Me and I am Infinite, not so small afterall, so come on in and don’t strive to follow in My footsteps on this narrow road as I have trodden before you and graced it so that you may stay on the straight and narrow.’ That does not ask of us any co-operative work in the work of the Cross of Jesus, it would not invite us to be active in the redemption of humanity and the Pharisees had no interest in that, they weren’t thinking of helping each other to heaven, they were waiting for a Messiah to come and solve all their woes and restore everything and job would be done and they wouldn’t have to do anything except observance of laws and gain of stature in social circles. That clearly is not what God wants, God wants us to be like Him and so we too must strive and participate in God’s redemptive work; we are no different to those Pharisees, our broken human natuire would quickly lead to the wide road, if we did not know we must strive on the narrow road and persevere. The Pharisees didn’t even recognise Jesus’ teaching as fulfilling the OT, they didn’t see Him fulfilling it as they had interpreted it, they didn’t see any mercy in the OT and they were merciless themselves. They couldn’t see the very Incarnation of God was an act of His great Mercy.

Part of that small gate is Mercy as Mercy is a quality of the Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and indeed few will be those who recognise it. However due to God’s Mercy many will be those who experience it. A poster on this forum has the name ‘Mercygate’ I think it is a beautiful name to choose, because all of us if we are to enter heaven will pass through that ‘mercy gate’, Christ Jesus.

In the Living Prayer of my life

 

[The_Catholic]

Hell is eternal, and the Bible supports this.

Just because you refuse to believe it, doesn’t mean it’s not eternal. As for flesh burning forever, guess you have some kind of media oriented image on hell

Oh boy, yes I believe hell is eternal, I am not refusing to believe it JFonseka, what I was talking about was one’s flesh literaly burning off, regrowing, and burning off again. Also, the Bible BARELY supports eternal hell, there are only two crystal clear verses as I can see, BUT I STILL BELIEVE IN HELL, so don’t draw your guns on me JF,

It’s literaly amazing at how things get out of hand “guess you have some kind of media oriented image on hell,” and you smile??!! Hell is NOTHING to smile or joke about JF! So please stop.

God bless you

 

[The_Catholic]

I guess in the end, we all believe what seems reasonable to us. I think it is OK not to have a set belief on something, especially things concerning unknowns like Heaven and Hell. Maybe to argue too much about all the details of waht Hell is like is, well, unproductive, since we just don’t know for sure. We would do better to act on waht we DO know. We know to love one another… and yet there doesn’t seem to be much love in the world… even in the Christian world…

or maybe especially in the Christian world…

Yes, EXACTLY and I’m so tired of it!! Many Catholics around me seem like self-rightoues pharisses of Jesus’ time. Enough is enough brothers and sisters. May God please raise up a saint, or many for our time, please please please! We have to bring others back, and new ones lost wandering around. I’m tired of the bitterness.

God bless you.

 

[The_Catholic]

Thank you Blessedstar for your words—such fatalisitic thinking is very damaging spiritually. I know some people would disagree and say that we need to think about this topic, as if it would make us “better Christians”—but I prefer to consider His mercy, and how I can give that to others. We wouldn’t have to worry on this topic if we just practiced the virtue of GIVING mercy in our lives. We should wish that all come to merciful Heart of Jesus, and think often on this, as a prayer and a joy beyond all joy. I believe that if we just prayed enough like that, more souls would be saved, for Jesus DID say “I desire mercy”.

Hi Lisa, beautiful post

 

[The_Catholic]

Hi Lisa

Everytime I am forced to think of hell (because my mind does not naturally turn to thinking of hell but has been created to think of God, His heaven and the upward calling) I am filled with the most awful recoil that it offends my spirit.

Hell is not the natural state for souls, it is unnatural, it is not what we are created for, no soul is created for hell. We are created for God and the state that God desires for souls is Heaven.

If for some reason, like these infernal threads, I am forced to think of hell which does not inspire in me any good, then all my soul can do is raise praise and thanksgiving that our Good and Merciful Jesus died upon the Cross to bind hell forever and open the gates of Heaven to souls.

It is no small thing that God entered into human history and Incarnate walked the earth to sancitfy it and restore men back to Himself by the Way of His Cross and Resurrection. This is no small matter at all. Why then should we fear hell anymore? Even if our flesh should be taken from our bones and all manner of evil done to us, why then should we fear hell anymore? Generation after generation hoped to see what the Apostles saw. Simeon thanked God most happy to die because he had seen his salvation as promised:

Now you may let your servant go in peace, Master, as you said you would. For my eyes have seen the salvation you prepared for all people: a light to enlighten the nations and to give glory to your people, Israel.

How long those generations waited in hope of the Messiah! How great their joy as Jesus’ identity gradually unfolded! And we who know who He is and know the voice of our Good Shepherd, we do not share that same joy? We do not leap like deer, nor see but instead are blind, nor hear but instead are deaf? We who have every grace and blessing, we do not trust in His great works of Salvation and the Eternal Victory won on the Cross and are blind to the great Mercy and Love of God even though at any time we choose we can look at the Cross and see Love totally immoilated and stripped bare so that we may be full of all of His qualities and by His grace increasingly become like Him.

What a great insult it is then to the Divine Generosity and Goodness to say that most of His creation will fall into the pit, does God’s grace not extend even into the edge of the pit? Did God Himself not go down into the pit and bring those souls who had believed in and awaited Him to Himself?

Sometimes the greatest mountain to move is the ‘self’ and even if a soul should have even a little faith Jesus said that you can say to this mountain move here or go there and it will move. The most hardened heart solid and stubborn as a grounded mountain can be moved and moved at the last second from here to there.

So I have every reason to hope in Jesus and trust in Him that not one of His children will fall into the pit eternally though during their life they may often stumble down into the pit because no soul will go to hell unless they themselves should will it.

God does not condemn anyone and especially not the hapless; by that I mean a soul that has no knowledge they have sinned does not fall into the pit by ignorance because a man cannot be condemned because He does not know his sin, this is why Jesus told the Pharisees ‘Because you say you see, your sin remains’, this is just how merciful God is. The Pharisees sin remained only because they refused to repent, they indeed knew their sin; they condemned themselves. Hopefully at the last minute they moved…they repented, let’s hope that for the poor Pharisees.

I cannot speak for other men, nor speak about their soul as though it is some small matter, it is no small matter, otherwise God would not have gone to the great lengths of His Incarnation, Death and Resurrection if the matter was small. I take seriously Jesus’ charge to be merciful and not to judge one another. I have absolutely no business judging who will go where at the end of their lives, if I do that I am my brother and sister’s accuser and am doing the work of satan who accuses the bretheren day and night to God. However I am my brother’s keeper; this does not involve accusing him, but rather doing all good and kind acts in all mercy to help to guide him on the good road as I would hope my brother would do that for me always praying for one another.

continued

AAAAMMMMMMMEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!

Translation: Amen

 

[Jerry-Jet]

Let me do this the hard way and spell out what few means.

Few does not mean majority.

Since the scriptures say that it is God’s wish that All be saved but some reject Him we can infer that Jesus is talking about everyone.

If there are 6 billion people in the world today then at least the majority of them will go to Hell because few must mean less than a majority.

So we know for sure that at least 3 billion people currently alive will go to Hell!

It is safe to guess that few probably means much less than 3 billion people but how much less we do not know.

If few were to mean 1 in 10 people then there would be 600 million people today currently living who would be saved and 5.4 billion people currently living who would go to Hell!

So few could still be Millions of people going to Heaven while at the same time billions of people would go to Hell!

And these are just the numbers of those currently living and don’t include all those who have ever lived since Adam and Eve.

But just for argument sake say that it is 1 out of 10. There are currently 1 billion Catholics worldwide but only 600 million people world wide would be saved of the currently living if it were 1 out of 10.

So potentially 400million Catholics currently living might go to Hell–actually more than that since a small number of non Catholics will also not go to Hell.

Bottom line: Over 400 million Catholics might go to Hell if 1 out of 10 people currently living are saved!

Now of course maybe few means more than 1 out of 10 but even if it meant 2 out of 10 you might still have 200 million Catholics who might go to Hell!

Bottom line: Quit listening to all the Universalists who believe everyone goes to heaven and sees grand mother and grand daddy and “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” as St. Paul says!

P.S. And none of this even considers the question of how many people go straight to heaven and how many people go to Purgatory where saints say people endure greater pain there than any ever found on Earth!

Anyone who does not fear God is Crazy!

 

[blessedstar]

 

[The_Catholic]

I just wanted to say also, every soul who goes to hell will do so by their own choosing, they will not desire God. Many “Catholics” or “Christians of any sort” think they are ok by baring a tittle or by being baptized, but only those who desire God will find Him. It’s all or nothing, there is no in between. So if billions of people choose seperation from God, then that is their choice, sadly

But to the one who truly wants the Lord, submits to Him, and regardless of their sin, WANT to live by His law, and cast off sin, as they know it displeases Him, their bridegroom, then they will be saved. If we seek Him, seek Truth, we will find Him. Praise God almighty!!

 

[Raguel33]

I really don’t see what purpose threads like this serve. It can make people despair of their salvation, and that is a sin.

That is how I feel…statements like these are what keep non-believers away from Christ (Specifically, the Church). I know that prejudice was responsible for my own distaste for Catholicism over the years. I judged the Catholics based on fallacies similar to this (they are simply misrepresentations of the Church)…only to later realize that I was the hypocrite (not the Church).

Where is your evidence? I do not need to touch Jesus’ wounds in order to believe in the ultimate Sacrifice, but when someone claims imperfection in God’s infinite mercy, they better be able to show some kind of proof. Also, you need to take into consideration the possibility that not everyone who marks the “Christian” box on a survey is truly a follower of Christ.

I was afraid to call myself a Christian or to feel at home in a church for several years. The devil had convinced me that “I would be smited for eternity, because as a kid, I stole a cookie from the cookie jar against my Father’s orders.” Who would want to serve a god who acts like a kid on a power trip, when they are able to serve the one true God = Love? Think about it…If God had predestined most of us to hell, then there is not reason to be here. If God sentences most of his own Son’s followers to an average of 70 years of hopeless pain and tribulations on earth, followed by an eternity in a hell composed of the most severe of these earthly pains, then I would surely hate to know what the devil has in store for followers of Christ.
!
In my opinion, fundamentalism is a major enemy of the Lord, and its part in my Babtist upbringing was used to cripple me for quite some time. Remember - Satan knows the Bible better than we do, and he tries to uses it against us. I learned the hard way, and that is why I am able to admit my inferiority to the people who have been translating the Word for 2,000 years. You can not let yourself become confined to a physically written word, or else you will fail miserably. I am forever grateful for the Divine Intercession that words can not explain. But when I see Catholics misrepresenting the Church, I begin to doubt. It is bad when someone like me who walked the steps of St. Paul (once persecuted the Church) stands up for Catholics against other Catholics!

I try to hold my tongue, but I am still learning to walk. I may slip and fall on occasion (when I doubt), but my beautiful Mother is always there to quickly pick me up and “kiss my wounds.” Also, when my Father is being too strict even after she feels I have learned my lesson, Mother reasons with Him. God’s anger is no match for a Mother’s love and vice versa, so they meet each other halfway and form the perfect Marriage!

The neverending story of Jesus Christ and His followers is what attracts me to the Catholic tradition…the mystery of the Church, the Creed, and the Holy Mother’s Grace is what keeps me going.
On my way to RCIA each week, I am unable to sit still - like an overeager child. I wonder, “What will I un-learn about God today?”

Recently, I stuck my big toe into the Tiber River in order to test the temperature of the water…it feels too good to be true! After being a prisoner for such a long time, I am finally free to see a whole new world of possibilities to serve God w/in the Church.

May the Lord have mercy on anyone whose faith has been hindered as a result of reading this thread…

 

[St_Gabriel]

Really, this is none of your business (whether or not people go to Hell). It’s God’s business. Instead, take advantage of the graces he pours out through the confessional.

 

[distracted]

the Bible BARELY supports eternal hell, there are only two crystal clear verses as I can see,

How can u say that there are only 2 crystal clear verses on Hell? There are numerous passages that refer to eternal punishment (St. Matthew 25:31, etc.), how difficult and narrow is the path to Heaven… how nothing unclean will enter Heaven… (i could go on and on). If i had my Bible & Concordance handy, i could find so many passages, it would make your head swim. :whacky:

Frankly, i benefit greatly from the knowledge that it is not easy to get into Heaven.
When i get lazy about being holy… (so easy to do in this ungodly society we live in ), well, i have discovered that i can slip so much in holiness without even realizing it, that i get to the point i don’t even notice i have slipped so much … I end up (subconsciously) making excuses, rationalizing, comparing myself w/others (when i should be comparing myself to Christ by attempting to imitate Him - instead of the common Joe Blow ‘Christian’.
Jesus said many times that it is not easy getting to Heaven, that the way is narrow, that there will be many who will try to get in but “won’t be strong enough”… etc…

 

[distracted]

That is how I feel…statements like these are what keep non-believers away from Christ (Specifically, the Church).

I think it would lead people to investigate things… They might have the Hell scared out of them, literally…

If God sentences most of his own Son’s followers to an average of 70 years of hopeless pain and tribulations on earth, followed by an eternity in a hell composed of the most severe of these earthly pains, then I would surely hate to know what the devil has in store for followers of Christ.

God doesn’t ordain anyone to go to Hell. And you are judging God when you say that (imply that) when people end up there, it is His fault. It is just as wrong to judge people as being good enough to go to Heaven or Purgatory as it is to say someone is not going there…
The bottom line is: Jesus said it was difficult getting to Heaven. Are we going to argue with Him also?
Just the rude-ness of some of the Posters here shows that some people aren’t as “loving” as they would like to think…
If you don’t agree w/ a Poster, fine. But there is a way to say something and a way not to… There is not need for rudeness and making others look like they are “off” just for wanting to disucuss a particular topic. I’m sorry, but to me, tht is not very Christian behavior…
I am not speaking so much for your Post, which i only read half-way through… but of many others here… It seems hypocritical to say we shouldn’t talk about something and then keep on adding our 2 cents worth (the ones who supposedly dislike talking about it write the longest posts).

 

[The_Catholic]

How can u say that there are only 2 crystal clear verses on Hell? There are numerous passages that refer to eternal punishment (St. Matthew 25:31, etc.), how difficult and narrow is the path to Heaven… how nothing unclean will enter Heaven… (i could go on and on). If i had my Bible & Concordance handy, i could find so many passages, it would make your head swim. :whacky:

Frankly, i benefit greatly from the knowledge that it is not easy to get into Heaven.
When i get lazy about being holy… (so easy to do in this ungodly society we live in ), well, i have discovered that i can slip so much in holiness without even realizing it, that i get to the point i don’t even notice i have slipped so much … I end up (subconsciously) making excuses, rationalizing, comparing myself w/others (when i should be comparing myself to Christ by attempting to imitate Him - instead of the common Joe Blow ‘Christian’.
Jesus said many times that it is not easy getting to Heaven, that the way is narrow, that there will be many who will try to get in but “won’t be strong enough”… etc…

Hi distrated I know all the verses of which you speak, I have used them too for the belief in hell, but most of those verses are vauge as I can see it, they can be explained by JW’s and Seventh-Day-Adventists alot easier, and they sound like they make more sense. But there are a few that I see are crystal clear. And I do believe those “vauge” hell verses teach or are talking about hell, I just cannot see how they’re clear as you are saying. But I believe them because my Church teaches it, because of those two other verses (too tired to look them up ) and especialy because most of the Church Fathers wrote about hell.

God bless you

 

[The_Catholic]

And we will get into Heaven if we love Him, truly want Him, want to be rid of these HORRID HORRID sins that bind us!

I don’t think of myself as “getting into Heaven, oh what a wonderful beautiful place,” I think of Heaven as being with my Lord. I just want to be with Him. I love Him, and all who seek SHALL find.

It seems that MOST of the world does not want Him though, and that’s why the path is narrow.

I know what you mean by the common Joe Blow “Christian.”

Oh boy, If Jesus my Saviour ever said He didn’t know me, and cast me away, I would break down in tears, feeling like I just got dumped from my spouse whom I loved, I hope and pray that never happens. I know I’m a sinner, and need His help, still very much. In fact I have to go to confession this week, but I pray He will carry me, or take my hand and help me, always until I meet Him and am clean for Him.

St. Paul says it so well when he talks about our body lusting after sin, and our spirit after God, it feels like tug of war and it hurts alot.

God bless.

 

[IceCathedral]

Oh goodness, what a scary topic. But I don’t believe that we should not discuss the topic, since I believe that we should be as aware as possible the consequences of doing certain things that lead us to Hell. And also there are people who want to know about this to broaden their understanding of the Faith. I have never seen or experience Hell myself, but even reading about it in St. Maria Faustina’s diary and St. John Bosco’s experience scared me out of my wits. Our Lady’s message at Fatima truly touched me and I try my best to take every opportunity to offer sacrifices in union with Jesus’ suffering for the conversion and salvation of souls. Just in case they end up helping saving many souls from the fires of Hell. I’ll never rest until I know everyone’s in Heaven (which might mean I’ll never rest). But also remember to have much hope in God’s mercy (it’s unfathomable!) and accept if as He gives it generously. I believe that as long as you are sorry for your sins, you’re forgiven. I’ve seen some really merciful people on Earth who can forgive murderers who murdered their children, so imagine how much more God can forgive if we ask of Him. He’s soooo awesome!

But in the end, God does all the judging, so we can only think.

 

[distracted]

 

[distracted]

I try my best to take every opportunity to offer sacrifices in union with Jesus’ suffering for the conversion and salvation of souls.

I’ll never rest until I know everyone’s in Heaven (which might mean I’ll never rest).

But also remember to have much hope in God’s mercy (it’s unfathomable!)

I’ve seen some really merciful people on Earth who can forgive murderers who murdered their children

:clapping: