Can the lost souls in hell pray for us?

[hausofferni]

I know the souls in purgatory can pray for us, as well as the saints in heaven, but what about the souls in hell? Can they pray for us? Or are they suffering an eternal fire with nothing to do but burn?

 

[Aloysium]

Who would they pray to? Satan? No thanks.
They know no love.
They would hate you, if you warrant any thought at all.

 

[JRS_88]

No, they can’t.

 

[Trident_H]

The rich man asked that his brothers be warned about hell. But I’m not sure if that really counts as praying. I don’t know. I mean I don’t know if they really couldn’t. Why not? But I have a harder time thinking that they really would. That’s a good question.

 

[paulrxp]

The rich man asked that his brothers be warned about hell. But I’m not sure if that really counts as praying. I don’t know. I mean I don’t know if they really couldn’t. Why not? But I have a harder time thinking that they really would. That’s a good question.

The rich man seemed pretty far removed, not only from God, but also from his brothers still on Earth. Perhaps that’s the biggest difference between the two states. The prayers of the Saints who are with God can have their prayers heard, the damned being removed from God can pray, but those prayers are cast out into the condemneds own torment. It’s hell because you’re separated from God, as are your prayers which only you will hear.

 

[GEddie]

There’s no reason to believe they would (and every reason to surmise they wouldn’t want to).

ICXC NIKA

 

[Polluted]

There’s no reason to believe they would (and every reason to surmise they wouldn’t want to).

ICXC NIKA

This. Part of the reason they are there is because of how the responded to those who cared and needed them most. Trust me, they chose a life without God! How much more do they care less for you.

 

[littlestsouls2]

The rich man asked that his brothers be warned about hell. But I’m not sure if that really counts as praying. I don’t know. I mean I don’t know if they really couldn’t. Why not? But I have a harder time thinking that they really would. That’s a good question.

In the writings of one Saint (I forget who), it is said that the rich man didn’t want his brothers to join him, not out of charity - there is no charity in Hell - but because if they were to join him in Hell, his sufferings would be increased.

 

[crystal_waters]

I know the souls in purgatory can pray for us, as well as the saints in heaven, but what about the souls in hell? Can they pray for us? Or are they suffering an eternal fire with nothing to do but burn?

Bearing in mind that hell is a place filled with evil…would you really want anyone who lives there to pay any attention to you at all?..and I doubt those in hell would pray for you…they hate/disobey god…if they didn’t hate/disobey him they wouldn’t be there…i doubt anybody in hell would want to help any human either…it would be their goal to want to do all they could to hurt you or to make you lose your place in heaven…

 

[Bob_Crowley]

I suppose the “first secret” of Fatima has had plenty of air time on this forum viz.

She [Our Lady of Fatima] opened Her hands once more, as She had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls [of the damned] in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.1 This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, Who had already prepared us by promising, in the first apparition, to take us to Heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.2

That was alleged to be a vision of hell granted to the three children at Fatima, and I believe them. I think that’s what they saw.

Imagine you’re one of the damned caught up in that conflagration.

Going to pray?

I don’t think so. You’d be too full of your own suffering and despair to think of anything else.

 

[GEddie]

Remember that prayer is a priori a communion with God.

Those who go to Hell reject God.

So, no, they wouldn’t pray.

Also, the Church forms a body, with those on Earth, in Heaven and in Purgatory United therein. Hell forms no part of this body.

ICXC NIKA

 

[arte]

After leaving an excellent thread because it closed called: “Is eternal suffering pointless?” I find myself on another thread to do with hell. The souls in hell cannot pray for us because there are no souls in hell. And, the reason for that is; there is no hell.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

After leaving an excellent thread because it closed called: “Is eternal suffering pointless?” I find myself on another thread to do with hell. The souls in hell cannot pray for us because there are no souls in hell. And, the reason for that is; there is no hell.

If you don’t mind my asking, where did you get that idea?

 

[GEddie]

After leaving an excellent thread because it closed called: “Is eternal suffering pointless?” I find myself on another thread to do with hell. The souls in hell cannot pray for us because there are no souls in hell. And, the reason for that is; there is no hell.

If you believe that, then you are at odds not only with your Church but with our LORD.

He was not just a bright-eyed bearded young man who taught about His Father and helping neighbors; He came to “save people.” From what, if not Hell?

ICXC NIKA.

 

[arte]

If you don’t mind my asking, where did you get that idea?

From myself and reading later about Christian Universalism. Many of the early Church Fathers believed in Universal Salvation. St. Clement of Alexandria (AD 150 – 215) believed in Universal Salvation. One of his pupils was Origen (AD185 – 254) who wrote the first complete presentation of Christianity as a system and Universal Salvation was the main theme in this presentation. There were 6 theology schools in Christendom during its early years - 4 were Universal Salvation (Alexandria, Cesarea, Antioch, and Edessa). One in Ephesus advocated annihilation (of evil souls?) which I believe is the view in modern Judaism. Only one advocated Eternal Hell and that was the Latin Church of North Africa. There are Christian Universalists in most of the larger Christian denominations including our Church. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in punishment for sins in the afterlife but not eternal punishment. I’ll pull out of this thread very soon because I do not want to distract members from discussing the title of the thread; “Can the lost souls in hell pray for us?”

 

[arte]

If you believe that, then you are at odds not only with your Church but with our LORD.

He was not just a bright-eyed bearded young man who taught about His Father and helping neighbors; He came to “save people.” From what, if not Hell?

ICXC NIKA.

There are Christian Universalists in most of the larger Christian denominations including our Church. St Clement of Alexandria, St Macrina the Younger and St Gregory of Nyssa were all Christian Universalists and I have not heard that their sainthoods have been revoked.

Christian Universalists believe that there were many errors in the translation of the New Testament from common Greek into the Latin Vulgate and the time spent in hell was one of these mistranslations.

Jesus spoke about the fire in Gehenna. This was a rubbish dump outside Jerusalem and people of the time (1AD) would have thought the fires of Gehenna would go on for ever. Well the fires of Gehenna did not last forever; it is now a beautiful national park.

Jesus came to teach love, forgiveness and peace. If only everyone practised what Jesus taught, the World would be a mmuch better place.

As I mentioned to Bob Crowley, I’ll pull out of this thread very soon because I do not want to distract members from discussing the title of the thread; “Can the lost souls in hell pray for us?”

 

[GEddie]

I have been to the original Gehenna (or rather, driven though it). I am aware it isn’t burning anymore.

But what our LORD meant by Hell is not literally that valley outside old Jerusalem, because a) most people’s bodies did not end up burning there and 2) if you did end up there, you were a dead body and therefore not suffering.

So the fact that the original Gehenna has gone out proves nothing about Hell.

ICXC NIKA

 

[HelenRose]

I know the souls in purgatory can pray for us, as well as the saints in heaven, but what about the souls in hell? Can they pray for us? Or are they suffering an eternal fire with nothing to do but burn?

They are where they choose to be. They have chosen hate. Why would they want to pray for the living? I don’t know what Hell is but I do believe that it is a choice. The same choice that Satan made – (“I would rather be in Hell than to love God.” – “I would rather be in Hell than to accept God’s love” – “I am the god of my universe.” – “I will go to Hell before I say that I am sorry.” )

Hell is a choice made with full knowledge and desire to turn one’s soul away from God. It is not an accident.

 

[arte]

I have been to the original Gehenna (or rather, driven though it). I am aware it isn’t burning anymore.

But what our LORD meant by Hell is not literally that valley outside old Jerusalem, because a) most people’s bodies did not end up burning there and 2) if you did end up there, you were a dead body and therefore not suffering.

So the fact that the original Gehenna has gone out proves nothing about Hell.

ICXC NIKA

I defer back to the mistranslations from common Greek into the Latin Vulgate. Eternal damnation is completely incompatible with Jesus’ mission of divine love, forgiveness and mercy. It is also completely incompatible with God’s attributes of divine love, forgiveness and mercy.

 

[mikekle]

They are where they choose to be. They have chosen hate. Why would they want to pray for the living? I don’t know what Hell is but I do believe that it is a choice. The same choice that Satan made – (“I would rather be in Hell than to love God.” – “I would rather be in Hell than to accept God’s love” – “I am the god of my universe.” – “I will go to Hell before I say that I am sorry.” )

Hell is a choice made with full knowledge and desire to turn one’s soul away from God. It is not an accident.

I dont know about that…so you are saying EVERYONE who ends up in hell, HATES everyone they knew on earth while alive, friends, family, etc? Ive known plenty of non-religious people who died without ever going to confession or a single mass, yet I know for a fact some have a great deal of love for many people in their lives…dont understand how the act of a body dying would change any of that, after all, their soul is still the same.